Google’s applications, such as Gmail, Calendar, and Google Reader have gained huge popularity for their usefulness. Same goes for Twitter – it still seems odd to me to hear 60 year-old news anchors saying “follow me on Twitter”, but I digress.

However, what these applications have in usefulness, they sometimes lack in design aesthetic. That’s where the following themes/userscripts/whathaveyous come in. I present to you 4 solutions to make your online life simpler and more beautiful: Helveti-apps.

All of these apps are free and relatively easy to implement*. Instructions on how to implement are on each respective linked page, and I have to give some love to swiss miss, where I originally saw these.

HELVETIREADER

Of all these themes, I find Helvetireader to be the best solution. Google’s Reader works great, but if we’re talking looks – I can’t stand it. So much that I stopped using it and went back to Yahoo. Helvetireader might get me over to Google again though.

HELVETIMAIL

Sure, Gmail has a bunch of themes, but none can touch the unrivaled simplicity & beauty of Helvetimail.

HELVETICAL

It’s like Google Calendar and Helvetica made a baby!

HELVETWITTER

Finally, Helvetica takes Twitter and makes it super-simplified.

Combine all of these scripts, and it’s like you’ve branded your web experience with Helvetica. Not bad! Pass it on to your friends and they’ll thank you for aestheticizing their lives. But before you leave, subscribe to the RSS feed!

*note: These work great on Firefox, but I actually couldn’t get Greasekit to install on Safari 4, which sucks. If you have any tips, please hit me up!