Material Poo More Like
Original thread on bsky: TetroniMike.bsky.social, 2026-04-25
Hot take (?)
Android's push to "Material You" design sucks and is boring. Every app looks the same, they all use the same colors and shapes and designs. I can't at a glance tell what app I'm looking at. And developers aren't doing anything visually interesting and unique - it stifles creativity :/
This also means less visual design people employed - devs don't have to make decisions on colors and contrast and shape and animation when everything is dictated by G👀GLE. Who needs an artist when everything is flat shapes and color blocks?
Bleh.
Yes it's "elegant", and yes you get to choose a color theme that suites you, and yes it makes every app feel "native". But I'd rather enjoy using your app and be surprised by it, not just be comfortable in the familiarity of globally applied design ethos.
P sure it's part of a push by Google to ensure developers aren't making apps that would fit on any device. Apple is doing it too with their guidelines for the liquid glass style.
If you're spending resources making sure your app looks natively 'A' you're less likely to make a version for 'B'.
And if Platform A makes it EASY for you, and takes away the effort needed to develop a unique design language, then why would you make an app for Platform B where it'll take significantly more effort and time and money?
TLDR; fuck capitalism and the race to the banal and boring, and reduction in staff and art and design and beauty and surprise, for the sake of funneling more money to the top.
Bonus thought: Google has always pushed for this with their previous frameworks, but this time around I feel like I've noticed it significantly more than past frameworks. This tells me that they did something "right" with this iteration where significantly more devs are adopting it - probably made it easier to use, especially since you don't have to make color choices any more - and it's way more striking and noticeable than before, therefore even LESS device/platform-agnostic. So... good job? But like, stop it. This sucks.
Also bring back the Zune interface 🖤