Designing apps for Android TV need to be different from how you would go about designing apps for phones or tablets, and wearables, as these contain a different user experience. It is important to keep in mind and follow the Android User Interface design principles documentation that Google provides. This document describes the guidelines and principles that help you to design consistent user interfaces and experiences for your Android TV apps, as well as ensure that your application runs efficiently on the Android TV platform, and it involves considering the screen sizes of your custom layouts as well as ease of use your app brings to the platform.

Other areas are covered to ensure the consistency of your application as you navigate from screen to screen, as well as the principles to design good user interfaces. This document also includes some design pattern guidelines that your application needs to conform to. These are as follows: