Just came back from Google I/O conference in San Francisco and since there are a zillion posts in the world already on the subject I will keep this brief and focused on what matters most... and that is of course User Experience Design. :)
The sessions were all cool as far as getting a peek at different tech coming out of Google and seeing possible uses for each but from a designers vantage point were certainly a bit dry. Since this was a developers conference this was no surprise and as one of my traveling companions Brian Beasley so humorously pointed out the "army of slumpy, pot bellied, wookiees and swishy bald Mr. Spocks" enjoyed every minute of it.
One thing I found very impressive was how approachable the Google staff hosting the events and running the sessions were... Everyone I had a chance to talk to and observed talking with other conference goers had a genuine air of enthusiasm, openness, and approachability that totally unraveled the usual comments one might hear of "Google arrogance". It was down right inspiring to see so many brilliant people bringing a sense of family and openness to cutting edge tech. Kudos Googlers!
Another inspiring aspect was the focus on open source development and the loud and clear recognition of OSS as the foundation of Googles success. This was the one of those moments where I could honestly see a clear path being forged to a near future day where all of us can be freed up from the bowels of 'CAL' hell. This sentiment was capped off by an excellent and funny as hell talk on "Open Source is Magic" by Chris DeBona... you will definitely want to check this one out when the sessions get posted on YouTube.
Aside from these musings the two high points for me from a design perspective were hands down the second day keynote by Marissa Mayer and the very last session of the conference given by a UX team from Google John Skidgel and Lindsey Simon. The keynote gave a peak into some of the research Google is using to move design from art to science by analyzing large scale A/B testing for major and minor teaks to interfaces. To do this on Google size scale has got to be fascinating and could bring a decisive end to those long drawn out meetings where the "assistant to the regional manager" has decided the app is "just not blue enough".
The UX team very generously outlined how they work together sharing their creative design process. Clearly articulating how they are working through short iterative cycles increasing prototype resolution to final product from simple sketches, to wireframes, to mocks, to prototype pages, etc... This session was digital gold as far as I am concerned and left me hoping there will be a Google Designers Conference in the near future. You will mos def want to check this one out when it gets published online.
One final note is Android. Android. Android. This is some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen in an OSS targeted project and has me panting to get involved somehow. I decided I better not go into any detail here as I will end up drooling all over my MBP and burning my crap ass cell phone in the back yard fire pit. All I can safely say is check out Android.
Here is the video of day one keynote (android is at about 0:22:00) which shows some of Google's core plans for expanding and opening up the web as a whole and making everything better in the process. I think even providing free 24 hour sushi delivery for all open source developers with a new on-demand app (but don't quote me on that as I may have just been day dreaming:) )
