Goodbye Google (hello design)
Godbye Google by Doug Bowman
“I’m thankful for the opportunity I had to work at Google. I learned more than I thought I would. I’ll miss the free food. I’ll miss the occasional massage. I’ll miss the authors, politicians, and celebrities that come to speak or perform. I’ll miss early chances to play with cool toys before they’re released to the public. Most of all, I’ll miss working with the incredibly smart and talented people I got to know there. But I won’t miss a design philosophy that lives or dies strictly by the sword of data.”
I actually came across Douglas’ post yesterday via popurls.com. You could tell that it was a difficult, time involved decision to leave Google, yet obviously the right one.
Google may be everyone’s favorite .com love child, but the package is always prettier on the outside. Like every other company, Google (I’m sure), has it’s plusses and minuses. From Douglas’ post, being a designer who promotes change is a minus. I’m not sure any forwardly mobile designer could handle the debate of website pixel width and the evaluation of 43 shades of blue between two already blue colors. It would be maddening.
While it was probably painful to walk away from such a huge company in such an economic downturn, Bowman has the talent and will undoubtedly land on his feet.
What I admire about Doug, first he is such a down-to-earth fellow and really smart and fun, is his sharp focus on design-forward thinking. Hence why he was so successful at Wired. Can’t say same at Google. Must have been fridgin’ frustrating. But once you have been schooled via a behemoth company, there are invaluable experiences you take along, even if it only boils down to “will never do this again”.
Can’t wait to see what next for him, ’cause stating in the ether about leaving, creates wide expectations upon your next move(s).