where is my hat
About
I’m Liam, a designer focused on the future of interface. I’ve contributed to Material Design’s adaptive capabilities through new components and layout systems, and helped independent developers, startups, and civic organizations invent or improve great human-centered experiences.
Previously, I was design lead at touchlab, where I helped partners build & launch projects like Quartz, Classpass, and LinkNYC.
I also host a podcast called Design Notes, exploring how creative work helps us relate to the world and each other.
Work Experience
Through ideation, design, iteration, and collaboration with UX research and engineering, I've contributed to new adaptive layout systems that allow the Material Design system to scale across device sizes, types, and contexts, as well as componentry that enables key adaptive use-cases for products both within and outside Google.
As a senior design advocate, I've helped shape what it means to advocate both for design and designers at Google in the context of a ~200 person cross-functional organization.
From in-person engagements and workshops, design reviews, and targeted bi-directional feedback to scaled content initiatives that support our communities, I've helped grow and improve design both within Google and on Google's platforms to create better experiences for users.
As Design Lead at touchlab, I integrated with and led partner teams to invent or improve great human-centered experiences like Quartz, Classpass, and LinkNYC, among others.
Projects
To support adaptation across device sizes and use-cases, Material needed an updated layout system.
Along with the adaptive design team, I designed and documented an approach to creating adaptive layouts and updated specifications for components, layouts, and grids.
Featured in the Updike Collection on the History of Printing and served 750,000 times per week by Google Fonts, Girassol is my first publically-available typeface, drawn from the hand-painted signage of Carcavelos, Portugal.
When adapting across screen sizes, preserving mental models through consistent navigation is crucial.
I designed and documented a new component in M2 to bridge the gap between navigating small and large screens. The navigation rail is now recommended across Android.
I led the design of key features for the launch of Google’s new developer learning platform, enabling new ways of learning from all of Google’s developer offerings and documenting progress as you go.
I led the design of the first LinkNYC interface leading up to its initial launch in Fall 2016. I contributed to the device home screen, system navigation, essential apps, splash animations, and iconography in collaboration with New York City and Intersection.
Features
What does true customisation look like? And what does it mean for design if we put power in the hands of users? We caught up with the team behind Material You to learn more about how the work to create truly personal experiences is evolving.
The advice, tips, and inspiration we need to jumpstart our creative practices in the year ahead, from all across Medium
Design Notes featured in Fast Company
When Android Central reached out to Material Design Advocate Liam Spradlin, who authored today's overview and worked extensively on the new guidelines, he said that this is just the beginning.
"Designer Chris O’Leary comments on the brilliant idea behind ‘mutative design’."
Writing
This essay interrogates the concept of intersubjectivity as it relates to the philosophy of technology and how it can be applied to the design of user interfaces, evoking a potential future for integrating AI into interfaces that facilitate a more meaningful dialogue between designers, devices, and users.
The discipline of design has historically produced fixed products. Even the term "product" implies the end of a process, or something that is completed and typically unchanging. But we know that the intent of the designer and of the person experiencing the design are engaged in an ongoing conversation. Digital products have drastically increased the pace of that conversation, introducing faster iteration, new modes of interaction, and – importantly – space to imagine a future in which a person's intent directly defines their experience of digital interfaces. This essay connects historic conceptions of interface and adaptable design with contemporary developments and visions, looking toward a truly adaptive future that transforms “users” into individual creators by directly enabling the expression of their intent.
Exhibitions
Girassol Typeface
Cherrier Typeface