Google Launches Jetpack Compose Glimmer: A New Spatial UI Framework Built Specifically for the Next Generation of AI Glasses

Google is moving beyond the rectangular screen. For more than 10 years, Google designers have explored how to create visual links. The result is Jetpack Name Glimmera specially designed design system show AI glasses. For devs and data scientists, this is a shift from designing with pixels to designing with light.

Additive Display Constraint

Most developers are used to LCD or OLED screens. However, AI glasses do additional displays. These displays only add light to the user’s field of vision. They cannot create opaque black or make the real world black.

In the additional display, black color is 100% transparent.. It is not a color; it’s useless. If you use a normal Material Design card (bright area with dark text), it fails. The bright spot becomes a block of light that drains the battery and creates halation. Halation is an effect where bright light bleeds into dark areas, making text illegible.

To solve this, devs should use dark areas and light content. Using black as a base provides a ‘clean plate’ for the UI. This allows digital objects to blend in with the world without creating distracting glare.

From pixels to visual angles

Software Devs usually measure UI in pixels or points. In a transparent environment, these units are not important. The perceived size of an object changes based on its distance from the eye.

The Google team is now measuring the UI visible angles or degrees. The reflection in these mirrors is shown at an assumed depth of 1 meterwhich is about an arm’s length. This distance requires the user to shift their focus from the background to the UI.

To ensure relevance, Google has established a minimum readable text size 0.6 degrees. Keeping text above this limit ensures that the interface remains ‘lookable’ in different environments.

Engineering Typography for Light

Standard fonts often fail on transparent lenses. The Google team is ready Google Sans Flex by using it optical size axis to fix this. These technical changes make the characters very different:

• Advanced Counters: The internal spaces for letters like ‘a’ and ‘e’ are large so they don’t blur.
• Modified Dots: The dots in the ‘i’ and ‘j’ are offset from the main letter half.
• Variable letter-spacing: The system optimizes the space with code to increase clarity at a glance.

Additive Contrast Formula

The Google team uses a specific formula to calculate visibility. This is added contrast ratio.

The formula is: (Natural Contrast + Reflectance) / Reflectance.

In the real world, colors behave differently. Oversaturated colors tend to ‘disappear’ or appear ghostly in bright skies. Glimmer uses a neutral, default palette. By keeping colors close to white, the UI remains stable and visible regardless of room lighting.

Designing the Movement of People’s Attention

In advanced displays, motion can be a major distraction. In normal mobile development, the notification may appear on 500 milliseconds. For AI glasses, this is very fast. It creates a ‘blink’ that can even startle the user.

Glimmer uses a slow, very deliberate evolution of notifications. These animations happen over 2 seconds. This length of time allows the notification to enter the user’s peripheral vision properly. It invites focus rather than demanding it.

However, user-triggered actions (such as a voice command or gesture) are still required low latency response. Glimmer uses ‘focus rings’ to provide instant confirmation that the system has received input. This creates a balance between ambient notifications and responsive controls.

Key Takeaways

• Black Is Obvious, Not Color: Because AI glasses use additional displaysthey can only add light; they cannot create true black or shadows. In this place, black color is 100% transparent.. To ensure relevance, devs should use a dark environment for containers and bright colors for text and icons.
• Visual angles replace pixels: Standard units such as pixels (px) are replaced by apparent angles (degrees). Since the UI is displayed at an assumed depth of 1 meterobjects should be larger than the human eye can see. The minimum readable text limit is set to 0.6 degrees.
• Additive Contrast Formula: Devs should respond with natural light using the formula: (Natural Contrast + Reflectance) / Reflectance. Because saturated colors tend to ‘disappear’ against the bright background of the real world, a neutral, saturated palette is used to maintain visibility.
• Developing Optical Typography: The common type suffers halation (slight bleeding). Google Sans Flex is modified using it optical size axis increasing the aperture of the inner letters (counters) and increasing the spacing of the letters, preventing the letters from blurring together in the transparent lens.
• Movement Time Depends on Content: The standard 500ms animation is too prominent to display. To respect one’s peripheral vision, Glimmer uses 2-second changes so that notifications ‘invite’ focus, while maintaining low latency response (like focus rings) direct user input to ensure responsiveness.

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