A new tile art system, called blue wave, is now available in The Verge’s app for Android.
It’s a visual shorthand for an abstract, pixelated version of the traditional tiles used in the tile-based world of Android apps.
The tile’s name derives from the fact that it’s meant to convey a visual representation of the tiles’ current state, rather than simply the current location of the app.
“You can imagine it as a sort of mini-map of your app, where you can see the tiles being placed,” said Andrew J. Brown, a Google+ product manager who worked on the app, during a talk at the International Conference on Web and Mobile Services (ICWS) in San Francisco.
“That’s what we think is the most fun and exciting part about tile art is how it tells you, ‘Hey, you’re in this new tile system that’s coming to you.’
It’s very similar to how the tiles are placed on the home screen in iOS or Android.
The thing is, the tile has no real depth to it, because it’s a single pixel.”