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Head of Android design Matias Duarte talks future of mobile, wearables

[vimeo 91688685 w=700 h=365]

Matias Duarte — the man behind the design of every version of Android since Ice Cream Sandwich — recently took the stage with Joshua Topolsky of The Verge at the Accel Design Conference in San Francisco to participate in a fireside chat on topics ranging from Android, the future of mobile, design methodology, and wearables.

The video is available on Vimeo (via AndroidPolice), and includes 37 minutes of talk between the two. The beginning covers Duarte’s thoughts on design methodology, and he stresses that good design is always a middle ground between appearance, emotional appeal, and usability — perhaps a shot at iOS 7’s stark interface.

Additionally, Duarte stated that “mobile is dead.” His point was that users now transition from screen to screen without much thought, and that the design of the OS and apps should take that into account. Topolsky and Duarte discuss Google I/O and the recent Android Wear news at roughly 20 minutes. Duarte is wearing a prototype Wear device, but nothing comes of it — he loyally (stubbornly?) keeps the device hidden throughout the interview, despite Josh’s attempts to get him to show a little wrist.

The full video is definitely worth a watch, even if you aren’t particularly enthusiastic about design. Duarte and Topolsky’s conversation is both approachable and engaging for anyone interested in technology; they even crack some decent jokes.

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