As I wrote in an earlier review of Google’s “iGoogle” home page feed aggregator, my biggest issue with the tool was its limited design options (”themes”). For those that remember the earlier days of iGoogle, a max of about 10 themes existed, all of which were rather campy and poorly designed. While I’ve always admired Google for its ability to show restraint in design (and therefore promote simplicity and ease of use), I feared that these new themes were sending a signal: Google was headed in the direction of AOL, or, design for the masses.

A few others must have had a similar fear, but the good news is that Google has responded intelligently. Fortunately, they have opened up iGoogle themes for developers, but I’m most intrigued about the addition of themes by world class artists. There are some great new themes from the Beastie Boys, Shepard Fairey, Philippe Starck, Dale Chihuly, Michael Graves, and others. I personally chose a nice, clean theme by Todd Oldham (pictured above). While one might argue that this is still “design for the masses” (especially with the likes of Michael Graves of Target design fame), I’d argue that this is haute, popular design for the masses, and Google is making a clear statement here.

As we continually discuss the concept of “building brands online” at texturemedia, I find it fascinating that Google has leveraged the star power of some highly respected artists. For quite some time now, Google has positioned itself as its own independent entity - an entity that has seemingly stayed above the fray of mainstream media integration to build its name. For example, compare Google’s interface to Yahoo’s interface: the latter is clearly far more commercial than the former. What pleases me most is that by integrating the work of known artists, Google positions themselves as a premium, intellectually-driven brand. That is, they value open-source development and artistic creativity over American Idol.

While it is often easy to focus on the big search engine companies for their features and functions, I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on Google’s next brand-building maneuver.

Peyton Lindley, Interaction Design