5 ms·

The problem seems to be that Google doesn't have any real design rules, they just have designers, and these guys rotate in and out every year or two, bringing t

The problem seems to be that Google doesn't have any real design rules, they just have designers, and these guys rotate in and out every year or two, bringing their own pet ideas with them. So what you're looking at is whatever the designer they hired two years ago had on his mind. Android is rife with clear evidence that the project has no design guidelines. All of the UIs change completely in every release.

xienze 12y ago
That's a good point. I think the other part of the problem is that Android demonstrates what happens when you let developers run wild, as much as it pains me to say that. As developers we always want new, new, new! Rip out the old stuff! But we don't always think about the consequences that has on customers. Or I should say, in a typical company you quickly learn that you can't just change things on a whim. Google is not typical though...
radley 12y ago
That's absurd. Matías has been with Google since 2010. The look and feel has changed, but it's more evolution that whimsy. Mobile is the most competitive market on the planet right now. Eye candy is essential to showing growth and momentum. Most people aren't looking under the hood, particularly now that hardware specs are leveling off.
nostrademons 12y ago
(Background: I worked on 3 visual redesigns for Google Search, and was an early tech lead for the Quantum Paper stuff that's being demoed today. I no longer work at Google. This was actually the last project I worked on.) The design changeover is being driven from the top. Ever since Steve Jobs has died and Larry took over as CEO, he's gotten the design religion, and his goal is for Google's design to remain fresh and drive trends forward perpetually. So as far as the company is concerned, this is a feature, not a bug. It's true that the individual designers responsible for doing the design often vary from project to project. However, there's a fair amount of continuity as well. The designer who initiated the design refresh announced today has been with the company since 2006; the designer I worked with for the visual refresh of 2010 now heads up design for all of Search. They are explicitly told by executives to make things fresh and remove previous constraints when imagining the new Google.
- thrownaway2424 12y ago
  The Android G+ application just went through a major redesign. It looks nothing like its predecessor and it looks nothing like what was announced at I/O today. It also looks nothing like any other current Android KitKat app (no drawer on the left side, no floating search box, etc). What planet did that design come from?
  - nostrademons 12y ago
    Charleston Rd, Mountain View, I assume. ;-) Snark aside, I think you're seeing two effects. One is designers wanting to be creative and innovative (which is a top-down directive) without also talking with their counterparts in other areas of the company. This will get corrected over time; periodically the company tries to line up all of its products so that they're consistent across all of Google. The last major such project was Kennedy; Quantum is the next one, so I suspect Android G+ will eventually change to conform with the Quantum styleguides just announced. The other effect is that design rules are different for big companies than they are for small app developers. Small app developers want to fit in with the platform styleguides, because they face intense competition, are only a tiny part of the total ecosystem, and so if they deviate from the expected UI it only harms themselves. Big companies want to set the standards, and so they encourage their designers to be bold and adventurous, in the hopes of creating the trends. And the Android G+ app has been a trendsetter in the past; some of the recent move towards very image-heavy apps (across both web and mobile) was pioneered by them back around 2011 and 2012.
    - gohrt 12y ago
      > so I suspect Android G+ will eventually change to conform with the Quantum styleguides just announced. presumably the week before the next UI paradigm is announced at I/O 2016...
      - MAGZine 12y ago
        Hurr Hurr, two years right guys? Honeycomb was introduced in 2011. That's three years. And besides, Android is on design iteration #3, Apple is on #2, and I think most would agree iOS was aged pretty badly by the time it got #2. Personally, I find Android's 2.x design about as much as a design as a factory floor's sounds 'music'.
zmmmmm 12y ago
> Google doesn't have any real design rules That seems a little unfair - they are going to extraordinary lengths to spell out design rules - to the point of publishing entire voluminous web sites about it: http://www.google.com/design/ http://www.google.com/design/ A huge chunk of the presentation was about their philosophy. You might not like it, but they are definitely trying.
hexleo 12y ago
Whether the OS is charming all depend on it's UI. Android's UI let me down. But a reason let me like android, because of open OS, everyone can design their own UI.

xienze 12y ago

That's a good point. I think the other part of the problem is that Android demonstrates what happens when you let developers run wild, as much as it pains me to say that. As developers we always want new, new, new! Rip out the old stuff! But we don't always think about the consequences that has on customers. Or I should say, in a typical company you quickly learn that you can't just change things on a whim. Google is not typical though...

radley 12y ago

That's absurd. Matías has been with Google since 2010. The look and feel has changed, but it's more evolution that whimsy. Mobile is the most competitive market on the planet right now. Eye candy is essential to showing growth and momentum. Most people aren't looking under the hood, particularly now that hardware specs are leveling off.

nostrademons 12y ago

(Background: I worked on 3 visual redesigns for Google Search, and was an early tech lead for the Quantum Paper stuff that's being demoed today. I no longer work at Google. This was actually the last project I worked on.) The design changeover is being driven from the top. Ever since Steve Jobs has died and Larry took over as CEO, he's gotten the design religion, and his goal is for Google's design to remain fresh and drive trends forward perpetually. So as far as the company is concerned, this is a feature, not a bug. It's true that the individual designers responsible for doing the design often vary from project to project. However, there's a fair amount of continuity as well. The designer who initiated the design refresh announced today has been with the company since 2006; the designer I worked with for the visual refresh of 2010 now heads up design for all of Search. They are explicitly told by executives to make things fresh and remove previous constraints when imagining the new Google.

thrownaway2424 12y ago
The Android G+ application just went through a major redesign. It looks nothing like its predecessor and it looks nothing like what was announced at I/O today. It also looks nothing like any other current Android KitKat app (no drawer on the left side, no floating search box, etc). What planet did that design come from?
- nostrademons 12y ago
  Charleston Rd, Mountain View, I assume. ;-) Snark aside, I think you're seeing two effects. One is designers wanting to be creative and innovative (which is a top-down directive) without also talking with their counterparts in other areas of the company. This will get corrected over time; periodically the company tries to line up all of its products so that they're consistent across all of Google. The last major such project was Kennedy; Quantum is the next one, so I suspect Android G+ will eventually change to conform with the Quantum styleguides just announced. The other effect is that design rules are different for big companies than they are for small app developers. Small app developers want to fit in with the platform styleguides, because they face intense competition, are only a tiny part of the total ecosystem, and so if they deviate from the expected UI it only harms themselves. Big companies want to set the standards, and so they encourage their designers to be bold and adventurous, in the hopes of creating the trends. And the Android G+ app has been a trendsetter in the past; some of the recent move towards very image-heavy apps (across both web and mobile) was pioneered by them back around 2011 and 2012.
  - gohrt 12y ago
    > so I suspect Android G+ will eventually change to conform with the Quantum styleguides just announced. presumably the week before the next UI paradigm is announced at I/O 2016...
    - MAGZine 12y ago
      Hurr Hurr, two years right guys? Honeycomb was introduced in 2011. That's three years. And besides, Android is on design iteration #3, Apple is on #2, and I think most would agree iOS was aged pretty badly by the time it got #2. Personally, I find Android's 2.x design about as much as a design as a factory floor's sounds 'music'.

zmmmmm 12y ago

> Google doesn't have any real design rules That seems a little unfair - they are going to extraordinary lengths to spell out design rules - to the point of publishing entire voluminous web sites about it: http://www.google.com/design/ http://www.google.com/design/ A huge chunk of the presentation was about their philosophy. You might not like it, but they are definitely trying.

hexleo 12y ago

Whether the OS is charming all depend on it's UI. Android's UI let me down. But a reason let me like android, because of open OS, everyone can design their own UI.