CHAPTER THREE

How Do I Navigate Google+?

Google is famous for its clean, aesthetic design with minimal distractions. One look at the Google home page demonstrates this simplicity — it just shows a Google logo, a text box, and the two buttons Google Search and I’m Feeling Lucky.

Google can also be playful with its design, most often demonstrated in the famous Google Doodles. The Doodles replace the standard Google logo with a creative image to recognize a particular holiday, historical person, or event. (Clicking the Google Doodles logo links you to a website or Google Search result with more information on the origin of the design.)

But this playfulness never comes at the expense of users. Moreover, Google’s design is the result of paying intense attention to users. On its philosophy page (www.google.com/about/corporate/company/tenthings.html), Google states the following:

Since the beginning, we’ve focused on providing the best user experience possible. Whether we’re designing a new Internet browser or a new tweak to the look of the home page, we take great care to ensure that they will ultimately serve you, rather than our own internal goal or bottom line.

And this is what Google says about its design philosophy:

Above all, a well-designed Google product is useful in daily life. It doesn’t try to impress users with its whizbang technology or visual style — though it might have both. It doesn’t strong-arm people to use features they don’t want — but it does provide a natural growth path for those who are interested. It doesn’t intrude on people’s lives — but it does open doors for users who want to explore the world’s information, work more quickly and creatively, and share ideas with their friends or the world.

This pretty much sums up the Google+ interface as well. Like most Google websites, it has a beautiful Spartan design yet still provides easy access to a wide range of features. Indeed, the more you get to know the Google+ interface, the more you will get out of the service.