The Importance of Design

There was some exciting news announced today from 1600 Amphitheater Parkway.  Matias Duarte, who is almost unarguably the king of mobile interface design, has left Palm – and his design masterpiece known as WebOS – for the little green robot we know as Android.  The implications of this move are earthshaking, at least to me.  The importance of a quality user interface design for any technological device is without question, and Matias’ move holds the potentiality of fixing one of the only flaws that currently exist in Android; a drab, unintuitive interface.

The Android interface isn’t bad, per se, it’s just not great.  There’s nothing about it that feels cohesive, easy to use, or even really unique.  It’s a medicore attempt at the iPhone user interface, which to me and 10’s of millions of others, is a usable piece of art.  There is a cohesion across the iPhone experience that you cannot find anywhere else, except perhaps in areas of WebOS.

Most companies underestimate the importance of a really sexy, usable interface.  This is the way we as humans interact with our technology.  We don’t tap on the microchips, or watch the electricity flowing through the capacitors.  We press buttons, swipe menus and tap keys, and that process needs to be effortless; as if it was an extension of ourself.  This step by Google shows that they are finally prepared to make a concerted foray into how people interact with their products.

Android works, and it works well.  The recent Froyo update gives me goosebumps with how well it performs.  But performance is only part of the equation.  If you build a car that does 0-60 in 4 seconds, it isn’t going to mean a lick if every time someone tries to drive it, they careen off the road and into a tree.  Android needs to be molded from a 1994 Ford Explorer, into a 2010 Audi R8, and if there’s anyone that can accomplish this task, it’s Matias Duarte.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, and when we’ll begin to see his vision on our Google devices.  The other interesting possibility is what sort of influence Matias would have on a tablet interface.