Google's design guidelines

10 of the most important principles for designing interfaces at Google. I put astericks by my top 5.

1. Useful: focus on people - their lives, their work, their dreams. *
2. Fast: every millisecond counts.
3. Simple: simplicity is powerful. *
4. Engaging: engage beginners and attract experts. *
5. Innovative: dare to be innovative.
6. Universal: design for the world.
7. Profitable: plan for today's and tomorrow's business.
8. Beautiful: delight the eye without distracting the mind. *
9. Trustworthy: be worthy of people's trust. *
10. Personable: add a human touch.

"Does Google's homepage respect these guidelines? It loads fast and it's pretty useful for those go to google.com. The design is very simple and has little distractions, so it's not intimidating. You don't need a manual to use Google search, but you can learn some tricks that may help you get better results. I'm not sure if Google's homepage is innovative, but many other sites copied its simplicity. Google's homepage is instantly recognizable, so it crossed the cultural barriers, even if Google had to adapt it in Korea and Japan. The profitability is a consequence of Google's focus on delivering useful ads that are contextually adequate: placing ads on the homepage would probably alienate the users. Google's homepage is spacious, elegant and has some sense of humor: "I'm feeling lucky" and the doodles add a human touch. As for trustworthiness, the straightforward design should reinforce users' perception that Google doesn't have a hidden agenda and tries to offer the best answers."

Thanks, Kyle.

Comments

[Jeremy Scheller]

well, i'll be in france 2 months from today, so I gotta be ready...

[Kem Meyer]

Nice French, Jeremy.

[Jeremy Scheller]

that's a great top ten list, though, google's design sense is rarely "beautiful." actually, it's usually lacks a certain je ne sais quoi!

rough windows 95 design sensibility with their gui's

[Tim]

dang. that's awesome!

[Rob Wegner]

Great stuff. Thanks!