Like the entire staff at GY&K, Google users were met by some surprise this morning – the search engine’s former minimalistic approach was taken over by a full-color photo “wallpaper” on the homepage.
And while all this buzz was chalked up to a publicity stunt, I felt that Google was calling out to their users to affirm what they’re already doing right – dominating the ‘less is better’ approach.
If you’re like me, when I saw the homepage today, I was immediately turned off by it (clutter!). And because I can’t stand page clutter and I can’t resist tinkering with things, I used the “Change background” function to display a solid gray background. Once I did, I found the “remove background” option in its place and quickly went back to the good ‘ol familiar Google.
Is it a bit contrived? Sure. But it has us talking. And for a Google loyalist like myself, it took me on a little trip to remind me what I like about them. And if they can show that a significant number of users did exactly what I did, it will be a pretty powerful statement that the Google way is the right way. You’re welcome for the market research data, Google.
