Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products, recently made a fantastic analogy about what makes Google so attractively simple to users:

"Google has the functionality of a really complicated Swiss Army knife, but the home page is our way of approaching it closed. It's simple, it's elegant, you can slip it in your pocket, but it's got the great doodad when you need it. A lot of our competitors are like a Swiss Army knife open--and that can be intimidating and occasionally harmful."

This ‘beautiful simplicity’ is a significant advantage for Google and one that many other sites should take heed of (read: Amazon).  Recent studies have shown users significantly prefer sites that are easy to read and navigate even over ones with better content.

However, this quote also points out one of Google’s greatest flaws as a company that produces consumer products.  In my Swiss Army knife, I can never find which knob holds the spoon.  And even once I do, it’s tricky to dig it out with my stubby nails.  Google has so many great products that remain hidden to the mainstream user (i.e. not most people on a tech blog) beneath their incredibly simple exterior, that it slows their adoption in favor of inferior products that are easier to find (read: Yahoo! Mail).

Equally as important as making the tool simple to handle is making it simple to find new and useful components before users give up and just get the spoon from the drawer.

Joshua Fischer