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Compared to the latest design language overhaul, Google’s rollout of Material You is happening at a much faster pace. This The Material You app update blitz comes amid a barrage of Pixel 6 ads and it’s no coincidence. This is the sign of a well-advanced vision at Google that was sorely lacking.
Material You was officially announced at I / O 2021 in May as Google’s hyper-personalized approach to designing apps and other user interfaces that adapt to users. The goal is to give people – presented as “co-creators” – “more expressiveness and control over their personal devices”.
The main aspect of Material You is the theme based on the wallpaper. Pixel phones look at your background and create a palette to color the system interface (shade of notifications, settings, etc.) and apps. This translates to a giant clock on your lock screen, while Gmail and Messages – places where most people spend a lot of time – no longer feel generic.
Giving everything a uniform color that isn’t white or gray is a treat that I hadn’t expected. I initially found the splash of color refreshing, but it has since evolved into a deeper appreciation. Switching from Gmail on my Pixel to gmail.com on a laptop now seems pretty difficult. The latter seems rather generic and the information (exactly the same) does not seem to me to be personalized in any way. It’s a weird feeling, but I love the hues applied consistently more and more.
The other physical change made by Material You is different shapes and sizes of buttons. It seems almost superficial with any redesign of the design language, but the modernization is appreciated. One of the most notable changes here is a higher lower bar, with larger touch targets seemingly the goal. The focus on being able to touch has resulted in a curious flower-shaped widget, which seems to be how Google officially refers to this design.
It’s bulbous and loosely organic in a way that might push some people, but far from guaranteed. This could be a sign that Google will allow you to choose shapes for widgets in the future. That would make sense for a Google Photos widget, but Android 12 just removed app icon customization with no immediate plans to bring it back.
All of these interesting aspects of Material You are easy to understand because Google rolled out redesigned apps very quickly. It of course started in Android 12 with a new lock screen, notification shade, and quick settings. Google Camera, Gboard, and Files, all apps adjacent to the system, followed suit.
The first big overhaul was Google Contacts in mid-August with the Pixel Launcher and Lens Discover feed following. Android 12 Beta 5 early last month saw Google Clock and Calculator. Then came the big announcement of several Google Workspace apps.
The Gmail Material You redesign started rolling out on September 2 and was widely available two weeks later. In contrast, the previous Google Material Theme was announced in May 2018 and Gmail was first presented with this design two months later. It started rolling out in January 2019 before being fully available in mid-February. Likewise, Google has taken forever to introduce dark themes in all of its apps, with Google One completely skipping the nighttime look all the way to Material You.
This fast turnaround time is even more impressive when you consider how modern Gmail is made up of three apps in one. Meanwhile, other completed redesigns for large apps include Calendar, Docs / Sheets / Slides, and Keep.
One of the reasons redesigns move so quickly is that Google wants to make sure its proprietary apps match Android 12 before launch. The Pixel 6 is the other big factor.
More than any other Nexus or Pixel device in the past, software and design are a huge selling point for this year’s flagship. The Pixel has always had custom software experiences like Google Camera, Recorder, and Personal Safety, but these are more or less created by the same division.
What’s different is how the Pixel 6 enjoys huge buy-in from all parts of the business. Android does this every year with the operating system, but now it’s the Material Design team in a very important way. Having a custom color scheme, which first required a whole new design scheme, is literally a selling point of the phone. With Material You making an appearance in Pixel 6 ads, this is the most public release for a Google design language.
Meanwhile, the Workspace group is making sure Gmail and other productivity apps are ready on time, while more consumer apps like Photos, Phone, and Messages are ready, otherwise wait – the Pixel 6 to launch. In turn, the phones very clearly draw inspiration from the colors (coral and green / fog in particular) of important Material You themes.
What’s remarkable about this moment is how well the Google software, led by Material Design, is in sync with the Pixel hardware. This tight integration only flourishes. After Pixel and the phone form factor, Google has explicitly said it expects Material You on the web, Chrome OS, wearable devices, and smart displays.
Except for the Web, these three silos represent material in which Made by Google invests heavily. Smart displays help promote Google’s vision of ambient computing – which requires expert design (both UI and UX) to feel seamless and successful – and wearable devices are seeing new life with Wear OS 3, as ‘there are rumors of a Tensor-powered Pixelbook in the future.
If those big-name hardware launches look like that Material You software update before the Pixel 6, Google will create products that deliver a full end-to-end view that isn’t distorted. This is something the company has not naturally offered for some time.
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