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redesign of Google

andyrutledge.com — An graphic designer had redesigned the Google front page and explained why he thinks this is better.

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  • bloodhound01, on 10/12/2007, -11/+17Thats a terrible redesign imo, simple is 100 times better. The explanation he has for the things he mentioned are really terrible. Everything is straight forward, so searching, no waiting for crap to load on slow connections, very little reading. Simple is better.
  • mawcs, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6This guy may be a "graphic designer" but he obviously knows nothing of Information Architecture and Interaction design. His redesign would be *very bad* for Google. Stick to making pretty pictures and leave the Web design to pros like NNT/g
  • havocwon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Login / Sign in buttons on the upper right is somewhat of a web standard as far as usability goes.
  • GreenStop, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8The google Homepage is now iconic, redesigning would be a mistake
  • CoffeeCup, on 10/12/2007, -10/+10If it ain't broke dont ***** with it
  • sarusa, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Wow, this would be great if you wanted Google to tank like Altavista.
  • p5ych0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I would like Google to have the option to change the background color to something darker to take some strain off of my eyes.
  • neoncode, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I kinna like it...
  • oleeid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2http://digg.com/design/Awesome_Google_look
  • ScottTaylor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0secsiiiii :)
  • jonathanex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0CoffeeCup, just what I wanted to say. :)
  • HiddenS3crets, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I think it looks good, but the logo is too retro for a design like that
  • n00854180t, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think he made good points about the various links being tacked on. After all, they *were* tacked on.
  • jknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2is it just me or does his redesign look like MSN's? At least that was my first impression.
  • ken52787, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It could do without that blue *****, but as far as the positioning, I like this better than the present Google.
  • jknight, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0oops, I meant to put http://search.msn.com/ in there :)
  • facecore, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It looks okay as far as design goes. But, like greenstop said, the current design is iconic to most people, and there's really not much of a need for a redesign.
  • ibrod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if he went to all the work of designing that mock up, why not make it functional?
  • appidydafoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I like what he did to condense the links, but why does everything have to be encased in gradients? Ruins the entire point... everything is centralized, except for these gigantic, hideous framing elements! It makes the page feel soooo heavy... like I'm at Windows XP login screen for the first time, and really... those are not good memories to conjure up!
  • Mwd500, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Its OK but I like the Google home page as it is and how it always has been, once you start changing it it never stops.
  • fnaqzna, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Opinions are like assholes.

    Everyone has one.

    Some of them stink.
  • jamesburton1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0me likes.
  • redrighthand, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4MSN search looks better, google works, but what the hell do they know about layout..... Google Video anybody
  • nymphetamine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0well done!
  • kanime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I like everything about his new design. IMO it looks cleaner and less boring. (maybe this is why coders love google's look? ;) ) BOOOOORRRINGG

    The only problem is that it looks too much like MSN with the blue. :(
  • redprint, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The design is simple. I'm not sure I like this idea for one, but at least it's a design. (what google has now has no design)
  • slythic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think it keeps the "iconic" design of google, just makes it much more pleasant. Good job :-)

    I think it does look like a mix of msn and yahoo though.

  • illu45, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, it looks like MSN and Yahoo, which is the problem. Simple is good. Google is simple. No fancy transitions, just a clean, white page. This is where the redesign fails. No digg.
  • ragz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I agree with appidydafoo, the links are slicker, but it does look heavy. I like Google stuff so I hope anychanges are good ones.....who knows what could happen as Google grows. Keep It Simple Stupid!
  • sunimit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I like his Ebay redesign though.
    http://www.andyrutledge.com/ebay_redux.php
  • ericvdb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think it looks good. The sign in link should be somewhere else though...upper right is kinda standard.
  • redrighthand, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This is all I normally see if google anyway,

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/dklimke/94265657/

    so who cares what the homepage looks like anyway
  • TheNik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think Google does need to organize things better and in a more stylish and efficient way. Having the top links do a javascript flip Yahoo! style would be needed, as well as the three links on the side of the search form (they need to be moved).
  • Roamin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0No good. No Digg.
  • sensor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes he knows something about graphic and usability design. However google is simple for a reason, to save bandwidth and for the clean look. If this would be the main page the traffic for the site would increase too much.
  • scooterMX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1From a purely design standpoint, the writer is correct, but thats why designers alone make bad UI designers. The best UI is created by teams that combine human-computer interface experience with marketing AND design. Craig Silverstein knew that in 1998-1999 when he lead the creation of the look and feel that is pretty close to what you see today.

    But a search is a function, and if you listen at all to what Nielsen and Tufte say about it, the interface should be distinct from the function, in which case people should be able to 'skin' google any way they want. Thats how google has gone, with the ability to drop their search functionality into any page you want.
  • MWWLSE, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I agree 100% with his design assessment.
  • exilio, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Ha! That's no redesign, it's a ripoff of the MS search site.
  • cathode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not to shabby, I disagree with some of his reasoning though.

    It's also imporant to remember that graphic designers are experts at bs...
  • Bitcypher, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Hmm yeah essentially that is google except with splash of blue, hes done nothing revolutionary, just had some spare time and coloured it in. Leave google how it is, simple is appealing :)
  • TVarmy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It looks a bit like alta-vista. And when was the last time anyone used that?
  • porksoda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1That first issue this guy brings up (that "why is this here?" image) just illustrates to me that the guy can't understand why those links are placed as they are, in the groupings they are, and hence, he's retarded.
    The layout makes sense. Don't ***** with it.
    Log in/log out settings - top friggin right. they're more "global" settings
    search options - next to the ***** search box where it belongs
  • mindlessxd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Close, but no banana.

    The simple white page with a logo, form and bunch of text links does it for me.
  • BugMeNot2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"If it ain't broke dont ***** with it"

    It's broke.
  • Philipp_Lenssen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Here's my take on the redesign:
    http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-02-02-n58.html
  • zetsurin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I like the guy's design a lot.
  • LazyBoy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0i like it easier on the eyes... sick on the white background.
  • 5blocksfree, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@havocwon >> Login / Sign in buttons on the upper right is somewhat of a web standard as far as usability goes.

    Yes, and something else - their current location seems out of place, since they share the same "locale" as the business-related links. It looks nice, and it's still fairly simple, but there are a few things that still aren't right.
  • bondo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0A+ for effort

    shame your design sucks though. C- overall.
  • starexplorer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0sign-in should be more prominent. I don't think this would hold up long term - it's the google of today not tomorrow
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