Twitter hires Douglas Bowman from Google

Douglas Bowman, who Google gave the title of Visual Design Lead, is going to work for Twitter. This was rumoured a few weeks back on Valleywag and FastCompany, but appears to have been confirmed yesterday by Spencer Ante. We’re looking forward to Part 2 from Douglas, following up his Part 1 from just over a week ago.

Why is this news? After all people move all the time. The reason this is interesting is because it indicates a shift in the Twitter approach. What has so far been a small, tightly wound company is starting to expand. Yes, they’ve had the funding for a while, but changes like this are not to be underestimated. Consider this passing comment from Biz Stone (Twitter co-founder):

“The Twitter Web page looks pretty simple,” says Stone. “But from our perspective the design needs a lot of work.”

This is a company that has just shifted from niche developer community to mainstream social networking company in the space of 2-3 months. It is on massive trajectory and needs to ensure it presents a good experience to the masses.

Reporter Joe Tartakoff puts it well I think when describing Bowman’s role:

At Twitter, Bowman will be in charge of finding a balance between the site’s stated desire to keep things simple while also ensuring that the site’s user interface remains relevant—and useful— as the service grows in popularity.

It’s popularity been has due to its simplicity, so any changes need to ensure the site’s inherent differentiator (simplicity) isn’t sacrificed.