The New, Refreshed Material Design 2.0 Remix

Ready or not, here comes the new standard for Material Design. Will it be called 2.0 or simply the "New Material Design"? Could it be called something else? Possibly. Maybe we will find out next week.

For those who may not be familiar with Material Design or maybe do not even know what it is, Material Design is a design language developed by Google to unify the look, feel, and interaction of products; in the simplest terms possible, it encompasses how things should look and operate. This was Google's answer to the chaos and fragmentation of styles in both their own apps as well as third-party apps. In the first iteration of Material Design, there was the deliberate use of cards, shadows, white space, et cetera. With recent updates to Gmail for the web, Google Feed, and other Google-developed applications, we have started seeing the beginning of the new Material Design.

A quick look at any recent Google update such as Gmail or the new Tasks app will show that Google is all in on the white-on-white space.  With many calling for dark themes throughout Google's suite of apps, they went the opposite direction with more white screen than the human eye can possibly handle; I must admit, I am actually quite a fan. While I get the issue of obnoxious light as well as greater battery drain, the white just pops for me. It is bright and flashy; it fits me quite well.

In addition, rounded seems to be better according to Google as every box seems to be losing its corners. In a 9to5google.com article, attention is drawn to the various apps that have lost their edge(s) such as Feed, Tasks, and even the omnibar in an upcoming Chrome update. Even box indicators such as on Google Pay and Gmail have made the transition to one-side-rounded corners; as shown in the new Gmail, the "Compose" button has made a radically rounded change.

It even appears that Google has started to realize that phones have gotten bigger while hands have stayed the same as bottom navigation and interaction seems to be on the way. The new Tasks app (which I have mixed opinions about) as well as the Google I/O app includes a bottom interaction button as well as bottom menu buttons. This transition would be a welcomed change for those with smaller hands, but bigger hands (such as myself); this is one of things I miss most about Edge on Windows Phone.

With I/O only a week a way, we may soon know what Google has up its sleeves for the future including some more details about the refresh to Material Design. The look of Google and Android is changing; the only hope we can have is that these changes make sense and are pleasing to the senses.