We strive to design beautiful products that people love. After all, consumers are our most important jury. But we appreciate it when that work is recognized within the design community as well. This year, Motorola received an unprecedented four ‘Red Dot’ Design Awards for several of our latest products, including Moto X and three of our Bluetooth-enabled devices, the Motorola Roadster Pro automotive speaker and the Motorola Whisper and Motorola Sliver II headsets.

Red Dot is an international design competition that’s been around since 1954. Each year, products are judged by a group of design experts and winners are selected based on their ability to exemplify the highest level of design in innovation and execution.

The Red Dot awards validate all the time and effort our Consumer Experience Design team puts into making sure our products look and feel great and are a pleasure to use. Design has always been central to Motorola, and we’re proud to have a tradition of iconic products that extend back through the RAZR flip phone, the StarTAC (the original “flip phone”) and all the way back to the DynaTAC. That same spirit is guiding the design of our current products, like the ones honored by Red Dot, and upcoming ones like Moto 360. It’s an honor for our design team to be recognized in such elite company.

We celebrated April Fools’ this week by enlisting the help of some of our favorite mysterious creatures. A UFO, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Yeti all pitched in to create Motorola’s surprise stop-motion animation for users who powered up their phones on April 1 (it will be available for 11 more days!). But the story of our boot up began with a creative animator and a vision to bring the art of stop-motion to the new medium of phones. For this week’s Download, we want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what it took to bring our latest Motorola Boot Services animation to life.

With Motorola phones, we are always working to deliver highly personal experiences customized for you. And that meant starting from the very beginning: the time you start-up your phone. If you haven’t noticed, we like to change these boot-up greeting animations often to make them timely and seasonal for you.

“We said, how about we give a life to the boot up, make the animation richer, and tie it to what our users care about,” said Motorola product manager Meet Jariwala.

Ultimately, it took 192 frames—that’s the number of individual pictures used to create this week’s April Fools’ stop-motion animation start to finish. It’s a beautiful, centuries-old craft that involves masterfully stitching together a series of photos to create a story.

“For this project, stop-motion was a fun choice,” animator Kirsten Lepore said. “It had a handmade feel for the canvas of the phone, and you could really develop things like fur for the Yeti. It’s always more fun when you can see small details.” Stop-motion gave the animation a human touch and fit the personal nature of phones, which are always updating.



It began with developing the characters in 2D sketches then creating each of the characters as 7-inch puppets by hand. Then Kirsten designed a set for the puppets and, frame by frame, took pictures of the puppets to make the animation.
“As a stop motion animator, you almost have the job of a director because you have to capture the performance of the puppet,” Kirsten said. “So you give personality to it in the way it moves and acts.”

Want to meet each of the characters? Kirsten introduced us.


The Loch Ness Monster - 6” x 2” - “The Loch Ness Monster is very happy. He’s also playful because he sticks his tongue out as we zoom up, almost teasing the audience. The Loch Ness Monster was clay because I knew he would move a lot, and clay is very flexible.”


The Alien - 6” x 6” - “The Alien is mischievous. He smiles a little wider before he shoots his alien beam. I actually laid LEDs into the Alien ship so that he could light up, and it gave more dimension to the puppet, especially since the rest of the material was reflective.”


The Yeti - 7”-tall - “He looks tough, but he’s also kind of a scaredy cat when he gets caught in the act and runs away once the spotlight is on him. I built the Yeti more rigid because he’s more human, a little stiff, and intimidating. He chickens out in the end, so I also made him furry. I applied all the hair on him by hand. I gave him a clay face to make his face very expressive.”

Watch these characters come to life with the latest Motorola Boot Services from Google Play Store when you restart your phone. And be on the lookout for more exciting start-up animations to come.

Just another week of software updates. Stay tuned for more, and let us know what you think on our Google+, Twitter, and Facebook.

Posted by Punit Soni, Product Management

It’s only been seven months since Moto X launched, and ever since then our team has pushed hard to execute on a strategy of releasing apps quickly and then iterating nimbly. This was our strategy from the beginning, and we hope our fans are feeling the benefit across all our products. With our Camera update today, we mark 48 updates since that August launch!

But that’s only one of the updates that we’ve turned out the past two weeks. And fear not, there is still more to come.

Here’s the latest Download.

Press to Snap - We designed the Camera app to help people take pictures more quickly and more naturally. That’s why you can easily snap a photo by touching anywhere on the screen and on Moto X you can launch your camera with two twists of your wrist. For those that prefer the click of a physical button, though, this new update lets you take a picture by just pressing the volume button on your Moto X, Moto G, or Droid Ultra.

Scroll Down Memory Lane - Our new Motorola Gallery update brings a new way to browse through your photos in the timeline, making it easy to navigate galleries large and small. Just swipe though each event to see your photos. This, along with other changes, streamlines our interface across the app. The result is a more beautiful and more elegant gallery, and you’re able to see more of your own photos and videos wherever you look.

It’s time for a watch that looks and feels great and gives you the information you need, when you need it.

It’s time for Moto 360, a truly modern timepiece, designed by Motorola, powered by Android Wear.

The wristwatch has been through several evolutions since it first became a popular fashion accessory more than a 100 years ago. From mechanical to electronic movements, analog to digital faces, the wristwatch has been reinvented several times over, but the basic design has endured for a century because of its elegance and usefulness ‘at a glance.’ Our vision for Moto 360 was to celebrate that history as we reimagined the wristwatch for the future.

Moto 360 keeps you on time and up to date without taking you out of the moment or distracting you, telling you what you need to know before you know you need it through subtle alerts and notifications. With just a twist of the wrist you can see who’s emailing or calling, what time your next meeting is or a friend’s latest social post.

Moto 360 also responds to your voice. Just say “Ok Google” to ask questions like who won the Stanford vs. New Mexico game or what time your flight leaves, or to get stuff done like scheduling an appointment, sending a text, setting an alarm or taking a note.

Most importantly, Moto 360’s iconic design, featuring a round face and premium materials, feels comfortable and familiar on your wrist. It’s everything you need, with a look that you want.

Moto 360 will be available in a variety of styles globally in Summer 2014, starting in the US. To learn more about Moto 360 and stay up to date on product news, click here.




Posted by Lior Ron, CVP Product Management


IMAGES: Click this link for images (you agree to our license terms when downloading images).

Media Note: To learn more about the unique design elements of Moto 360, join Jim Wicks, head of Motorola Consumer Experience Design, for a live Hangout on Air on Wednesday, March 19 at 1pm CT. During the Hangout, we will share more specifics on the unique design elements of the watch and answer related questions. To participate, you can register on our Google+ page here.

Developer note: We want to hear what you think! We can’t wait to see what great apps you’ll create for the distinct round face of Moto 360. Share your ideas with us here.

Moto Maker lets you express yourself and your style through your phone. Now, you can express your school spirit too! Just in time for the tournament, we’re introducing the College Collection, a range of college-inspired Moto X customization options that allow you to showcase your favorite school colors. We took a look at college colors across the board and added nine new back colors and three new accents to our Moto Maker palette so you can create the ultimate fan phone.

Starting today you can visit our College Collection design gallery and select from pre-configured school color combinations and clear cases1 with school logos and team names for up to 40 schools and counting. Don’t see your favorite team? Mix and match with the new color palette to create your perfect combination.

A custom Moto X from the College Collection is now available starting at the everyday price of $399 off-contract or $49 with a new two year contract. Currently in college? We’d like to sweeten the deal with a student discount2. Register at motorola.com/college with a valid .edu address and you can get an off-contract Moto X for the discounted price of $339.

The College Collection is just one of the many ways to get customization inspiration for your Moto X. Visit the new design gallery curated by our Moto Maker team and designers for more ideas and create yours today!


Posted by Ravi Thakkar, Group Product Manager


1 Officially Licensed College cases by Uncommon, cases available at an additional cost
2 Must have a valid .edu email address to receive discount

We’ve got a bunch of new updates to share with you all. We’re keeping the momentum going this week with a swath of new enhancements that both tighten up the backend and bring some new goodies to the user experience.