Tobias Ottomar
Google

Google — First letter tells you where to go. Name length tells you how far. Wayfinding turned into a rather useful naming game.

Google's Swedish headquarters had a specific problem: over 60 meeting rooms, a stream of international visitors, and back-to-back meetings that left no time to get lost. The building needed to be legible to someone who had never set foot in it.

The core idea came out of airport navigation. Find any room by knowing just two things: its first letter, and how long its name is. I developed that logic into the naming system and the wayfinding, then designed a good part of the signage and graphic detailing myself. The same rule that helped people navigate also gave each space its own name and personality. I presented the concept to Google's London office and led the team from idea to finished environment.

The system made the office easier to move through, for visitors and staff alike. Google has kept applying it to new floors as the office has expanded, each one done by the same logic.

Title
Creative Director & Client Lead
My role
Concept, wayfinding, design
Agency
Sunny at Sea
Diagram of the naming system: a letter marks the floor, name length the distance
Blue wayfinding panel for meeting room M with a directional arrow

Material Design came from the physical world.
We returned it.

Material Design started as paper. Google built the system by studying how real sheets cast shadows, stacked, and moved, then wrote those physical rules into code. We took it the other way. We brought the digital language back into the physical office it came from. A material translated into pixels, translated back into material.

That round trip set the palette. Mesh, lacquered sheet metal, and vinyl carried the signs, digital rules made physical again. Each meeting room then took a name and a visual identity from a piece of Swedishness, so the system had guidelines and clarity but also personality and a local accent.

Lift lobby with a Google floor directory between two screens
Floor letters O and P mounted on a wall between directional arrows
Purple lavatory sign with a shower pictogram
Pink sign panel on concrete with a lift pictogram
Red pendant lamp under the One, Two, Let's Form a Queue room sign
One, Two, Let’s Form a QueueWhatever you do, don’t skip the line! In Sweden, we magically transform into a beautifully organized row of people when we realize that there are several people waiting for the same thing. This is our way of being polite, but also efficient. Could be described as crucial Swedish code of conduct. No one will get openly mad if you decide to go ahead of the line, but you will be punished. You could tell predominantly by the tensed jaws in the face of your observers.
Google floor directory listing amenities and meeting rooms
White room-name letters mounted against a plant wall
Coloured acrylic room-name letters on a ribbed wall

The rooms

The naming system did not stop at the signs. Each room was themed from the name it was given, so the wayfinding logic became something you could walk into. Over 60 rooms, each one built out from its place in the system. Every room took its name from a piece of Swedishness. Alfred Nobel. The national genius for forming an orderly queue. Meatballs. The saying that there is no cow on the ice. And each room carried a short text on the wall explaining the name, so the graphics and the story gave people something to react to. That was the real brief, under the design one. Swedes are famously bad at small talk. A room that explains itself hands strangers a way in, a reason to say something before the meeting starts. The idea that organised the floor now broke the ice on it.

Meeting room with a Booom! graphic on the wall
NobelAlfred Nobel is the founder of the prestigious Nobel Prize. Although many of Nobel’s inventions – such as dynamite – can cause great harm, he was a strong advocate for peace. This is said to be the reason why the Peace Prize was established as part of the Nobel Prize legacy.
Looping script drawn across a pink wall
Polka PigIf you haven’t lost all your milk teeth yet, try a Swedish “Polkagris”. This chewy stick comes in a wide selection of flavors, although the classic version is the polka flavored red and white striped candy cane. During the mid 1800s, Amalia Eriksson paved way for the popular sugar sticks, and eventually turned her hometown Gränna into an epicenter for polka pigs – a status that the city still holds.
Wall calendar reading Tuesday 480 January
Parental leave may take a whileSwedish parents are given 480 days of paid parental leave for each child. Although mothers still use the main part of the days the trend points towards a more equal distribution between men and women. On a general level, dads take more and more time off work to spend time with their kids.
Blue moulded wall relief, close up
OtterIf you manage to catch a glimpse of this water-loving creature you’re likely to be struck by cuteness overload. Swimming on its back, often with a cub on its tummy, this little fellow is a beloved part of the Swedish fauna.
Köttbullar room sign with pictograms explaining the name
Meatballs and DreamsSwede’s are crazy about their meatballs. When going abroad we make sure to get them from our global supplier of Swedishness – IKEA. IKEA is not only the provider of a must-have-food, but also the seller of the Swedish dream. Happy, gender equal families living in soft colored, tastefully decorated homes – what else could you possibly want?
Illustrated figure in red and blue
People watching as a hobbyIt’s not only Swedes who enjoy leisurely looking at people passing by. The difference might be that we consider it to be a main event. If you pay attention, you’ll probably hear Swedes referring to people watching like: “Well, we mostly just sat there, but you know it’s so nice to just look at people.” Scary or cute? Up to you.
Wall of posters illustrating Swedish sayings
No cow on the iceDon’t sweat it – there is no cow on the ice. This odd saying dates back to old agricultural practices when cows were brought down to frozen lakes to drink. The ice could obviously break, but you needn’t get wound up as long as the cow had some solid ground under its back hooves. Swedes generally like to use old idioms like these, and often forget that they typically don’t translate well. In other words, if you hear Swedes saying things like “Slide in on a prawn sandwich” or “It’s like onion on the salmon” simply bear with them.
Wall of ceramic noses shading from white to orange
PrositBless you! Or as we like to say – prosit. The word prosit is actually Latin and means something like “may it be useful”. The expression dates back to old myths saying that sneezes represented the acts of higher powers, both good and bad. To make sure that the sneeze would bring good luck, it was common practice to express a positive wish for the haunted sneezer.