Matias Duarte explains why Google’s modern, magazine-style, typographic heavy design language is not Metro

November 16, 2011 | By Surur

The Verge had Matias Duarte on video yesterday explaining that Google’s new design language, which he calls modern, magazine-style, typographic heavy is not Metro simply because their design guide-lines are looser.

Yes Matias, we are completely convinced you are not actually just a talentless hack riding on the failure of your last major project, webOS.

Maybe if he worked a bit harder on their style guidelines Google Reader would not be the mess it is now.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged android, Metro, windows phone 7.5

http://www.facebook.com/todor.tsvetkov Todor Tsvetkov

Bathroom? Really?
Anonymous

I’m sorry but I just cannot put any level of confidence in someone who dresses like a used car salesman.

Anonymous

That was actually funny! Thanks!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Sergey-Durnov/100000964100298 Sergey Durnov

Lol, I was thinking about the same Car salesman, lol

Anonymous

Ice Cream Sandwich is not Metro, because it’s a bad copy. After seeing Metro, Duarte realized that Honeycomb was sh*t. Who knows who Duarte will copy next in new version of Android. He’s in search of a consistent design language…from somebody else.
Anonymous

I tried to discover what the HELL their “identity” but came up empty handed….

Talking about having NO direction at all…. Good news for WP actually…

Nazeeh Amin

I am very interested in seeing how they will balance their mission for an “identity” with OEMs skinning the device and destroying or distorting said “identity”.

Anonymous

And THIS is why their hardware vendors are getting BATTERED by patent deals…. These guys have NO original ideas worth a damn….
http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

Thief, ole, jaguda!

Anonymous

Something tells you are Yoruba:)
Anonymous

ole la ni bobo yi. even koko master fit do better.

Anonymous

“magazine-style”? The magazine he read called Metro Style. Google every day more and more pathetic
Anonymous

“Yes Matias, we are completely convinced you are not actually just a talentless hack riding on the failure of your last major project, webOS.”

Really? Those who have a website with a front page sporting not one but 2 banner ads, as well as ”You Might Like” AND a 300×300 box ad shouldn’t be casting stones at someone elses design chops. Since we ARE talking design, also having the “You Might Like” AND THREE ads between the article and comments is pretty painful.

Sorry, back on topic. I do think Duarte has given up, but as much as WebOS was an absolute failure in the marketplace, from a design perspective it was pretty solid. ICS is cobbled together, but since Google has no clue when it comes to design, Duarte must seem like a god to them.

LaBrynthe Jean-Batiste

That’s exactly what I was about to say, Bias like this is what led me away from the iOS and Android fanboy sites… webOS was great, what was done with it was weak, no one can deny that, this became a weak article once it was said that his failure was webOS…

as far as him saying that, its a very loose and weak statement… metro started a trend, there’s no denying that…

Anonymous

webOS is the best OS the problem was that it was only available on crap hardware. You mean KLM started a trend since thats where Microsoft ripped of metro, from KLMs in-flight entertainment system. KLM had this system since 2008.

Vasp

Metro definitively in Microsoft started in 2006: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_UI

And before that, it’s design genes point it to the Swiss Graphic Design style, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Typographic_Style . This style is actually also influenced the ‘magazine’ style of displaying information.

What MS did original, was to convert that style into a working computer UI language. Metro and whatever Matias wants to call this UI are not copies, but they’re siblings. Matias just chose to obscure the roots of the original inspiration – either because he’s ignorant of it (i.e. a hack), or he’s so insecure he thinks being linked to MS makes Android a worse product in the eyes of the public.

Either way, he deserves scant respect for what he said here.

Anonymous

Actually Microsoft admitt that they based Metro UI on based on signs on the King County Metro hence the name Metro. Also ‘live tiles’ the part that looks very familiar to KLM’s on board entertainment system was first released in wp7 not early versions of Metro in 2010.

Also Magazine Style is not the same as Swiss Graphic Design, while SWD is minimalist, magazine style is based upon the printed press and is the current trend in web design. Thats the point Matias was making ICS is based on a magazine style that OEMS can change to differentiate just as magazine style websites do look different.
Vasp

Citation needed.

Meanwhile, here’s Mike Kruzeniski (creative director for the Windows Phone team) talking about the inspiration of Metro. It takes from more than one metro line:
http://kruzeniski.com/2011/from-transportation-to-pixels/

Also his acknowledgement of how the Swiss Graphic Design has influenced his views:
http://kruzeniski.com/2011/how-print-design-is-the-future-of-interaction/

And here’s the an article about how the Swiss Graphic Design style made it into magazines:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/17/lessons-from-swiss-style-graphic-design/
(e.g. photos, grid formatting)

But we’re not talking metro here. We’re talking about how Android’s like a chameleon that changes the look of its skin when it sees something it likes.

If you think Metro copies from KLM, well that’s one possibility – but let’s see you defend metro by calling out Matias for referencing it to toilets as if he’s an expert in toilet signage design.
Anonymous

Sticking with your metaphor of Android being a ‘sandbox’ for OEMs play in, then the base UX would be the frame of the sandbox. You’re actually agruing that it’s okay for Durarte and the UX team to do a poor job, because others will fix it.

To strain the metaphor further, the sandbox framework built in ICS is a hodge podge of materials lifted from other playgrounds. From playing with it, they obviously liked the new Tron film, as well as the look of Metro, and still kind of like iOS icons. They’re just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Anonymous

Schmuck – criticize others work when yours isn’t good enough
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5738101 Bakari Kamau

Coming from a graphic designer, his justification of Icecream Sandwich’s (IS) design direction is pathetic. He’s essentially saying: We want to define the sandbox, but not the experience. As a UI designer, your job is TO DEFINE THE EXPERIENCE. This is where Android is least impressive as it has a weak foundation from which other issues follow.

This justification also allows him to shamelessly criticize the strong (and in my opinion, better) design decisions in WP7 and iOS without making any strong moves with his own UI.

Essentially, he’s a bullshitter. I’m sure he has some creative ideas, but he’s too busy popping off at the mouth to execute them.

Anonymous

hmm I think you miss the point. The problem OEMs have with wp7 is its very difficult to differentiate themselves from others due to the lack of customisations they can add. If the experience in a HTC device is the same as Samsung then why buy one over the other. Apple does not have this problem because they are the only iOS manufacturers. Due to allowing OEM customisation the problem Google face is they are not the end ui designers as you claim the OEMS are with touch sense, touch wiz, various others and even stock android. ICS is a a base or sandbox which others including the device owner can tailor the user experience to suit their own needs or personal preference. Android can be adapted to the person using it not just in ux but how you can connect apps together instead of the person having to adapt to the os like wp7 and iOS.

Anonymous

I do believe Bakari has the right tenor.

The Whole problem with Android/Google is one of “Justification After The Fact”.

Android/Google wanted badly to succeed in the mobile space.
How to do this as rapidly as possible?
Use the best/most successful model extant; that of Microsoft/Windows Mobile.
How to beat them at their own game; take all currently available mobile sources/codes, add a smidgen of our own proprietary s***, mix it together and give it away for free!

Was success a guarantee, no. But it was tremendously helpful that Microsoft conceded the field to Android by default by withdrawing continuation of development for Windows Mobile for a YEAR before it was replaced by Windows Phone 7. In such an absence was it any wonder that the ‘new kid’ had such a meteoric rise with OEMs when lured by its ‘free’ upfront usage?!!

Now, after the release of Microsoft’s WP7, which was not just a rehash of the Windows mobile idea, but a Fully Thought-out, designed, Foundational ‘redesign’ of a Mobile Operating System, one that has been receiving acclaim, not just for providing (eventually) all the features required by a mobile O.S., but does so Fluidly and Beautifully too.

Google, once again, sees that it needs to add “something” to its O.S.
But as usual gets it ass-backward!

The ‘Font’ Microsoft uses as/in Metro is implemented to Express IT! (Metro, that is) Not as an end feature in-of-itself (it just happens to look good whilst doing so! )

Google is promoting Roboto as the Be All, End All?!! A somewhat pointless exercise, as, apart from it probably ending up being covered by the various OEM ‘skins, its also the fact that its insultingly derivative too! (But hey, is it theft if most of your customers won’t know it was stolen?).

This is the History of Android. What they don’t seem to have learned (or hope they’ll beat) is this ‘free to customize’ model which they adopted/assimilated!

It was abandoned for a reason.

If any OEM can’t ‘differentiate’ itself by Hardware And Adding to (but Not changing!) the Core WP Experience, then either they aren’t trying hard enough, or they should pack-up and ‘go home’

I believe the days of ‘Frankenstien’ O.S’s are numbered. Something easily Identifiable, and readily Updatable is the Future!

Whew! Thank you.

Anonymous

yet currently all your assertions are wrong, Android has competed against iOS since its inception. A single hardware, easily identifiable and readily updatable yet Android has still surpassed it despite a year head start by some margin.

You regurgitate the vague Android Frankenstien mantra, yet all that really means is flexibility and choice. Androids free to customize model accounts for over 50% of smartphone’s currently being sold that’s hardly abandonment by those who count the consumer.

Differentiating hardware is limited on windows phone when all OEMs are tied to a ridged group of certified hardware. The software is the biggest differentiation as most OEMs use pretty much the latest hardware around. Most top end have 8mp cameras for example.

Android works because people are different and they want different things from their device.

As for stealing maybe you should look at the KLM entertainment system first used in 2008 and it would be insulting to say it was inspiration for metro.

http://www.facebook.com/Luffy07 Sergio Gonzalez

Actually Android was a blackberry copy first. Then came the iPhone… and they copied it. Android didn’t became successful because you can customize it but because it looked (looks) very similar to an iPhone and everybody wanted an iPhone but they couldn’t spend that much money. Now Android got his fanboys and it doesn’t matter anymore if it looks like iOS anymore.
Anonymous

lol have you ever used Android, its nothing like iOS and never has been. iOS never had an app drawer like that release in Android 1.0. Androids notification bar until iOS 5 was unique as where the widgets. Android was the first mobile platform to provide suspending and resumption of apps. Though when you look deeper the unique point in android is the intent and activity system that allows you to replace core features on the phone like the SMS client.

As for the latest version ICS it looks nothing like iOS.

Androids best selling phone the SGS 2 is was just as expensive as the iphone 4 when it was released yet many people bought and are still buying it.
Anonymous

yeah…totally unalike….

Anonymous

If the underlying Android design was well done, the OEMs wouldn’t have to customize the experience. Russian Roulette phone design is not good.
Vasp

Nokia has already differentiated itself with the 710 and 800, without yet leveraging on it’s freedom to change certain aspects of the OS.
Anonymous

The point is, OEM’s as you mentioned cannot differentiate with software, the only way they can do this with Windows Phone is by hardware. As a result, it puts the impetus and drive for innovation on the hardware and hardware design.

So any lazy OEM who doesn’t get this, will find themselves falling behind.

Anonymous

That’s right, and the innovations are actually MEANINGFUL on Windows Phone.

Android users I know like to brag about how many cores their phones have, its memory capacity, etc. But all those phones, no matter how juiced up their “specs” are, end up crippled with horrible UI “skins” and perform EXTREMELY poorly — with crappy battery life and jerky, freeze-prone operation despite their horsepower.

With elegant and efficient software at the core, my HTC Radar with Windows Phone 7.5 freed HTC to focus on the hardware. It’s elegant, durable, and gets awesome battery life.

While the Android brigade mocks its single core and smaller on-board storage, I just grin and keep using my phone on the same charge from early morning while they’re scrambling to find a charging outlet (or swapping the battery for the third time that day) and trying to recover from the latest OpenHome crash.

For WP, the experience is faster, better and smoother, regardless of what the “specs” are. The innovation by the OEM focuses on the stuff that MATTERS — battery life, hardware form factor, hardware quality, screen quality, cameras, etc. — and not on wasting time redesigning the UI to be even worse than the stock one, or stuffing in lots of extra horsepower that’s mostly wasted and wasteful in terms of battery life.

http://twitter.com/NairobiWP7 Latiff Cherono

Your answer your own question.
”The problem OEMs have with wp7 is its very difficult to differentiate themselves from others due to the lack of customisations they can add. If the experience in a HTC device is the same as Samsung then why buy one over the other?”

The difference will come in the hardware. The consistent experience of WP7 across all models will yield in more dividends than fragmenting the UI. You forget that MS has already been there and done with the “Customize your phone at will” option with WinMo. I was a long time user of Winmo and customized every facet of my phone everyday. I did the same to my Android phone (when I was waiting for WP7 to be released).

Now that I have WP7 guess what? I DONT miss “customizing” my phone. It was a PITA (hunting on forums for the latest theme etc). I just “glance and go” at my WP7 phone, letting MY Live Tiles “dynamically customize” MY data to MY needs, making the phone uniquely MINE.
Anonymous

Wonderful! So Android’s “ecosystem” delivers dozens of almost-sorta-compatible handsets that almost sorta run most (hopefully) Android software while only crashing a couple of times a day, with a UI that is completely different from app to app and no guarantee that *any* of your apps will run tomorrow.

But at least the manufacturers get to “differentiate” by overlaying their own useless, gimmicky, non-value-added UI “features” on top of the “base.”

Differentiation for differentiation’s sake is NOT value added and does NOTHING for the customer.

This is something Microsoft gets, that Google doesn’t.

Microsoft understands that there needs to be a degree of variability to encourage innovation — something Apple opposes. But there also needs to be a consistent user experience across devices and apps to deliver quality and usability — something Google STILL doesn’t get.
Richard Langlois

Sorry but I think customers should buy a phone, a tablet or a laptop for its OS and its hardware, not for the vendors rushed in software customization.
http://www.facebook.com/goodhand David Goodhand

I guess allowing the OEM’s to distinguish themselves with software if OEM’s could actually write software. They can’t. They write crap, and with Android they can even inject the crapware at the OS level.

Vasp

They’re not the same. Metro pushed the envelop a lot further. What’s disingenuous is that he didn’t acknowledge that the typography-heavy style is at least inspired by what Metro has shown to be possible.
Humberto Patricio

@Surur:disqus “Maybe if he worked a bit harder on their style guidelines Google Reader would not be the mess it is now.”

Couldnt agree more with your words!!! Google reader is complete mess, he must look first to his navel and then open his mouth…
http://www.searingarrow.com AlienSix

Google has no shame, just admit its a Metro Rip off
http://twitter.com/Wheezle211 Wheezle

“Yes Matias, we are completely convinced you are not actually just a
talentless hack riding on the failure of your last major project, webOS.”

How exactly does one ride on failure?

Vasp

Pretty well apparently.

Anonymous

Despite disliking personal attacks on company/system figures, I can only, unfortunately, describe Duarte as somewhat ‘Douchey’
Anonymous

Just man up, did he say that Metro look like bathroom design, that ios look cartoonish? If yes explain yourself and man up, why beat around the bush. It shows he is a coward and a hypocrite. You must man up to your words to make them mean something. If he said those things explain why. and go on about yourself. I hope this guy stays on at Google and ruins the company like WebOS it might not have been has fault but he was part of it. So MS has a foundation built from Zune ui, iphone from the ipod and android …
Anonymous

Love the second paragraph, and…. what a horrible shirt Matias
Anonymous

Hmmm, so behind the BS that he is spouting, all Google are really doing is jumping ship from a poor man’s iOS UI copy to a poor man’s Microsoft Metro copy.

TOTAL Fail.

ZERO originality…
http://www.facebook.com/richeymeister Mark Richey

I fail to see that stopping HTC and Nokia and Samsung from porting their specialized items to WP7. If someone wants the camera features of the Titan, these is a huge difference. The HTC hub does the exact same thing as the Android and Nokia has Drive and Music and other things to set them apart.

To be honest, when I first saw what was available to customize Android desktops, I thought, “GEe, I was doing that on my Toshiba 800e Windows Mobile device 6 years ago.

It is the dishonesty and lack of training at the carrier level that speaks volumes as to what people know about customizing WP7 for their experience vs. locked in to apps apps apps and a flowery desktop.
boschi66

Google is so original
boschi66

Google is so original.. you know u are copying if u have to start making up reasons how “ur design” how is different lolz

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