Google | Android OS Design

Google | Android OS Design

I was the lead designer for the OS navigation and core elements in the early days of Android. Working with a visual designer, we delivered directly to engineering teams in an agile, weekly release cycle. The outcome was Honeycomb: Android’s first release for tablets.

My contributions included:
• Overall navigation flow including bars and controls.
• Home screen widget management.
• Rich notification system.
• Text and object editing modes.

Honeycomb was a major step in the evolution of Android’s experience and is still mentioned for it’s design qualities:

“Let’s just say it: the tablet Android interface peaked in Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Honeycomb was the first time—and it seems like the last time—that a designer sat down and said “What is the best possible tablet layout for this app?”

— Ars Technica, Ron Amadeo, 9/11/2016

 
 

Widget manangement: Browsing and dragging widgets to one of the home screen preview targets.

 

Recents menu: Allows for easy multitasking. Represented a new, competitive feature.

 

Text input: Starting with Honeycomb, text and object selection had a consistent interaction pattern.

 

Lock screen: With novel unlock interaction.