New York-based design studio ustwo is the developer behind Monument Valley, one of Co.Design's favorite games, which places players in a stranger, Escher-esque land of puzzles. But did you know that ustwo also designed many of the first Android Wear watch faces that came out this past December? They did, and in this short but informative video, they walk us through their design process.
In a lot of ways, it appears, designing a display for a smartwatch is a lot like designing a level for Monument Valley: context and perspective is key. "We don't experience design as numbers on a display, but as a context," one of ustwo's designers says in the video.
And for ustwo, designing a good digital watch face is similar. When two people are staring at their watches, they may both see that it's 3:25, but the significance of that time with regard to their respective schedules. The promise of digital watches, like Android Wear and the upcoming Apple Watch, is about "showing data through the lens of time, and then combining them together to make something more."