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Google designs some of the sleekest, most popular gadgets in the world, from phones to smart speakers. But until recently, the company’s hardware designers worked out of an old garage. That all changed last year when head of hardware design Ivy Ross collaborated with the architects at Mithun to create a 70,000-square-foot Design Lab on the company’s sprawling campus in Mountain View, California. The bright, airy space is designed to motivate Ross’s 150-person team: It has a library of more than 1,000 hand-labeled, color-coded materials and Human Refueling Stations where designers lie down on leather mats to recharge. The Lab is off-limits to visitors and even most Google employees. After all, it houses dozens of top-secret projects—valuable IP in the hotly competitive world of electronics. But we got an exclusive tour. Read on to see what inspires Google’s designers—and for hints of what the future holds for Google design.

Exclusive: A first look inside Google’s top-secret design lab

The special sauce behind Google’s breakout hardware products is its one-year-old Design Lab. We’re the first publication to go inside.

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There are tiny parks for bees hiding on the roof of these bus stops

The tiny bus-stop gardens also help prevent flooding and keep the city cool.

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This ‘sustainable consumption’ platform wants to help new parents buy fewer kids’ clothes

When you buy kids’ clothes from UpChoose, you can exchange them later for bigger ones, while the old ones are cleaned and sold to someone with a smaller child.

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This agency helped boost Harry’s and Sweetgreen. Now it’s ditching advertising to make brands of its own

After working for the likes of Everlane, Warby Parker, Bonobos, and more, Gin Lane is making a branding bet on itself.

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5 free apps for getting your morning started

Wake up! And then get ready for the day ahead.

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What to do when you're stuck in a job you hate

Sometimes, external forces (money, security, opportunity) mean we’re stuck at a job we can’t stand. Here are three ways to deal.

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Last seen in 1998, Apple’s Claris software brand is back

FileMaker, a venerable Apple subsidiary focused on business software, is expanding its ambitions—under a once-familiar name.

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What the lies we all tell at work say about us

According to a recent study, the most common lies are �I’m sick” and “I already have plans after work.” But how frequently you lie (and to whom) depends.

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This newsletter was written by Suzanne LaBarre.

The longer format of Compass is taking a vacation this month. Please enjoy our more compact newsletter. We’ll be back to the normal format in September.

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