Ayan Daniels from Android Messages

In this episode, Aidan interviews Visual Designer Ayan Daniels about her work on Android Messages, her debate-sparking illustration for the Pixel phone, and what it’s like being a woman of color at Google.

Ayan Daniels is a San Francisco-based Visual Designer hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio. Currently working on the Android Messages team, Ayan has been at Google for more than two years and previously worked on both Android and Pixel.

Handy info and links for this episode:

• RCS (Rich Communications Services): a universal communication protocol designed to replace SMS with its more feature-rich system.
• Android Messages: The default RCS messaging app on Android devices
• Duo: Google’s one-to-one video calling app.
• Allo: An expressive, AI-infused messaging app made by Google.
• The first Pixel Welcome screen designed by Ayan and animated by Remington McElhaney