CommonWealth Magazine
Mar 9th 2013 | SAN FRANCISCO |From the print edition
The web giant wants to be known for beauty as well as brains.
THIS time last year investors were salivating over Apple's stock. Now they are rushing to get their hands on Google's. On March 5th the internet firm's share price, which has risen by almost a fifth since the start of the year, leapt past $800 for the first time. Google's market capitalisation, which hit $274 billion on March 6th, is now around two-thirds of Apple's, up from around one-third six months ago.
Google's attraction is not hard to fathom. It is minting money from its vast online-advertising empire. It is also spreading further into big new markets like online shopping. Its Android mobile operating system is winning millions of new customers. Android-powered smartphones and tablet computers have conquered numerous markets, including China's, where a government report recently voiced concern that Google has too much influence over the country's mobile industry.
One reason Android is doing well is that its design has become slicker. A revised style guide for developers promotes bold typography, standardised action bars and card-like backgrounds on which data can be clearly displayed. Its fans say this is a big improvement. "People are now seeing Android design on a level playing field with what Apple is putting forward," says Mark Wyszomierski of Foursquare, a location-based social network that recently released an Android app.
Google's makeover comes as tech firms are realising that smart design is a good way to reach—and to retain—mass audiences. Fast-growing start-ups such as Pinterest, a social network, have made looking sexy a priority. Bigger firms often tweak the look of their products. Facebook was due to unveil a redesign of its News Feed, which lets people track what their friends are up to, after The Economist went to press.
What makes Google's efforts so striking is that the firm has long had a reputation for caring far more about algorithms than aesthetics. In 2009 Douglas Bowman, its top designer, quit and complained that Google's obsession with data was preventing it from listening to its designers. In a farewell missive, he wrote that it was hard to work in a culture that insisted on testing 41 different shades of blue to determine the right colour for web links displayed in search results.
The stunning rise of Apple, whose late boss, Steve Jobs, made a fetish of design, has no doubt influenced Google's thinking since then. The shift towards mobile computing has also forced it to take design more seriously. "There's an emotional reaction with a personalised mobile device that you don't get with a mouse and a keyboard," explains Jon Wiley, a search designer who is part of an initiative to revamp Google's design philosophy that was launched by Larry Page when he became chief executive in 2011.
Among other things, this has produced a more consistent look and feel across everything from Google+, the firm's social network, to Gmail, its e-mail service. It has also encouraged designers to be more vocal about their views in a firm where software engineers rule the roost. "Sometimes problems just have to be the responsibility of designers and not every engineer or product person is going to like it," says Matias Duarte, the head of design for Android.
Some sceptics reckon that Google has a long way to go before it can aspire to Apple-like excellence. "Consistency alone does not make for great design," sniffs Jason Putorti, a designer who works for Causes, a web business that helps people mount online campaigns. Others point out that products such as Google Glass, prototype web-connected glasses that make wearers look like extras from a Terminator movie, are still badly in need of beautification (see picture).
True. But the fact remains that Google is getting better at design faster than Apple is mastering the kind of web services that have made its rival so successful. And the stock market has noticed.
From the print edition: Business
