I found this interesting read by Google’s (now ex-) lead visual designer, and it struck a chord. I use Google search and make some use of GMail. I know some people love Google products, but I’ve always found something a bit clumsy about sites like Gmail. Google packs some very slick functionality into a less-than-appealing wrapper. Some don’t care. Or they tolerate the lack of beauty because the product is so functional.

Apple succeeds when it combines great function with great form. With products like Gmail, the form appears to be an afterthought, because it probably is.