Google's Design Guidelines

下面是Google的用 戶體驗設計師Jon Wiley 在一 次講座中提到的Google的10大設計原則。這些設計原則對於中國設計市場可能並不是那麼的適用，但值得每一個設計 師去借鑑和學習。

• 1. 有用（Useful）：以用戶為焦點，關注他們的生活、工作和夢想。
• 2. 快速（Fast）：爭取節省每一個毫秒。
• 3. 簡單（Simple）：簡潔就是力量。
• 4. 魅力（Engaging）：能夠喚起新手的好奇心，能夠吸引資深用戶。
• 5. 革新（Innovative）：勇於創新。
• 6. 通用（Universal）：全世界適用的設計。
• 7. 盈利（Profitable）：為現行的和將來的商業模式做好安排。
• 8. 優美（Beautiful）：外觀具有視覺愉悅性，但是不會令用戶分心。
• 9. 可信（Trustworthy）：值得用戶信賴。
• 10. 人性（Personable）：加入人性化因素。

讓我們看看，Google如何在它自己的主頁上，實踐這些原則。首先，它的載入速度很 快；其次，這個頁面對訪問Google的用戶很有用；再次，它 的設計非常簡單，幾乎沒有分散用戶注意力的元素，因此不會令人有壓迫感；然後，你幾乎本能地就會使用它，不需要查閱複雜的說明手冊， 除非你想使用一些高級功能；至於這個頁面是否具有創新性，可能有不同看法，但是確實有許多其 他網站照搬了這種設計； 因為用戶可以按照直覺使用它，因此不存在文化壁壘；盈利通過網絡廣告實現，但是在首頁上沒有放置廣告，因為這樣可能會疏遠用戶；這個頁面很寬敞，很優雅， 還帶著一點幽默感（「手氣不錯」按鈕），隨著不同節日而變化的Logo帶 來了人性化因素；至於可信性，由於所有一切都很直接了當，因此增強了用戶的信心，使他們感到這裡沒有暗藏的機關，Google會為你提供最好的結果。

Jon Wiley, User Experience Designer for Google Apps, outlined some of the most important principles for designing interfaces at Google. In his presentation at the WritersUA conference, Jon listed the following guidelines:

1. Useful: focus on people - their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Fast: every millisecond counts.
3. Simple: simplicity is powerful.
4. Engaging: engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Innovative: dare to be innovative.
6. Universal: design for the world.
7. Profitable: plan for today's and tomorrow's business.
8. Beautiful: delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Trustworthy: be worthy of people's trust.
10. Personable: add a human touch.

Let's see if Google's homepage respects these guidelines. It loads fast and it's pretty useful for those go to google.com. The design is very simple and has little distractions, so it's not intimidating. You don't need a manual to use Google search, but you can learn some tricks that may help you get better results. I'm not sure if Google's homepage is innovative, but many other sites copied its simplicity. Google's homepage is instantly recognizable, so it crossed the cultural barriers, even if Google had to adapt it in Korea and Japan. The profitability is a consequence of Google's focus on delivering useful ads that are contextually adequate: placing ads on the homepage would probably alienate the users. Google's homepage is spacious, elegant and has some sense of humor: "I'm feeling lucky" and the doodles add a human touch. As for trustworthiness, the straightforward design should reinforce users' perception that Google doesn't have a hidden agenda and tries to offer the best answers.



Related:
User experience at Google (video)

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Update: Google explains these design guidelines in a new page from its corporate site. "The Google User Experience team aims to create designs that are useful, fast, simple, engaging, innovative, universal, profitable, beautiful, trustworthy, and personable. Achieving a harmonious balance of these ten principles is a constant challenge. A product that gets the balance right is Googley – and will satisfy and delight people all over the world."