Google has leaked its own design process for material 3 expressively

What you need to know

Google accidentally published a blog post for material 3 expressively before its official unveiling.
Materials 3 Expressives should improve usability and at the same time improve Android's coolness factor, which should tempt users to change.
The company will later report more about material 3 on Google I/O 2025 this month.

Google is preparing to express material 3 on the I/O 2025 later this month, but it accidentally shared its research and design process for the shift in the user interface design in advance. An early published blog post, which The Wayback Machine recorded, gives us a little insight into the future of Android design and why he becomes “expressively” (over 9to5google).

The conversation began in 2022 when a Google Research intern as asked why material design apps looked the same and “boring”. This led to a total of over 18,000 participants at over three years of over three years. Ultimately, material 3 is “both beautiful and very usable”.

“Material 3 expressive principles are based in solid research and are based on long -term best practices of user -friendliness, so that designers can use these new components and principles confidently, since they know that they are building something that is easy to use and that people can be connected,” explains the blog post.

Google says that expressive designs are cool

Google's blog post shows that its studies have found that the expressive design of material 3 led to a higher perception of “brand coolness”. The company claims that the coolness factor has a direct correlation for the intention to behavior. In other words, Google believes that a “cool” material could urge 3 expressive users to switch to Android.

Here you will find a brief overview of the other results from Google to Materials 3 expressive:

Google found a 32% increase in perception of subculture“What shows that expressive design feels a brand more relevant and 'in knowledge'.”
The research of the company also showed A 34% increase in modernity“A brand feel fresh and forward.”
The studies also pointed to A 30% increase in rebllness“suggests that expressive design positions a brand as a brave and innovative guide who is ready to break from the convention.”

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(Photo credit: 9to5google / Google)

The research studies of the company for material 3 expressively included the following focus areas:

Eye tracking: Analysis where users concentrated their attention
Surveys and focus groups: measure emotional reactions to different designs
Experiments: Collecting the feeling and preferences
Usability: See how quickly the participants could understand and use an interface

Google's blog post compares the material 3 expressively with the iOS guidelines for Apple's human interfaces. “We have noticed that a well-used expressive design of people of all ages is strongly preferred to the guidelines of the iOS-human interface, whereby this preference is particularly strong-over 87%-18 to 24 years old,” writes the company.

What changes in material 3 expressively?

The Early Material 3 Expressive Blog post shows many examples of how the design language can be used, but it is not necessarily the exact changes that we will see in future Android updates. A few design elements that we can expect later are floating toolbars and accent coloring that “highlight key actions”.

The leaked material 3 expressive design images.

(Photo credit: 9to5google / Google)

In addition, the material was designed 3 expressive elements, taking into account the accessibility, since the design guidelines exceed the minimum standards for the TAP target size and the color contrast. The team also ensured that the design language Premium feels and at the same time remains “expressive”.

If you want to have an insight into the expression of material 3 from the UI and UX from Android directly, there is a leaked version of the new battery status indicator, which serves as an ordinary preview.

Google's material 3 expressive tips for app developers

The company concludes its blog post from warning developers that expressive design is not a “uniform solution”. While it works in some situations, it may not be the best choice in others. Google gives the example of how material 3 is expressive for a music app, but not for a bank app. According to Google, designers have to “respect well -established UI patterns and standards”.

Here you will find a full list of tips provided by Google to product designers:

Experiment: Diving into the updated Material 3 Design Kit for Figma And play with the expressive design options.
Try the tactics: Explore the seven expressive design tactics [deep link to tactics section of blog post]While your user interface is adjusted at the same time to support the core user trips.
Be intended and start from user needs: While there was a wide attraction for lively expression design, a strong minority of users preferred calmer, less intensive versions. Always start with what your users need. Work on understanding your requirements and critical user trips before determining the correct selection of tactics and components.
Prioritize the functionality: Compromise does not compromise the core functionality of your product for visual flourishes. No amount of emotions can compensate for a lack of clarity.
Follow the barrier -free standards: Make sure that your expressive designs keep defined guidelines for color contrasts, compatibility of the screen reader, navigation and other best practice for accessibility.
Iterierieren, itterierieren, itterieren: Use research to identify the correct use of our tactics to find the balance between coolness and familiarity or playfulness compared to professionalism. Our Design scales Can give you a start. And don't forget to research critical usability research to ensure that you did not go too far.

Google organizes a materials -3 printout session on Google I/O 2025, a developer conference that takes place later this month. We will probably learn more about material 3 at the event or in the preview of the Android Show shortly before the event.

Here you will find everything you need to know, how you can see Google I/O 2025 and how much you should take care of it.

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