Repositioning a more helpful Google

My job is often to simplify complex ideas and make them more clear. This project ended in me rewriting Google’s company-wide Brand Standards, but to get here, it started with a successful brand campaign that I helped codify in what was a year-long process of reshaping the company narrative, and then infusing it back into our guidelines. The below is proof that I left an indelible mark on Google.

What I did

Updating Google’s Brand Standards

Role: Brand Writer + Editor in Chief, Standards (go/standards)
Company: Google’s Brand Studio
Year: 2019

Problem

The idea of helpfulness started from an insight that became an incredibly successful brand campaign. Eventually it became Google’s brand positioning and narrative, because it was born from its core brand element of usefulness and putting the user first. The ideas were big, but needed to be codified - and I helped the company capture the zeitgeist of the moment by revamping their brand guidelines.

Solution

For the first time since its inception, Google’s brand standards got a facelift - including the message on the Standards home page.
I proposed changing our core values from “build from white” to “start with simplicity” to expand the concept and move away from the too-obvious design reference.
In another effort to embody helpfulness, I scrubbed the content for unnecessary information.

Impact

Every new marketing and design employee sees Brand Standards, and many use it every day.
The updates had an impact on viewership; people were about 1.5x more likely to return than before the changes.

Examples

Brand guidelines are not insignificant: they represent the company’s core values and command the attention of all of the people who tell Google’s brand story.

The changes to the brand guidelines were small, but impactful. See some of the updates below to understand how the brand evolved while I was at Google. Mainly, you’ll see I doubled down on simplifying information to make it accessible and understandable.

The left side highlights the original, and the right side showcases the updated versions I wrote.