As smart phones become more clever, branding needs to be more nifty as well, in order to create a coherent experience. KDDI gave us the inspiring and fun challenge to redesign the Android GUI into something more inline with their brand values, something unique and playful adapted to the Japanese market.
In our quest for a unique user experience, we went through an elaborate concept phase working closely with the client. One of our biggest realizations during the journey was that if mundane tasks can be made fun, a lot has been won. After some design and brain acrobatics we could look back at the following ideas:
- Delightful rearranging of launcher icons.
- Playfulness is rewarded with overview and sense of location.
- Elastic pages that stretch and collapse instead of mysteriously disappearing.
- A homescreen that smoothly expands or shrinks with the swipe of a finger.
With inspirations sprung out of a solid trend rapport done on location in Japan we started the process to find a unique graphic clothing. Eventually we based it on 5 fundamental ideas:
- Soft — No harsh gloss, instead we use softly lit gradients.
- Organic — Circular shapes for a friendly feeling.
- Deep — Moving through the interface, you move in space.
- Adaptable — The wallpaper should set the mood.
- Distinct — Good contrast between regular and highlighted elements.
By making the wallpaper an integral part of the design, it sets the mood for the whole homescreen. The wallpaper affects the colours of buttons, widgets, icons and windows. Some neat effects makes sure any wallpaper works swell!
Read our press release here!
See it in action! Check out the clips that were the basis for implementation — Go to YouTube
See the hardware designed by Naoto Fukasawa! Go to KDDI’s product page for the Sharp made IS01
See it in action! Check out the clips that were the basis for implementation — Go to YouTube
See the hardware designed by Naoto Fukasawa! Go to KDDI’s product page for the Sharp made IS01
Electrolux
