互联网巨人想以“美貌与智慧并存”闻名

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互联网巨人想以“美貌与智慧并存”闻名

天之聪教育 2013-04-10 天之聪教育 401次

Don’t be ugly

丑的不要

The web giant wants to be known for beauty as well as brains

互联网巨人想以“美貌与智慧并存”闻名

Who designed the stubble?

这胡子拉渣的是谁设计的？

THIS time last year investors were salivating over Apple’s stock. Now they are rushing to get their hands on Google’s. On March 5th the internet firm’s share price, which has risen by almost a fifth since the start of the year, leapt past $800 for the first time. Google’s market capitalisation, which hit $274 billion on March 6th, is now around two-thirds of Apple’s, up from around one-third six months ago.

去年这个时候投资者们对苹果的股票垂涎不已，如今他们正争先恐后地入手谷歌的股票。这家互联网公司的股票价格从今年年初起上升了近五分之一，3月5日首次突破800美元。谷歌的市值在3月6日达到2740亿美元，如今约是苹果的市值的三分之二，而六个月前仅为苹果的三分之一左右。

Google’s attraction is not hard to fathom. It is minting money from its vast online-advertising empire. It is also spreading further into big new markets like online shopping. Its Android mobile operating system is winning millions of new customers. Android-powered smartphones and tablet computers have conquered numerous markets, including China’s, where a government report recently voiced concern that Google has too much influence over the country’s mobile industry.

谷歌的吸引力不难理解。其庞大的网络广告帝国正是该公司的摇钱树。谷歌同样扩张到了例如网络购物的大型新市场。其安卓移动操作系统赢得了数以百万计的新客户。安卓智能手机和平板电脑征服了多个市场，包括中国。中国政府最近有报告就谷歌对该国手机行业的影响过大表达了担忧。

One reason Android is doing well is that its design has become slicker. A revised style guide for developers promotes bold typography, standardised action bars and card-like backgrounds on which data can be clearly displayed. Its fans say this is a big improvement. “People are now seeing Android design on a level playing field with what Apple is putting forward,” says Mark Wyszomierski of Foursquare, a location-based social network that recently released an Android app.

安卓业绩出色的一个原因是该系统在设计上变得更精致了。修订后的开发者风格指南（style guide）鼓励大胆的排版，标准化的动作条，以及卡片式的背景；这些设计都能让数据得以更清晰地显示。安卓的粉丝称这是非常大的改进。Foursquare(一个基于地理位置信息的社交网站)的马克-韦斯佐米尔斯基表示，“人们现在认为安卓在设计上已经能与苹果相提并论了”。该公司近期发行了一款安卓应用。

Google’s makeover comes as tech firms are realising that smart design is a good way to reach—and to retain—mass audiences. Fast-growing start-ups such as Pinterest, a social network, have made looking sexy a priority. Bigger firms often tweak the look of their products. Facebook was due to unveil a redesign of its News Feed, which lets people track what their friends are up to, after The Economist went to press.

现今科技公司愈发意识到精巧的设计是吸引和维持庞大用户的好办法，谷歌让安卓改头换面正是出于此原因。一些快速增长的新兴企业，例如社交网站Pinterest，都把性感的外观视为优先考虑。大一点的企业会经常微调产品的外观。Facebook预计会在本期《经济学人》付印之后公布该网站的消息接收系统（让用户跟踪好友动态）的改良设计。

What makes Google’s efforts so striking is that the firm has long had a reputation for caring far more about algorithms than aesthetics. In 2009 Douglas Bowman, its top designer, quit and complained that Google’s obsession with data was preventing it from listening to its designers. In a farewell missive, he wrote that it was hard to work in a culture that insisted on testing 41 different shades of blue to determine the right colour for web links displayed in search results.

谷歌改良外观的努力之所以引人注目，是因为该公司向来有着“对算法的关心远胜于对美学的关心”的名声。2009年谷歌的首席设计师道格拉斯-鲍曼离职，抱怨谷歌对于数据的过度迷恋使得该公司难以听取设计师的声音。在告别信中，他写道，如果一个企业坚持要测试蓝色的41种色调来决定搜索结果的网址链接用什么颜色最好的话，这样的文化让人实在难以留在企业中工作。

The stunning rise of Apple, whose late boss, Steve Jobs, made a fetish of design, has no doubt influenced Google’s thinking since then. The shift towards mobile computing has also forced it to take design more seriously. “There’s an emotional reaction with a personalised mobile device that you don’t get with a mouse and a keyboard,” explains Jon Wiley, a search designer who is part of an initiative to revamp Google’s design philosophy that was launched by Larry Page when he became chief executive in 2011.

苹果的惊世崛起无疑影响了谷歌的决策。苹果过世的老板史蒂夫-乔布斯就对设计推崇备至。计算机移动化的发展趋势也迫使谷歌对设计更为重视。“对于没有鼠标和键盘的个性化移动设备，很多人都有些情绪反应”，搜索设计师乔恩-威利如是说，他是一个旨在改造谷歌的设计理念的项目的成员，这个项目是由2011年上任谷歌行政总裁的拉里-佩奇发起的。

Among other things, this has produced a more consistent look and feel across everything from Google+, the firm’s social network, to Gmail, its e-mail service. It has also encouraged designers to be more vocal about their views in a firm where software engineers rule the roost. “Sometimes problems just have to be the responsibility of designers and not every engineer or product person is going to like it,” says Matias Duarte, the head of design for Android.

除此之外，这样也使得谷歌的所有产品，从社交网络Google+到邮件服务Gmail，都能拥有更统一的观感。同时也鼓励设计师们在这样一个软件工程师统治的企业中更畅所欲言。“有时提出问题就得是设计师的责任，并不是每个工程师或产品部的人都喜欢承担这种责任”，马迪安卓的首席设计师亚斯-杜阿尔特如是说。

Some sceptics reckon that Google has a long way to go before it can aspire to Apple-like excellence. “Consistency alone does not make for great design,” sniffs Jason Putorti, a designer who works for Causes, a web business that helps people mount online campaigns. Others point out that products such as Google Glass, prototype web-connected glasses that make wearers look like extras from a Terminator movie, are still badly in need of beautification (see picture).

一些怀疑者认为谷歌想要达到苹果的卓越设计仍有很长的路要走。以帮助人们组织网络运动为业务的网站Causes的设计师杰森-普托尔蒂就不屑地表示，“风格统一不代表设计得好”。其他人则指出“谷歌眼镜”这类产品的外观亟需美化（如图），这款可连接网络的眼镜的原型产品让佩戴者看上去就像是《终结者》电影的临时演员。

True. But the fact remains that Google is getting better at design faster than Apple is mastering the kind of web services that have made its rival so successful. And the stock market has noticed.

（谷歌审美有待提高）这话没错。但事实上，谷歌在设计上的进步速度要快过苹果在这类网络服务领域的进步速度，而正是网络服务成就了苹果的竞争对手，并且股票市场注意到了这点。