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Design like Google

Turn a product's purpose into a distinctive identity and an instantly clear experience, with Google-level craft.

5 steps7 rulesStep 9 of 9 in Brand kit

Use this skill

Read https://isklls.com/s/design-like-google and follow it.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini or any agent that can open a link, then add your task.

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Purpose::

Turn a product's purpose into a distinctive identity and an immediately understandable experience, with the craft and family coherence of Google's products.

Rules::

  • Inherit principles, specialise expression: shared interaction, accessibility and type hierarchy; each product owns its symbol, accent, imagery and signature behaviour
  • Make the complicated feel approachable: the essential object or action in the centre, short human language, advanced options revealed when relevant
  • Typography does the work: display, headline, title, body and label roles; large regular weight can feel confident, bold has a different job
  • Compose around attention: one clear priority per view, a repeatable spacing rhythm, supporting controls quieter than content
  • Color and shape have roles: identity accents apart from status colors, contrast checked in real components and dark mode, a small shape scale
  • One signature behaviour with an origin, destination and reason; support reduced motion
  • Trust is the finish: visible focus, keyboard use, readable contrast, comfortable targets, useful loading, empty and error states

Inventory::

  • Product name, narrative, audience, primary task, existing brand assets, target surfaces
  • Google Sans Flex on Google Fonts; Material Color Utilities for tonal schemes

Steps::

  1. 1Frame: one sentence each for the user need, the promise and the feeling; name the primary object, action and hardest state
  2. 2Explore: a few materially different concepts, each shown with real copy, type, palette, mark and one screen
  3. 3Systemize: exact tokens, assets, component variants, tone and signature behaviour; one canonical definition per decision
  4. 4Apply: build the real surface with real content; recompose for desktop and mobile
  5. 5Refine: render and inspect fonts, line breaks, spacing, color, loading, failures, narrow layouts and keyboard use; fix specific weaknesses

Metrics::

  • A first-time visitor understands the promise and the next action
  • The product is recognisable without oversized branding
  • The identity survives tiny icons, large displays, monochrome and dark mode
  • The important journey works with realistic content and bad states
Design.md

Purpose:: One image with 3 hero ideas for the home page, above the fold; the best one leads the whole brand.

Steps::

  1. 1. Read who the project is for and what it promises
  2. 2. Dream up 3 bold, unique directions
  3. 3. Make one tall image (9:16): the 3 heroes stacked, numbered 1-3
  4. 4. Look at it; redo any hero that looks like another

Draft three hero directions

One image with 3 bold, truly different above-the-fold ideas, then pick the one that leads the brand.

Design.md

Purpose:: The best Google Fonts pair for this brand: one headline font, one paragraph font.

Steps::

  1. 1. Read who it is for, what it promises and how it should sound
  2. 2. Find the Google font that carries that voice in a headline
  3. 3. Pair a calm paragraph font; test both on a real sentence of your copy
  4. 4. Reply: Headline: <font>, Paragraph: <font>, Why: <one line>

Pick a Google font pair

One headline and one paragraph font from Google Fonts that carry your brand's voice.

Design.md

Purpose:: 6 palette options for the brand, then the best one picked, like on coolors.co.

Steps::

  1. 1. Read the config and look at the picked hero
  2. 2. Make 6 palettes, one mood each
  3. 3. Check text on background contrast for each
  4. 4. Pick the one that fits the brand best

Build a color palette

Six palettes in six moods, five colors each, then the one that works on a real site.

Design.md

Purpose:: One image with a 12x12 grid of logomark ideas: the inventory for your logo and favicon.

Steps::

  1. 1. Read the name, narrative and palette
  2. 2. Look at the picked hero
  3. 3. Make the 12x12 grid
  4. 4. Reply with the image, then the 3 strongest marks by row and column, one line each

Generate a logomark grid

A 12x12 grid of 144 mark ideas to pick your logo and favicon from.