Meta View App Brand Refresh
Role & Key Players
Design Manager: Robin Winters
Designer: Sarah Machicado
Collaborators: Designers and Leads from each Reality Labs design team.
Introduction
When Facebook announced its name change to "Meta," it wasn't just a new name but a fresh brand identity that came into play. This pivotal shift in branding signaled the need for a unified, cross-team effort to ensure that all Reality Labs products, such as Oculus, Portal, RayBan Stories, and others, aligned seamlessly with this new identity.
A Cross-Team Effort
With the challenge at hand, the v-team moved quickly towards leadership reviews, presenting a visual design vision and an execution plan. Our goal was to craft end-to-end cross-app scenarios with a consistent visual design language, but allowing for individual product uniqueness. As part of this effort, we also laid out a roadmap for implementation, pinpointed potential risks, and identified areas where we might need additional support.
The Starting Point
Introduced in September 2021 alongside the debut of the first-generation Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, the View App showcased a visual design language that predated my involvement. Its design was crisp, user-friendly, and exhibited consistent performance across all app interfaces.
Meta Wearable App Design System Overview
For the Meta Wearables App design system, cross-team collaboration within Reality Labs was key to creating a unified look across products. The goal was to match the app’s aesthetics with the premium feel of the glasses, shifting from a utilitarian interface to something more iconic. We incorporated elements like shimmering lights, translucent cards, and ambient glows, especially for key interactions like logging in. While this iteration won't be publicly released, it informed the product team's planning and budgeting.
Design Outcome
The proposed visual design language was all about the drama of contrasts. Deep, dark backgrounds made everything pop, and the glow effects added a hint of magic. It's like the gentle shimmer of glass. The use of iridescence gave elements a playful, ever-changing vibe, turning static screens into something dynamic.
Everything is sleek, minimal, and aligned with Meta's brand. The design felt advanced yet totally user-friendly. In short, with its mix of contrasts, subtle shimmers, and brand-cohesive visuals, this interface is setting some high digital design standards.
Impact
We secured approval in just two rounds of reviews with Jon Lax, VP of Reality Labs Design, and a final sign-off from CTO Andrew Bosworth. This success was a result of strong collaboration across multiple teams, all aligned toward a shared vision. Beyond the design, the real achievement was creating a cohesive experience. Our teamwork enabled the rapid development of a top-tier prototype, setting a solid foundation for future projects.
Feedback from a Design Manager on a partner team
Robin was a great partner in fostering a collaboration between three teams and helping to empower a team to craft a cohesive narrative across RL products. Robin provided very helpful guidance and ideas throughout the process on everything from framing the presentation, helping clarify roles and responsibilities among the various ICs, to a detail-oriented eye on elevating the craft of the work.