I’m Liam, a designer focused on the future of the software interface.
I’ve worked on projects with indie devs, startups, cities, and multinational companies. These are a few of my favorite projects.
Design
Material Design Adaptive Layout System
I designed and documented an approach to creating adaptive layouts and spec updates for components, layouts, and grids.
See the specs: Understanding Layout | Responsive Layout Grid | Component Behavior
Material Navigation Rail
I designed and documented a new component to bridge the gap between navigating small and large screens. The navigation rail is now recommended across Android.
Google.dev
I led the design of key features for the launch of Google’s new developer learning platform, which enables new ways of learning from all of Google’s developer offerings and document progress as you go.
LinkNYC
I led the design of the first LinkNYC interface before its launch in the Fall of 2016. In collaboration with New York City and Intersection, I contributed to the device's home screen, system navigation, essential apps, splash animations, and iconography.
Girassol Typeface (In the Updike Collection on the History of Printing)
My typeface, Girassol, was added to the Updike Collection in Providence, Rhode Island, after placing as a finalist for the Updike prize for student type design. Girassol is served 750,000 times per week by Google Fonts.
Exploring the meaning of design through writing is crucial to my practice. Here are a few recent thoughts.
Writing
Illustration by Ingo Giezendanner
2024 (Ongoing)
Doubleshot Newsletter
The bi-weekly Interface Café newsletter, with practical design advice and short theoretical explorations.
Available on Interface Café
2023
Reshaping our expectations for generative design
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. Published on Jarrett Fuller’s Scratching the Surface.
2022
The Future of Design is Still Personal
Connecting historical conceptions of adaptable design with contemporary visions, looking toward a truly adaptive future.
Published on Interface Café and delivered at conferences internationally.
Material Icons Interview: SeHee Lee
FAn interview with Senior Visual Designer leading icons and design systems for Google Fonts, Sehee Lee.
Published on the Material Design blog
How Oddfellows Illustrated Material You
An interview piece exploring the new illustrations that brought the Material Design 3 site to life, with several members of the Oddfellows studio.
Published on the Material Design blog
My work gets noticed! Here are a few conversations and mentions I’m proud of. Find all my talks, interviews, and coverage on the complete timeline page.
Press
2024
Techsploder Podcast
“Material Design, typeface creation, ‘bad’ design”
2023
It’s Nice That
“From accessibility to font choice, Google’s designers are building for the individual”
2021
Android Central
Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast
2019
Fast Company
“Designers at Apple, MoMA, and more share the podcasts they never miss”
Find all press and interviews in the complete timeline.
I teach what I’ve learned and what I’m learning. I’ve been lucky to speak about the theory and practice of design all over the world.
Talks
2024
UX Research & Strategy Seminar by Members Co., Japan
“The Real Promise of AI in Design: Beyond Productivity and Towards Intersubjectivity”
2023
Front Conference Zürich
“The Real Promise of AI in Design: Beyond Productivity and Towards Intersubjectivity”
2022
Web Directions Summit
“A New Future for the Interface: Reaching Toward True Adaptation”
Android Developers Summit
“Design beautiful apps on foldables and large screens”
2020
Typographics TypeLab
“Na Praceta Do Girassol: The Time, Place, and Identity Encoded in a Typeface”
2019
CUNY Design Program
Private session with students on the history of design at Google.
Find all talks and workshops in the complete timeline.
2023–Present
Queer Coding Camp
Introduction to the Interface: Half- and Full-day workshops.
Teaching
2023–Present
Senior Interaction Designer, Material Adaptive, Google
Through ideation, design, iteration, and collaboration with UX research and engineering, I've contributed to new adaptive systems that allow the Material Design system to scale across device sizes, types, and contexts. I've also contributed componentry that enables key adaptive use cases for products both within and outside Google.
2020–2023
Senior Design Advocate, Google
As a senior design advocate, I've helped shape what it means to advocate for design and designers at Google in the context of a ~200-person cross-functional organization.
During this period, I also integrated directly with the Material Design team to shape the system’s strategy, working on new components and system capabilities that led to new best practices on Android.
2017–2020
Design Advocate, Google
From in-person engagements and workshops, design reviews, and targeted bidirectional 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 user experiences.
2015–2017
Design Lead, Touchlab
As Design Lead at touchlab, I integrated with and led design teams within partner companies to invent or improve great human-centered experiences like Quartz, Classpass, Tim Hortons, and LinkNYC.