Good point and I agree that we human beings are wired towards photos.
My criticism is not "Text vs. Photo" but rather how to design for "Text AND Photo". The problem with the current design is 1) if there is photo, it's really hard to notice the text; 2) if there is no photo, the text reading experience is suboptimal too.
IMHO, a good design is the one where different elements can co-exist in harmony instead of try to shout louder than the others. It is from this perspective that the new Google+ design failed.
My criticism is not "Text vs. Photo" but rather how to design for "Text AND Photo". The problem with the current design is 1) if there is photo, it's really hard to notice the text; 2) if there is no photo, the text reading experience is suboptimal too.
IMHO, a good design is the one where different elements can co-exist in harmony instead of try to shout louder than the others. It is from this perspective that the new Google+ design failed.