Alex Strang is a senior insight editor at Canvas8 who used to be in a punk band that was signed, shaped, and spat out. He enjoys using his experience of being the product to help brands understand how to sell theirs. After studying philosophy and critical theory, he found his feet in the market research world and has been over-analysing consumer behaviour ever since, including his own. He can usually be found playing board games, watching 

, or trying too hard to make his daughter laugh.


INSIDE TRACK

In the information age, staying ahead has greater value

Inside Track

While Apple Keynotes are the flagship event to showcase new hardware products, Google's equivalent I/O events mostly focus on software, whether that’s 

. The biggest announcement at the 2021 I/O was Android 12, Google’s latest OS version, with a focus on privacy, customization, and seamless experiences. A design system built to give people more power than ever over their mobile experiences, The Android 12 ‘Material You’ has been designed to embrace emotion and expressiveness, placing the user as a co-creator of their own UX.

For example, Material You can analyze the hue of wallpaper in use, and attach that color scheme right across the phone’s apps and system. The design also features larger, more bubble-shaped buttons, smoother animations, and shifting colors. It is “the biggest design change in Android’s history,” says Sameer Samat, VP of product management, Android, and Google Play. 

Google has big plans for Material You, aiming to launch the scheme across its flagship Pixel smartphone line-up and rolling it out across the web, Chrome OS devices, Android Wearables – eventually for use across all Google products.

Designed to work across any screen size, different types of devices, and even different input methods, Material You makes for a more accessible operating system. Users can change everything from contrast levels to text sizes – Material You aims to be contextually aware, constantly customizing the UX to best fit the needs of the individual. 

 As technology becomes more pervasive and ever-present in people’s lives, there are expectations for smooth integration, seamless experiences, and greater customizable privacy levels. Android 12 sees features introduced that make it easier to see which apps are accessing your location data, and if you want to give it to them at all. An automated 

 now completely stops apps you haven’t used for a while launching in the background at all.

Emotion and expressiveness are at the forefront of Material You’s vision

Americans are glued to screens more than ever before, with 80% saying they’ve spent more time looking at their phones and laptops during the pandemic than before. 

While blue-light filters and adaptive screen brightness levels are commonplace, Material You’s level of customization offers a way to give the OS on their smartphones a more palatable, and less harsh, color scheme. Under the feature, almost every single element of the Android 12 experience falls under the system-wide color coordination – using the wallpaper as a benchmark. 

This provides people with the opportunity to create palettes that better suit their use pattern – something less abrasive if using the screen for long periods.

“What if form did not just follow function, but also followed feeling?” states Google’s press release for Material You. “Material You explores a more humanistic approach to design.” 

 The thinking behind it follows the trend towards more human-centric forms of design being favored across products, platforms, and even places. There’s been rising interest in 

, for example, which helps people reconnect with nature in more urban and traditionally industrial spaces. Back in the smartphone world, there have been companies providing Android launchers – custom firmware for Android devices – from which it’s clear that Material You has taken inspiration. Take 

, a launcher designed to stop people endlessly staring at their phones, drastically simplifying the OS, and even making everything black and white to make scrolling through Insta less appealing.

Big tech brands are realizing the importance of having closer relationships with their consumers. Some 75% of Americans value being engaged with brands at the product creation stage, and that their involvement would improve their brand loyalty and affect purchasing decisions in the future. 

 enables customers to have a direct say in what products it builds next, crowdsourcing knowledge and creating a sense of co-ownership. 

 generated around $17.2 billion in 2020 in North America alone, and grew by 33.7% year-on-year. 

 “It’s important to think about the IKEA bias – which is that people care a lot more about something they’ve made themselves,” says expert UX designer Stéphanie Walter. “To be able to customize a phone OS means that they may well care more about it, and be more loyal towards it.” 

As big tech continues to grow, users are seeking experiences that evoke emotion

"Users customize their desktops in the physical and digital worlds with images that are personal and provide comfort and joy," says Google’s press release. “We built upon this insight to generate unique Material palettes for everyone, derived from a personal signal – wallpaper – that can be applied to their entire experience.” 

 Consumers are more than happy to customize their products and platforms, with just over a quarter saying they’d be willing to pay a premium to do so. 

 “In terms of customization of color schemes, this can be great for accessibility,” says Walter. “People will be able to adjust colors and contrast to better suit their personal needs – so it isn’t just about aesthetics.” 

There is some concern surrounding personalization and privacy though. Tech giants are placing greater importance on privacy, particularly in the smartphone space, such as the 

. Both systems give users power over who has access to their data, and how they can use it. “Privacy should be the default, and this is a step towards that,” says Walter. 

 The Android 12’s ‘Privacy Dashboard’ focuses on location, mic, and camera, presenting a pie chart with a timeline of how many times each has been accessed in the last 24 hours, and a timeline of each time it was used. 

 Android 12’s balance of personalization and privacy encapsulates the line that brands are having to walk in the present, offering people goods, services, and platforms that meet their personal needs without them feeling like their every thought, feeling, and movement is being siphoned off for analysis.

Expectations for seamless experiences are paramount. 

 Android 12 simplifies user experience across multiple apps and platforms, creating hubs for things like entertainment – combining controls for multimedia apps like Spotify, YouTube, and podcast providers in one place. “Seamlessness across devices is important because we build habits and know where things are on an OS,” says Walter. “If that experience is the same across several devices, then that is nothing but easier.” 

 Operating systems, apps, and platforms that can offer simple and seamless experiences will resonate most with users, and from a UX perspective, Android 12 is leading the way. “There’s a danger of oversimplification,” says Walter. “If everything is hidden in the background, then people won’t understand how things work or how important they are – and that could be difficult when it comes to things like privacy.” 

 of people believe they’ve spent more time looking at their phones and laptops more during the pandemic than previously

of Americans value being engaged with brands at the product creation stage 

 of Americans will pay a premium for products that allow for personalization 

Android 12 represents the biggest and most drastic overhaul of the operating system in years

Material You is a feature that allows users to control the color scheme of the entire operating system

People are embracing customization and a more evocative user experience, but paradoxically worry about the amount of data they are giving up to do so

Stéphanie Walter is a UX researcher, designer, currently living and working in Luxembourg. Her areas of expertise are enterprise UX and mobile design. She teaches, speaks at conferences and meetups, and writes about design, accessibility, user experience, and design-devrel.

North America

United States

Technology

The Verge

9TO5GOOGLE

Source unknown

Alcon

Aretechnica

Material Design

MakerSights

fundera

Interview with Stéphanie Walter conducted by the author

Dice

Dassault Systèmes

The Guardian

As tech becomes more pervasive than ever before, people expect seamless experiences that span across several platforms and devices. This is why Material You – an aspect of Google Android 12 that is customizable and adaptive to different users and platforms – is aiming to do just that.

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