Christmas Androids
Android Design, Google, 2011
![](../_images/titleIcons/xmasandroids2.gif)
For a bit of end of term fun, the newly established Android Design team in London decided to combine our talents and make a Christmas present for our colleagues in California. We made an Android tree decoration, with a hidden digital gift inside.
![Android in a tree](_images/XmasAndroids1.jpg)
![Android names](_images/XmasAndroids2.jpg)
We designed and made a series of festive Androids, each with the name of a London designer etched on their back.
![Unwrapping an Android](_images/XmasAndroids3.jpg)
After unwrapping their gift the recipient is asked to “...Beam to begin”, the NFC interaction on the Android platform supported by the latest Nexus devices.
![Beaming an Android](_images/XmasAndroids4.jpg)
Tapping an NFC enabled phone to their Christmas Android reveals a further hidden gift. A tag embedded in the Android’s belly triggers the download of an app corresponding to the London designer named on the back.
The Apps
Each app contains a caricature of a London designer singing jingle bells in their own (silly) voice. You can either play the song through or take control, and play along on the keyboard.
There were 8 apps to collect in all, by tapping your phone on colleagues gifts around the design studio.
![The Apps](_images/XmasAndroids-App1.jpg)
App Design and Illustration: Eva-Lotta Lamm
App Development: Mikkel Koser
Making The Androids
I designed and built the Android decorations themselves, using the fantastic laser cutting services at Cut Laser Cut.
![The android designs](_images/XmasAndroids-Making1.gif)
![The embedded tags](_images/XmasAndroids-Making2.jpg)
The embedded NFC tags
![Android assembly line](_images/XmasAndroids-Making3.jpg)
Android assembly line