Users Don’t Hate Change. They Hate Our Design Choices.

A message appeared to users at the top of the screen that was deep in the administration system for Google’s G-Suites apps. It read “The new User management feature has more efficient workflows, time-saving features, insights about account issues and so much more. Try it now.”

The message appeared above a functional list of all users enrolled in that organization’s G-Suite subscription. It seemed everything the administrator needed to do to keep their co-workers happy was available.

Yet, progress is progress and the Google G-Suites designers felt the user management feature, which hadn’t seen much design love since it was first launched, needed an overhaul. They created a new version, which is closer in look and feel to the design system they’ve employed elsewhere. It even had some new functionality for the administrator, though the details weren’t clear from any communication beyond what was in the message.

Clicking on the message did indeed bring up a cleaner, better-looking version of the user management feature. Other than colors, spacing, and font changes, it was hard to see what the difference was.

Giving Users Control Over Design Changes

The G-Suites team made the design changes more embraceable for their users with…