Gmail for Android is slowly welcoming Google’s awaited Material 3 Expressive design. It has come up with a promise of enhanced colorful, fluid, and tactile user experiences.
Like any other substantial Google rollout, the deployment is sluggish, with even random server-side distribution.
The slow deployment means that while some lucky few are enjoying Gmail’s fresh new look, others are still in line.
What’s Material 3 Expressive?
Material 3 Expressive is the next phase of the custom “Material You” view, meant to make the entire UI feel more dynamic, captivating, and appealing. Some of its key features include:
Vibrant Color Palettes: More emphasis would be placed on vivid and expressive colors. It also dynamically adjusts based on wallpaper colors chosen by the user.
Enhanced Motion and Haptic Feedback: Interactions feel more tactile and delightful through bouncier animations, a subtle ‘peel-away’ effect to dismiss notifications, and haptic nudges that respond to those actions.
Card-style UI: It is a more visually appealing approach. It aims to display content blocks as clearly defined, raised cards, lending depth and visual layering to the interface.
Refined Typography and Shapes: Updates to font styles for hierarchy and readability, as well as more shapes. It often has pill-shaped or rounded buttons and UI elements.
Gmail Gets an Expressive Makeover
The inbox now appears as an elevated card, with soft rounded corners on the top side. The container has a clear segregation from the search bar as well as the bottom navigation. There is a clear indication of how the whole inbox looks.
Bright Theming and Layering: The update carries all the more tonal variations. Therefore a more multi-hued palette across the application so that it feels deep. Components like this search field or bottom navigation might receive brighter theming contrasting. It comes up with that lighter background card of the message list.
Updated Account Switcher: For some selected users receiving this update, the account switcher now appears as a separate, more easily accessible entity, out of the domain of the search bar.
The Mystery Around the Slow Rollout
Google keeps incrementally enabling the feature for individual accounts. This is because more and more people seem to be experiencing a fortunate luck-of-the-draw roll-out-the-new-update effect.
Some people even using the same version of the app will have the new look while others will not. This is done so cautiously by Google, leaving them the chance to see how well it works.
What’s coming up next?
In the months to come, users must await more such updates on other Google apps. It would take them to the new visual and interactive tenets of Android 16 and beyond.
Until then, Android users have to sit tight and watch their Gmail app. See if they’re part of the next wave that gets this lovely, expressive makeover.
