Sometimes it is just as important for a product to have good design than it is to be functional. Google has learned this lesson recently with a slew of user backlash from redesigning many of its popular services. The first one, GMail, receives a fair bit of grumbles about the new look, but overall discontent was kept at a minimum. The floodgates opened this week with the new version of Google Reader.
Google Reader became a hot topic due to its random design, along the same lines as GMail. The backlash has been almost ten times the amount that GMail has received, although both pretty much look the same. The strange part is, none of the backlash has to do with functionality. Google Reader functions the exact same as before, with the same buttons and organization, just a different design.
This is a perfect example of how much users become attached to the way companies brand their products. Almost along the same lines as Gap, who randomly decided to change their logo and received a mountain of backlash, every complaint is on a truly aesthetic basis. No matter how well your product functions, you can't just through redesigns out to your target public. Users become attached, and thus don't feel comfortable when the environment they have known for years is suddenly changed.
Ulanoff, L. (2011). Mashable. Google Interface Designs: Welcome to Dullsville. Link.
Every time I read about people complaining due to changes in design of an application, I always think about how annoying it is to walk into the supermarket and realizing that they have changed EVERYTHING. Suddenly you need to start paying attention to where you’re walking and where to find your usual products. Changes in design are part of an evolutionary road, but with any sort of change, comes opinion, and with opinion, judgment. I would say that the Internet provides a safe blanket for people to give destructive criticism without showing their identity.