Google Hub Home Screen

Designing a glanceable, ambient-first home interface for Google Hub that will unify media, environment, and device control into a calm, context-aware experience for shared domestic spaces.

Tenure: 2022
Domains: Smart Home, Ambient Computing, Consumer IoT
Platforms: Smart Display / Voice-First Device

My role

Owned the end-to-end UX design of the dashboard experience, from information architecture and interaction model to concept storytelling. Defined the modular card framework, designed for distance-based readability and multi-user household scenarios, and translated Google’s ambient computing principles into a cohesive, production-ready UI vision.

Strategic Impact & Leadership

• Ambient-First Experience for Shared Environments: Structured the dashboard around passive consumption and quick interaction patterns, enabling users to understand home status, media, and key controls from across the room without direct touch.
• Unifying Fragmented Smart-Home Actions into a Single Surface: Designed a modular card system that brings together weather, media, climate, cameras, and vehicle data into one cohesive, scalable interface — reducing the need to navigate between multiple apps.
• Designing for Multi-User Household Contexts: Created a layout that supports shared ownership, fast profile recognition, and family-aware interactions while maintaining clarity and visual balance on a persistent screen.
• Glanceable Data Through Spatial Hierarchy and Motion Readiness: Used depth, contrast, and card prioritization to surface the most relevant information for the current moment, optimizing for quick comprehension at varying distances and lighting conditions.
• Calm Brand Expression Through Material, Light, and Color: Translated Google’s ambient computing principles into a tactile, soft visual system that blends into the home environment while remaining readable and interactive.

Methods & Practice

• Modular card system for scalable smart-home surfaces
• Multi-user and shared-device interaction models
• Cross-device ecosystem thinking (media, IoT, mobility)
• Concept visualization

Work-in-progress design

Low-fi visualization of the Home Screen for Google Hub

Final design

Hub in a particular room

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