What do you want to know?
- Since Google officially acquired the company in 2021, the Fitbit app has been overhauled, bringing it in line with the Material U design language.
- In an interview published on the Google Design website, the Fitbit UX team explained how it decided to adapt the Fitbit app to integrate with Google platforms.
- The designers share the thought process behind the transition, which spanned two years and is still ongoing.
Google officially closed its deal to acquire Fitbit nearly three years ago, and it’s still working to integrate Fitbit into its health portfolio and larger ecosystem of devices and services. We can see the impact of this project in a few ways, such as redesigning the Fitbit app to match your design language. However, we just got a rare look at the thought process behind Google’s visual overhaul of the Fitbit app via an interview with the Fitbit UX team. Google Design website.
While it’s clear that the new Fitbit app — launched in parts starting last year — fits the Material You theme, designers had to start working on the project before finalizing it. He started working two years ago and was steeped in the Light and Space art movement that began in Google’s home state of California in the late 1960s.
Matt Helme said, “We knew there was momentum around the concept of ‘form follows feeling,’ we knew it was about personalization, and we knew it was all about you – which made Really did a great job celebrating the best of Google with Fitbit,” said Mat Helme, a Fitbit product and brand design lead.
This approach to design is how we got the Fitbit app as it appears today, with light backgrounds, rich colors and multiple pastel shades. We can see the impact of Google and Fitbit’s design preferences still directing app updates, such as the just-released Fitbit Sleep Revamp.
“Fitbit’s leaning into rounded shapes and soft colors feels quite unique, and the circular form factor is a big part of how we design for that sense of growth and empathy,” said Judy Zhao, who Fitbit is a leader in visual motion and systems. Team “We are able to do this because we are combining multiple worlds into one complete health travel experience.”
However, it’s about more than just design. Fitbit’s designers also wanted to make health and fitness metrics available in a way that was easy to digest.
“We’re on a journey as a product team to make things less about data collection and more about giving you insight and actionable information to take charge of your health journey,” said Sarah Wilson, Fitbit UX Design Lead. Learn more about how to.” In practice, Wilson says this involves explaining all the fitness and health terms using charts and text that not everyone naturally understands. Going one step further, Fitbit wants to make it easy for users to take recorded data and apply it to make the right fitness and lifestyle changes.
This brings us back to the Google Pixel Watch 2, which has a circular form factor to match Fitbit’s rounded design preferences. It also includes the sensors needed to provide data that Google wants to share easily. So, it stands to reason that the Pixel Watch — and its circular form factor — is a big part of Fitbit’s strategy going forward.
Google and Fitbit integration peak
The Pixel Watch 2 combines Google’s smartwatch capabilities with Fitbit’s extensive experience in health. If you’re looking to get a great Fitbit, the Pixel Watch 2 might actually be the best choice.