I'm Feeling Lucky

While we were discussing the Google Home page redesigns in class on Wednesday, it occurred to me that perhaps the strength of Google's brand wasn't necessarily only their clean home page but also their simplistic style. I think people have called their company "cute" (like the changing logo at holiday time), but I think they also rely on the simple default-styled links, the default-styled buttons, and the folksy "I'm Feeling Lucky" button text (see more on this below). I think they really rely on their image as another startup doing good work with solid technology and few resources when, in fact, they are big and growing Fortune 500 company.

Someone mentioned in class that MSN Search is trying the clean look too and doesn't seem to be working as well. But, maybe it is also because MSN Search doesn't capture that look of "I'm way to busy designing great technology to help you get done what you need to worry about fancy site design." First, the fact that the property is owned by Microsoft is a dead giveaway that it's not some small startup, and second, the customized link fonts and colors and gradient background and button potentially work against the simplicity by implying that behind the simple exterior lurks a massive, well-trained graphic design team waiting to market to you.

Since this seems to be my week to bring Craig's List up in every blog posting, I'll mention them here too of an extreme success that relies on its simplistic design and styling to convey its brand. Add some images and some fancy flash, and they've lost a lot of what makes Craig's List Craig's List and I would imagine a lot of their traffic as well.

I'm Feeling Lucky: I noticed that the teams who opted to remove the I'm Feeling Lucky button did so based on it's dubious usefulness and likely low use by actual site visitors. I think this is completely true, and more data would surely support this perspective as do the tenets of good product design. So, it makes sense to remove it to make way for the more profitable properties and to maintain the clean site look. But, I think the I'm Feeling Lucky button is actually a part of the Google brand, maybe almost as much as their cute logos. It puts a personable face on the company, makes it seem as though they have a sense of humor, and adds some levity to Web searching. They make take it down in the future, but I'd be sort of surprised if they did.