Since 2012, I have managed this site. 

This side project, which I first started with Gary and Christina’s advice, has developed into a popular blog with thousands of app patterns and a large number of visitors over the past five years. The goal of the site is simple:

“Share appropriate Android app patterns with Designers, Engineers, PMs and develop a better App.”

While updating the site’s design recently, I found some interesting patterns based on the data that have been accumulating, and thought I should share them here.

1. Site Visitor Pattern

Most visitors are from the US, Android’s birthplace. The next highest are visitors from device manufacturing countries like China, India and Korea. Rankings after that follow fairly closely the rankings for number of Android users in each country. Ultimately, it seems that countries with a lot of Android users are correspondingly active in app development. Not surprisingly, these countries also require more reference.

Interestingly, Google visited the most, with Yahoo and Amazon also visiting frequently. Similar to above, the number of visitors is related to the amount of reference needed.

(As a note, I’ve only compared those that have been identified as Google Analysts)

2. Material Design — Before and Now

Android’s design upgrade is indeed groundbreaking, as it can be divided into Material Design before and after. If you look at a few patterns, you’ll be able to tell easily.

The upgrade allows iOS content to be transferred in, and each of the previously individual patterns have been unified in a simple format. Clearly, the Material Design has raised the standard for Android app pattern.

3. Material Design brought forth from Android app design unification

I believe that the unification has both advantages and disadvantages. The Navigation Drawer and Settings menu screen look similar to those of any other app.

Becoming familiar with the Navigation Drawer’s interaction that pops up whenever you “Right Swipe” is a big convenience. However (if you become too accustomed to this), it can be confusing to find the menu when you use apps with unique interaction, such as Snapchat.

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It takes a lot of time and effort to manage a website, but if my small efforts can contribute to the Android app development community, then I am planning to continue managing the site.

If you have any good recommendations on making the website more interesting, please send me a private email.