In a rare (and very amusing) fireside chat between Matias Duarte and Joshua Topolsky, we heard that I/O 2014 might put significantly more attention on great design as a topic. Today, a post on Google's Developer Blog is here to back up that declaration and adds that there will be sessions and workshops geared for designers and developers interested in improving their products. While there still hasn't been an official session list posted, this is surely meant to encourage designers to apply for registration before the window closes on Friday.

Google is also introducing a new video series Design Minutes, dedicated to demonstrating better practices and how effective a great design can be. Developers and engineers at Google discuss some of the things they've focused on with their products and the results of their work. Design Minutes will be showing up on the Google Developers YouTube channel along with other popular series like DevBytes and Google Developers Live. Each video has a runtime of about 2-3 minutes and well worth the time to watch.

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Jon Wiley dives into making Search faster to use through better design.

[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvPsM3uHeVw

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Sian Townsend and Jonah Jones talk about user interaction in Google Maps and Street View.

[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-lMnhiAzEw

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Isabelle Olsson discusses the physical design of Glass.

To really dive into the commitment to Design Minutes, Google also set up a Moderator page to encourage questions, comments, and requests for the designers. There are also plans to initiate discussions about design both at I/O and in various forums online in the coming months.

We've long known that Google is invested in improving the appearance and usability of its own products, and it's inspiring to see a renewed focus on helping developers and designers do the same.

Source: Google Developer Blog