Android design in action

Android Design in ActionShyamala Prayaga

WHO AM I?

480 million people currently use Android devices

More Android devices are on the market than iOS devices.

1 million new Android devices are activated each day

ANDROID IS HUGE

ACCORDING TO NEILSON STUDIES

Popular apps that become available on Android experience huge growth.

Instagram grew by 10 million users with the launch of its Android app — in just 10 days.

Despite this unprecedented

expansion of the platform, the

majority of Android Apps are NOT

THAT GREAT

Fewer QUALITY apps are in Google Play than in the iTunes Store.

WHY?

Android has been going through puberty in the past few years

Inconsistent hardware buttons is a big problem

Fight for Fragmentation

Android is not easy to learn

Better Menu discoverability

Backward Compatibility

In app navigation is much more predictable

But some CHALLENGES still

exists…

Multiple Screens

Different Hardware Types

TYPOGRAPHY

So how do we design for the NEW

age Android

UNDERSTAND ANDROID’S LOOK AND FEEL

BUILD FOR DIFFERENT HARDWARE TYPES

MAKE THE LARGE, OBVIOUS TAP TARGETS

USE DENSITY-INDEPENDENT PIXELS TO

DEFINE LAYOUT

CREATE ASSETS FOR ALL DENSITIES

PROPERLY HANDLE ORIENTATION CHANGES

FOLLOW ANDROID ICON GUIDELINES

DON’T MIMIC UI ELEMENTS FROM OTHER

PLATFORMS

DON’T MIMIC UI ELEMENTS FROM OTHER

PLATFORMS

DON’T USE BOTTOM TAB BARS

DON’T USE LABELED BACK BUTTON ON

ACTION BAR

DON’T USE RIGHT POINTING CARETS ON LINE

ITEMS

DEMO

Android Asset Studio

ICON GENERATORS — MAKE ICONS FOR YOUR APPIcon generators allow you to quickly and easily generate icons from existing source images, clipart, or text.

Launcher iconsAction bar and tab iconsNotification iconsGeneric iconsTab icons (pre-Android 3.0)Menu icons (pre-Android 3.0)

OTHER GENERATORS — MISCELLANEOUS ASSET CREATION TOOLSDevice frame generator (or see the

official version for Nexus devices)Simple nine-patch generator

COMMUNITY TOOLS — SIMILAR TOOLS FROM THE OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITYAndroid Action Bar Style Generator by Jeff GilfeltAndroid Holo Colors Generator by Jérôme Van Der Linden

QUESTIONS

REFERENCES

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones.html

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/13/2946602/instagram-40-million-usersINSTAGRAM