I call the then "new look" the ribbon UI, as the most drastic change to Google+ on the web is the dynamic navigation bar lining the left side of the page. The design allows for more user personalisation, being able to drag and drop the core features wherever you like. Features that aren't used can be thrown into the "More" menu and out of the way. Another benefit of the user interface are quick actions, where a menu would appear when the cursor was held over an icon, allowing the user to get to a specific area quickly and easily.
It wasn't just the slick ribbon menu that got introduced, conversation cards roll into your stream with full-bleed photos to really make posts pop. Subtle effects add to the feel, pressing the +1 button adds to the count with a cool ticker effect. Fades have been added when transitioning from pages, you get it, everything on Google+ just started to come together. It was fresh and fun, and has helped become a more user friendly and engaging community in its own.
"You know that feeling you get when a piece of art takes your breath away, or when a friend stops by with unexpected gifts? We want sharing to feel like that, every single time." - +Vic Gundotra
Not everyone has been a fan of the new visual experience introduced last year though. With the excessive use of white space, the hashtag #whitespace started trending, and a meme referring to the changes littered the stream.
Users started inserting graphics or placing objects into the white space and posting them onto the network. I admit, it was pretty funny, but it was clear a lot of people were unhappy that Google aren't utilising the space for more content or features. During the course of the year, more and more widgets (Instant Upload, Birthdays) appeared to replace the whitespace.
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| GPD's Clayton Pritchard even contributed to the meme |
It wasn't all design changes, one or two features also were introduced and rolled out too. A year ago tomorrow, we were also introduced to Explore, a new way to view what's hot and trending across the network. Profiles got some fresh paint also, allowing users to add cover photos and make their own personal profile actually feel, well, personal.
Looking back, it is crazy to see how much our favourite social platform has grown and changed in just 1 year. Since April 2012, we've been lavished by features and mergers such as Google+ Local (formerly Places), allowing users to rate and review places, and for businesses to have an official presence on Google+. Communities was added just in December of 2012, altering a large part of the experience, changing the way seasoned users actually use Google+, in a good way.
On the mobile front, we've seen constantly updated Google+ apps for Android and iOS, gaining tablet support, a more beautiful stream and dare I say, the rather controversial "Moods" (at least for Android users anyway) which allows users to convey their emotion in a post with a giant animated bean-like emotion icon.
You can get nostalgic and read through the official announcement of last year's redesign, though I think I covered the gist of the features. Back at the time, Google+ was only very young and only had 170 million users, which is small compared to how much it has grown, with 500 million users as of December 2012.
On the mobile front, we've seen constantly updated Google+ apps for Android and iOS, gaining tablet support, a more beautiful stream and dare I say, the rather controversial "Moods" (at least for Android users anyway) which allows users to convey their emotion in a post with a giant animated bean-like emotion icon.
Looking To The Future
So will we see another radical redesign soon, now that the ribbon UI has been around almost a year? Well, we've had pretty big changes recently, all with a newer, more colourful design direction, from the shift away from circles (now Find People) in February, to big profile and page upgrades last month. Google has touched on a lot of areas in Google+ recently, so it wouldn't make sense for the company to radically redesign everything in one fell swoop again.
A new look for Google+ I believe is happening in stages, and we're already seeing this happen with the features mentioned above. On profiles, every tab in relation to the respective feature that has been updated recently has been given a grey background, which leaves 'Posts' and '+1's' with the old white background. I think we'll see changes to the stream next, and that will be one of the final pieces of the puzzle in terms of a newer, more consistent layout. When I say stream, that also includes conversation cards (posts), the buttons on those cards (which we've touched on here) and the share box.
I can expect that we'll see an update in relation to the stream fairly soon, and around about now makes sense seeing as we've had no major changes in this area for a year now. But if not, we may have to wait until Google I/O or even later.
When the ribbon UI was announced last year, what was your favourite change that came along with it?
Further reading: Redesign to Come Sooner Than we Think?