Pixel Buds UX
Pixel Buds bring Google smarts right to your ears. Touch and hold the right earbud to ask your Assistant to play music, make a phone call, or get directions, all without pulling out your phone. If you have an upcoming meeting or you’re waiting on a text from a friend, the Assistant can alert you to a calendar event or incoming message, and even read it to you if you can’t look at your phone at that moment.
Interaction Design
Tap to Play & Pause media
Swipe Forward or Back to change media volume
Press & Hold to talk to Assistant
Alignment
Making Pixel Buds truly shine and be consistent with Google product family, there was deep collaboration with Assistant, Pixel and sister UX teams.
Wireless > Wired
Let's just say we tried many architectures, protoyped various interactions, went through big program changes and at the end landed on UX that didn't compromised on user needs.
Adapt to changes
To hit the better comfort target, we had to giveup on true-wireless headphones due to technical constraints like battery and available chipset.
Innovation vs Usability
To bring innovation into the design, in early stages we partnered with IXRs and explored new interactive methods like jacguard thread braiding as a capacitive cord for volume control. Fun times!
Understanding users
Partnered with Human Factors and User Research to test and get detail insights about the hardware and product category.
Mandatory work planning & cross-team alignment
Product Vision Development
