Google Flights Datepicker

Developed a standardized date selection component that became the Material Design standard, handling complex travel booking scenarios while improving conversion rates.

Background

Google was unifying its design language for the first time through Material Design, but date selection remained inconsistent across products, even between Google Flights and Hotels.

In the realm of travel booking, there are only 2 critical user decisions: when & where.

With dates being half of the core decision criteria, we needed to get this fundamental interaction right.

Key challenges

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    Inconsistent date selection across Google products
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    Complex multi-city booking requirements
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    Scattered user experiences and duplicated engineering effort
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    Almost every travel booking site had developed their own unique approach

Outcomes

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    Adopted as the official Material Design standard across Google products
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    Selected by Material UI (MUI) open-source React library, benefitting billions of users worldwide
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    Prototypes for interactions and motion design reduced engineering implementation time by >50%

Business Impact

Standardization & Improved Operational Efficiency
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    Adopted as official Material Design standard
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    Created consistency across Google's product ecosystem
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    Deduplicated engineering efforts
Improved Conversion
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    Contributed to a +50% conversion rate increase with several partners
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    As noted by Program Manager Tom Mulders: 'The animated transitions take our product from a pre-2000 to a post-2015 design'
Industry Influence
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    Selected by Material UI (MUI) library
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    Extended impact to broader design community

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Solution

Starting with Google Flights' specific needs but designing for broader applicability, created a datepicker component that balanced three key requirements

Intuitive Interaction

Created a framework that supported both casual users booking weekend getaways and power users planning multi-leg business trips

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    Developed a natural date selection flow that worked equally well for single dates, ranges, and complex multi-city itineraries
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    Solved for complex multi-city booking first to create flexible framework
Smooth Motion Design

Improved user experience and made implementation more efficient across teams

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    Created precise motion specifications for transitions and animations that enhanced user understanding
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    As noted by Senior Engineer Kevin Fox: 'Perfecting the itinerary selection/deselection animations took me over a week of work. Each iteration you did saved me at least 50% of that time.'
Cross-Platform Consistency

Consistent experience across web and mobile platforms

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    Designed a flexible system that maintained visual and interaction consistency across web and mobile platforms
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    Respected platform-specific conventions while maintaining core interaction model

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Process

Initial Analysis
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    Conducted competitive analysis of travel booking sites
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    Identified key pain points and scattered landscape
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    Analyzed different approaches to date selection
Design Development
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    Created framework for complex multi-city bookings
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    Developed precise motion specifications
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    Designed cross-platform consistency
Implementation
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    Worked with engineering teams
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    Iterated on animations and interactions
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    Validated across different platforms