Subtlety Study – Google

In the last post, we talked a bit about using color to get into the heads of our users. In this post, we will take a look at a company who we all know a lot (maybe more than enough) about. Google has been around for quite a while, and have obviously legitimized their brand and interface design by their popularity and widespread use.

Quick sidenote – Google is now passing out invitations to try out Google Wave. If you have not yet signed up, be sure to do so. We will be checking out Wave soon and showing you some really cool stuff that it is capable of. But for now, back to what we were talking about before…

Google.com is perhaps one of the most important destinations that people have, for years, pointed their browsers to. We have all come to know the minimalist look of the Google homepage, with its simple search and its signature “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. Today, we will look at a few things that Google has done with their homepage.

Google is, obviously, meant for a very large target audience. The image of Google is known to be very simple, and doesn’t follow any specific “trend” or “style”, per se. Rather, Google has designed their products (like GMail, Calendars, Docs, etc.) by using color and a white backdrop. In particular, Google uses primary colors (blue, red, and yellow) as their main branding color scheme, and one secondary color (green). This emphasizes Google’s elemental emphasis.
Note: this is separate for iGoogle, which allows for more customization and a “homepage”

But let’s look again at Google’s homepage.

Google has, without making it completely obvious, made blue their primary branding color. If all we do is take away the letters other than the two g’s, we are left with neutral (grayscale) and – you guessed it – blue.

Note: This image has been manipulated, and is not a product of Google

It’s pretty easy to see in this context that Google relies heavily on a blue color scheme for their image. Studies have shown that blue is calming and suggests reliability; two things which users who come to Google probably need. I don’t know about you, but I usually go to Google for one of two things: either I have a question or problem that I need an answer to, or I am browsing the Internet. These two activities call for reliability and reassurance, both of which Google has subtly cognitively offered.

So, why include the other colors?

First of all, not everything about blue is positive. In fact, if Google were entirely blue, we as users would most likely get a cold, uninviting feeling from the home page. The red “o” and “e” help suggest the brevity of using Google, while the yellow “o” serves to grab attention. The substance of the word “Google” is increased by including the yellow. The green “l” breaks from the possible monotony of using only primary colors, establishing a sense of permanency.

What can we learn from it?

This study, albeit short and limited to Google’s front page, shows us how easily we can make effective decisions without going overboard. These subtle decisions were most likely intentional. In fact, we’d bet on it. What are some ways you can make subtle decisions in your interface? Check out a few of our other posts to see some of the best practices in interface design!