Android Design Principles

Android Design Principles

Delight me in surprising ways -

Android Design Principles

Delight me in surprising ways - beautiful surface, a carefully-placed animation, or a well-timed sound effect

Android Design Principles

Delight me in surprising ways - beautiful surface, a carefully-placed animation, or a well-timed sound effect

Android Design Principles

Real objects are more fun than buttons and menus -

Android Design Principles

Real objects are more fun than buttons and menus - Allow people to directly touch and manipulate objects in your app

Android Design Principles

Real objects are more fun than buttons and menus - Allow people to directly touch and manipulate objects in your app

Android Design Principles

Let me make it mine -

Android Design Principles

Let me make it mine - People love to add personal touches because it helps them feel at home and in control

Android Design Principles

Let me make it mine - People love to add personal touches because it helps them feel at home and in control

Android Design Principles

Get to know me -

Android Design Principles

Get to know me - Learn peoples' preferences over time

Android Design Principles

Get to know me - Learn peoples' preferences over time

Android Design Principles

Keep it brief -

Android Design Principles

Keep it brief - Use short phrases with simple words

Android Design Principles

Keep it brief - Use short phrases with simple words

Android Design Principles

Pictures are faster than words -

Android Design Principles

Pictures are faster than words - Consider using pictures to explain ideas

Android Design Principles

Pictures are faster than words - Consider using pictures to explain ideas

Android Design Principles

Decide for me but let me have the final say -

Android Design Principles

Decide for me but let me have the final say - Take your best guess and act rather than asking first

Android Design Principles

Decide for me but let me have the final say - Take your best guess and act rather than asking first

Android Design Principles

Only show what I need when I need it -

Android Design Principles

Only show what I need when I need it - People get overwhelmed when they see too much at once

Android Design Principles

Only show what I need when I need it - People get overwhelmed when they see too much at once

Android Design Principles

I should always know where I am -

Android Design Principles

I should always know where I am - Give people confidence that they know their way around

Android Design Principles

I should always know where I am - Give people confidence that they know their way around

Android Design Principles

Never lose my stuff -

Android Design Principles

Never lose my stuff - Save what people took time to create and let them access it from anywhere

Android Design Principles

Never lose my stuff - Save what people took time to create and let them access it from anywhere

Android Design Principles

If it looks the same, it should act the same -

Android Design Principles

If it looks the same, it should act the same - Help people discern functional differences by making them visually distinct rather than subtle

Android Design Principles

If it looks the same, it should act the same - Help people discern functional differences by making them visually distinct rather than subtle

Android Design Principles

Only interrupt me if it's important -

Android Design Principles

Only interrupt me if it's important - Like a good personal assistant, shield people from unimportant minutiae

Android Design Principles

Only interrupt me if it's important - Like a good personal assistant, shield people from unimportant minutiae

Android Design Principles

Give me tricks that work everywhere -

Android Design Principles

Give me tricks that work everywhere - Make your app easier to learn by leveraging visual patterns and muscle memory from other Android apps

Android Design Principles

Give me tricks that work everywhere - Make your app easier to learn by leveraging visual patterns and muscle memory from other Android apps

Android Design Principles

It's not my fault -

Android Design Principles

It's not my fault - Be gentle in how you prompt people to make corrections

Android Design Principles

It's not my fault - Be gentle in how you prompt people to make corrections

Android Design Principles

Sprinkle encouragement -

Android Design Principles

Sprinkle encouragement - Break complex tasks into smaller steps that can be easily accomplished

Android Design Principles

Sprinkle encouragement - Break complex tasks into smaller steps that can be easily accomplished

Android Design Principles

Do the heavy lifting for me -

Android Design Principles

Do the heavy lifting for me - Make novices feel like experts by enabling them to do things they never thought they could

Android Design Principles

Do the heavy lifting for me - Make novices feel like experts by enabling them to do things they never thought they could

Android Design Principles

Make important things fast -

Android Design Principles

Make important things fast - Not all actions are equal. Decide what's most important in your app and make it easy to find and fast to use

Android Design Principles

Make important things fast - Not all actions are equal. Decide what's most important in your app and make it easy to find and fast to use

System Bars

System Bars

System Bars

1. Status Bar -

System Bars

1. Status Bar - Displays pending notifications on the left and status, such as time, battery level, or signal strength, on the right.

System Bars

1. Status Bar - Displays pending notifications on the left and status, such as time, battery level, or signal strength, on the right.

2. Navigation Bar -

System Bars

1. Status Bar - Displays pending notifications on the left and status, such as time, battery level, or signal strength, on the right.

2. Navigation Bar - New for phones in Android 4.0, the navigation bar is present only on devices that don't have the traditional hardware keys

System Bars

1. Status Bar - Displays pending notifications on the left and status, such as time, battery level, or signal strength, on the right.

2. Navigation Bar - New for phones in Android 4.0, the navigation bar is present only on devices that don't have the traditional hardware keys

3. Combined Bar -

System Bars

1. Status Bar - Displays pending notifications on the left and status, such as time, battery level, or signal strength, on the right.

2. Navigation Bar - New for phones in Android 4.0, the navigation bar is present only on devices that don't have the traditional hardware keys

3. Combined Bar - On tablet form factors the status and navigation bars are combined into a single bar at the bottom of the screen.

NotificationsNotifications are brief messages that users can access at any time from the status bar. They provide updates, reminders, or information that's important, but not critical enough to warrant interrupting the user. Open the notifications drawer by swiping down on the status bar. Touching a notification opens the associated app.

Notifications

Notifications can be expanded to uncover more details and relevant actions. When collapsed, notifications have a one-line title and a one-line message. The recommended layout for a notification includes two lines. If necessary, you can add a third line.

Swiping a notification right or left removes it from the notification drawer.

Common App UI

Common App UI

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar -

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar - The command and control

center for your app. The main action bar includes elements for navigating your app's hierarchy and views, and also surfaces the most important actions.

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar - The command and control

center for your app. The main action bar includes elements for navigating your app's hierarchy and views, and also surfaces the most important actions.

2. View Control -

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar - The command and control

center for your app. The main action bar includes elements for navigating your app's hierarchy and views, and also surfaces the most important actions.

2. View Control - Allows users to switch between the different views that your app provides. Views typically consist of different arrangements of your data or different functional aspects of your app.

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar - The command and control

center for your app. The main action bar includes elements for navigating your app's hierarchy and views, and also surfaces the most important actions.

2. View Control - Allows users to switch between the different views that your app provides. Views typically consist of different arrangements of your data or different functional aspects of your app.

3. Content Area -

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar - The command and control

center for your app. The main action bar includes elements for navigating your app's hierarchy and views, and also surfaces the most important actions.

2. View Control - Allows users to switch between the different views that your app provides. Views typically consist of different arrangements of your data or different functional aspects of your app.

3. Content Area - The space where the content of your app is displayed.

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar - The command and control

center for your app. The main action bar includes elements for navigating your app's hierarchy and views, and also surfaces the most important actions.

2. View Control - Allows users to switch between the different views that your app provides. Views typically consist of different arrangements of your data or different functional aspects of your app.

3. Content Area - The space where the content of your app is displayed.

4. Split Action Bar -

Common App UI1. Main Action Bar - The command and control

center for your app. The main action bar includes elements for navigating your app's hierarchy and views, and also surfaces the most important actions.

2. View Control - Allows users to switch between the different views that your app provides. Views typically consist of different arrangements of your data or different functional aspects of your app.

3. Content Area - The space where the content of your app is displayed.

4. Split Action Bar - Split action bars provide a way to distribute actions across additional bars located below the main action bar or at the bottom of the screen. In this example, a split action bar moves important actions that won't fit in the main bar to the bottom.

Overview of Screens Support

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size -

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density -

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density - The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the

screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch)

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density - The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the

screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch)3. Orientation -

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density - The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the

screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch)3. Orientation - The orientation of the screen from the user's point of view.

This is either landscape or portrait, meaning that the screen's aspect ratio is either wide or tall, respectively.

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density - The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the

screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch)3. Orientation - The orientation of the screen from the user's point of view.

This is either landscape or portrait, meaning that the screen's aspect ratio is either wide or tall, respectively.

4. Resolution -

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density - The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the

screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch)3. Orientation - The orientation of the screen from the user's point of view.

This is either landscape or portrait, meaning that the screen's aspect ratio is either wide or tall, respectively.

4. Resolution - The total number of physical pixels on a screen. When adding support for multiple screens, applications do not work directly with resolution; applications should be concerned only with screen size and density

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density - The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the

screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch)3. Orientation - The orientation of the screen from the user's point of view.

This is either landscape or portrait, meaning that the screen's aspect ratio is either wide or tall, respectively.

4. Resolution - The total number of physical pixels on a screen. When adding support for multiple screens, applications do not work directly with resolution; applications should be concerned only with screen size and density

5. Density-independent pixel (dp) -

Overview of Screens SupportTerms and concepts:

1. Screen size - Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal2. Screen density - The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the

screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch)3. Orientation - The orientation of the screen from the user's point of view.

This is either landscape or portrait, meaning that the screen's aspect ratio is either wide or tall, respectively.

4. Resolution - The total number of physical pixels on a screen. When adding support for multiple screens, applications do not work directly with resolution; applications should be concerned only with screen size and density

5. Density-independent pixel (dp) - A virtual pixel unit that you should use when defining UI layout, to express layout dimensions or position in a density-independent way. The density-independent pixel is equivalent to one physical pixel on a 160 dpi screen, which is the baseline density assumed by the system for a "medium" density screen. The conversion of dp units to screen pixels is simple: px = dp * (dpi / 160)

Overview of Screens Support

Overview of Screens SupportRange of screens supported:

Overview of Screens SupportRange of screens supported:

1. Four generalized sizes -

Overview of Screens SupportRange of screens supported:

1. Four generalized sizes - small, normal, large, and xlarge

Overview of Screens SupportRange of screens supported:

1. Four generalized sizes - small, normal, large, and xlarge2. Four generalized densities -

Overview of Screens SupportRange of screens supported:

1. Four generalized sizes - small, normal, large, and xlarge2. Four generalized densities - ldpi (low), mdpi (medium), hdpi (high),

and xhdpi (extra high)

Overview of Screens SupportRange of screens supported:

1. Four generalized sizes - small, normal, large, and xlarge2. Four generalized densities - ldpi (low), mdpi (medium), hdpi (high),

and xhdpi (extra high)

Overview of Screens SupportEach generalized screen size has an associated minimum resolution that's defined by the system

1. xlarge - at least 960dp x 720dp2. large - at least 640dp x 480dp3. normal - at least 470dp x 320dp4. small - at least 426dp x 320dp

Overview of Screens SupportResource sizes for different densities:

Overview of Screens SupportFigures 1 and 2 show the difference between an application when it does not provide density independence and when it does, respectively:

Figure 1

Figure 2

Overview of Screens SupportFollowing is a list of resource directories in an application that provides different layout designs for different screen sizes and different bitmap drawables for medium, high, and extra high density screens:

res/layout/my_layout.xml // layout for normal screen size ("default") res/layout-small/my_layout.xml // layout for small screen size res/layout-large/my_layout.xml // layout for large screen size res/layout-xlarge/my_layout.xml // layout for extra large screen size res/layout-xlarge-land/my_layout.xml // layout for extra large in landscape orientation

res/drawable-mdpi/my_icon.png // bitmap for medium density res/drawable-hdpi/my_icon.png // bitmap for high density res/drawable-xhdpi/my_icon.png // bitmap for extra high density

Draw 9-patch

1. Define the stretchable patches2. Define content area (optional)

You can find this tool:<Android SDK directory>/tools

Additional info

1. http://developer.android.com/design/index.html 2. http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html#support3. http://

developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/providing-resources.html#BestMatch

4. http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design.html5. http://

developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design.html#design-tips

6. http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/multi-pane-layouts.html