Comments on: 41 Shades of Blue

By: Media bouwen: Media en innovatie: kunnen mediabedrijven de Fuji berg verplaatsen?

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:32:12 +0000

[...] is over welke tint blauw er op een pagina gebruikt moet worden, en hoe dik een lijn moet zijn, dan testen ze de (41) varianten toch gewoon even uit op telkens enkele duizenden gebruikers, en zo lopen er elke dag wel tests op kleine steekproeven van gebruikers. Als je tussen [...]

By: Google’s new font size

Google’s new font size — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:15:54 +0000

[...] Knowing Google you can bet they spent a long time and a lot of money on the user research for this too (remember "41 shades of blue-gate"?). [...]

By: Shades of Blue | Reference.com

Shades of Blue | Reference.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:55:01 +0000

[...] 41 Shades of Blue – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. [...]

By: mschindler.com – Google and the Iceberg Principle of Design

mschindler.com – Google and the Iceberg Principle of Design — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:10:03 +0000

[...] of the design culture at the now monolithic corporate giant — a rant which has so far caught a lot of traction on the blogosphere. Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so [...]

By: coskunlar vinc

coskunlar vinc — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:23:09 +0000

They’ve got the means to “play around”, that’s for sure. I’d be happy to read on the results of such studies.

By: Twitter | QuikPolls.org

Twitter | QuikPolls.org — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:06:50 +0000

[...] can’t decide on one shade of blue to use on the site, so they’re experimenting with 41. (via Zeldman) [...]

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:24:26 +0000

This was nothing to be shocked at myself, speaking of how Google looks at things analytically and not through a design sense. I was fortunate enough to meet Doug @ AEA in Boston last year and he is a terrific person, splendid to talk to. Glad that he is finally as Joe Clark said;

welcome (him) back to a world where he is actually wanted.

I wish Doug nothing but the best and Jeffrey, I’m looking forward to not only DWWS 3E but the new design as well!

By: Rich Internet Apps » Data Driven Design and the Culture at Google » Pathfinder Development

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:28:23 +0000

[...] regarding interface decisions is definitely a good thing, Google has reached the point where it has become a crutch, and without leadership from people that understand visual design principles there is a creative [...]

By: Brade

Brade — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:05:06 +0000

@ Zeldman

glad to hear it!

By: mschindler.com » Blog Archive » The Iceberg Principle

mschindler.com » Blog Archive » The Iceberg Principle — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:31:39 +0000

[...] culture at the now monolithic corporate giant — a rant which has so far caught a lot of traction on the blogosphere. Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so [...]

By: alessandro

alessandro — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:29:45 +0000

@ Richard Fink
I agree, design should support and reinforce the message and has not to be invasive. I think that Joe Clark’s weblog design is invasive and doesn’t reinforce the message – especially if the message is about visual design – because it’s ugly. The blog looks almost better if you disable all styles (try, maybe the column width is too large in this way, but if you resize the browser window is perfect).. If you read the same message in google reader is still much better than in his weblog, in my opinion.

By: How much testing is too much testing?

How much testing is too much testing? — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:27:47 +0000

[...] after Bowan’s announcement, such diverse outlets as Jeffrey Zeldman, Joe Clark and CNNMoney’s Jon Fortt questioned whether Google’s process is killing [...]

By: Karen Oleri

Karen Oleri — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:10:55 +0000

Good lord… this reminds me of my first project as design lead at my company. We had an internal client that could not decide on the shade of slate blue they wanted for their brochure site. They kept coming back saying it wasn’t blue enough, then that it wasn’t grey enough, then not blue enough… and around and around again. Eventually I got fed up and ended up mocking the design with 20 different shades of blue and projecting them all onto a screen in front of them. Then I sat back and watched them heatedly debate the choices. Now I both laugh and cringe when I think about it years later.

By: Jason Scott

Jason Scott — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:53:30 +0000

Ah, Joe Clark.

By: Richard Fink

Richard Fink — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:18:38 +0000

@alessandro
Design should support and reinforce the message right? Well, when I go to Joe Clark’s site I get to read a message from Joe Clark. That’s it.
What other stuff would you like there to be? What do you consider “design”?
I get a few well-written paragraphs in a font size that’s readable without my having to fiddle with zoom levels; with a font-family, column width, and line-height that’s right on the money without a lot of other baloney floating around trying to grab my attention.
Quite good design, I would say.