14 DAY TRIAL // Google is known for many things but stylish design isn't one of them. Sure, the Google homepage has inspired countless others with its clean and minimalistic looks but the search giant approaches design from an engineering point of view, something that is evident in everything it does. Google Chrome's GUI is very innovative technically but, even with the series of themes launched this summer, the looks left a lot to be desired. Thankfully, Google knows its strengths and weaknesses so it invited several artists to create their own Chrome themes.
“This past month, we launched a new stable release with speed improvements and updates to key features, as well as a little something extra to make your browser pop: themes. Today, we're excited to build on this initial splash of color. We invited leading artists, architects, musicians, illustrators, filmmakers and fashion and interior designers from around the globe to create artwork for an unusual canvas: the modern web browser. The result? Artist Themes for Google Chrome, a fusion of art and technology, with a hundred Artist Themes that we hope will enrich and personalize your web browsing experience,” Glen Murphy, software engineer, and Mark Sabec, associate product marketing manager, wrote.
Chrome has been evolving constantly in the past year but something that felt left behind was the looks department. The first step was made with the launch of theme support and the Theme Gallery and, while it was nice to have an option and change the increasingly annoying default blue theme, the themes available didn't exactly scream out style.
Finally, this isn't the case anymore and the professional touch clearly shows. With 100 artist themes to choose from there really is something for everyone. From branded themes like those from Porsche or Mark Ecko to all manner of artists from diverse fields, Google didn't hold back on this one. Still, it’s not all smooth sailing, as the themes are a bit on the colorful side and some may be a little too tacky for some users. There are also some usability issues on a couple of them as the colors sometime make the text hard to read. But it's still a nice move and for those not using Chrome on Windows Vista or 7, where the browser does a nicer job at integrating with the look and feel, it's good to have an alternative.
