What you need to know
- Google has revamped the Fitbit app since officially acquiring the company in 2021, making it aligned with the Material You design language.
- In an interview published on the Google Design website, the Fitbit UX team explained how they decided to adapt the Fitbit app to integrate with Google’s platforms.
- The designers share the thought process behind the transition, which took two years and is still ongoing.
Google officially entered into a deal to acquire Fitbit about three years ago, and is still working to integrate Fitbit into its health portfolio and ecosystem of larger devices and services. We can see the effects of this project in several ways, such as the redesign of the Fitbit app that matches the Material You design language. However, we got a rare glimpse into the thought process behind Google’s visual overhaul of the Fitbit app through an interview with the Fitbit UX team posted on the Google Design website.
While it’s clear that the new Fitbit app — which launched in parts starting last year — fits the Material You theme, designers had to start working on the project before it was finalized. They started working two years ago and were drawn to the Light and Space art movement that originated in Google’s home state of California in the late 1960s.
“We knew there was momentum around ‘form follows feel,’ we knew it was about personalization and we knew it was all about you — it worked really well to celebrate the best of Google with Fitbit,” said Mat Helme, Head product design and the Fitbit brand.
This design approach is how we got the Fitbit app as it looks today, with bright backgrounds, rich colors and more pastel shades. We can see the effects of Google and Fitbit’s design preferences still guiding app updates, like the just-released Fitbit Sleep revamp.
“Fitbit’s reliance on rounded shapes and softer colors feels quite unique, and the circular form factor is a big part of our design for that sense of upliftment and compassion,” said Judy Zhao, Fitbit head of visual movement and systems. team. “We can do this because we combine multiple worlds into one holistic health travel experience.”
However, it is about more than just design. The designers at Fitbit also wanted to make health and fitness metrics available in an easily digestible way.
“We’re on a journey as a product team to be less about collecting data and more about providing insight and actionable information to take control of your health journey,” said Sarah Wilson, Fitbit UX Design Lead. In practice, Wilson says that means using charts and text to explain all the fitness and health jargon that not everyone might understand. Going one step further, Fitbit wants to make it easy for users to download recorded data and apply it to make real changes in fitness and lifestyle.
That brings us back to the Google Pixel Watch 2, which has a circular form factor that matches Fitbit’s rounded design preferences. It also includes the sensors needed to provide the data Google wants to share in an easy way. So it makes sense that the Pixel Watch — and its circular form factor — is a big part of Fitbit’s forward strategy.
The pinnacle of Google and Fitbit integration
The Pixel Watch 2 combines Google’s smartwatch expertise with Fitbit’s vast experience in health. If you’re looking for a great Fitbit, the Pixel Watch 2 might actually be the best choice.