Google has very slowly started rolling out its brand new social network, Google +, and I am excited.
The most interesting thing to me is not about the features, but the design. Along with this new product, Google is rolling out redesigns of a lot of their core products. The end result feels a lot more modern, with fewer competing colors, and nicer typography.
Historically, Google has not been know for design. They are a company of engineers, and their user interfaces typically showed that. They were utilitarian and functional, but it would a stretch to call them pretty.
Being a designer myself, it isn’t hard for me to argue that aesthetics are important. They can give the user a sense of hierarchy and make interactions much more enjoyable and logical. From a marketing perspective, it shows that your product has thought behind it, and that you care about your brand.
I use a lot of Google services, but aside from the search engine, I rarely use any of them in the browser. This may not be enough to push me back completely, but it’s a step in the right direction for sure.