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I tuned into Google's I/O this year excited for one thing: Monet, the codename for Android 12's dynamic system-wide theming system. I've been vocal about my interest in this feature. It turns out Google's vision for customization is an evolution of Material Design and Android is simply starting point.

Google's message behind this evolution of Material Design is that your personal devices should feel personal. I love how clearly this stands in opposition with how iOS—and Apple, in general—approach their UIs. It's a uniquely Android—and Google—way to offer customization. Apparently it's a faux pas to quote oneself, but I've talked about this already:

One of the questions I've been asking myself since widgets came to iOS... was "how will Android react to this?" It was the mobile OS to use if customization was important to you and widgets were already a staple of that offering. The counter punch had to be something entirely different. [Material You] is just that. It's such a uniquely Android feature and I love it for that. Can you imagine Apple allowing users to influence the default blue accent color used across iOS? You could argue there's precedent since macOS lets you change its accent color but that's thin ice to stand on.

Users are going to love the magic that goes into their device automatically and dynamically feeling like their own while still remaining perfectly usable and accessible. It's customization without the huculean effort iOS users were undertaking with iOS 14. I expect this to become a major reason casual users want to stay in the Gogole ecosystem in the coming years.

There's not a lot of info around how much users will be able to customize Material You just yet but I recommend the short I/O session, What's new in Material Design if you're curious about the design philosophy behind its creation:

The key bits to take away from it are the three guiding principles behind the changes.

• Comfortable: How can a design system make someone feel at home with their device?
• Iconoclastic: How can software exhibit the awareness to adapt and thrive through change?
• Spirit: How can digital development be imbued with the spirit of the natural world?

Lastly, there's an AMA session with several folks associated with Material within Google.

I've timecoded some of the questions that caught my ear below:

• If color, shape, and typography are now completely customizable by the users, how can we make sure our brands are expressed correctly in Material You?

  • tl;dr - not everything is customizeable by users

• What's the vision around Material You and the web?

  • tl;dr - Material You is coming to everything Google within the next year

• Material has two audiences—Google products and external products. How do you balance their different needs?

  • tl;dr - it's not easy but the needs for both are not so different

• Were there any interesting research projects done for Material You and what did you learn?

  • tl;dr - yes, much about motion, shape, and a lot about color

• When will Material Components, documentation, and guidelines for Material You be available?

  • tl;dr - this Summer is when we'll start to see some of this

While I didn't get all the info I was hoping for, I'm excited for the future of Material Design with Material You. It seems like extra info is coming in the next few months. In the meantime I'll leave you with my favorite vocalization of the 'why' behind Material You so far:

People are craving custom experiences. When we think about user needs—from Mountain View to Mumbai and London to Lagos—it's clear that a strictly modernist approach to utility and design, or the idea that one size fits all, needs rethinking, or even revolutionizing. While smartphone features and functions continue to grow, the one size fits all approach feels impersonal. It takes time to unbox a phone and make it yours—time to rework the settings and make it fit you.

Instead, personal devices should feel personal. With Android 12, we're working to make devices feel as individual as the people who use them. We set out to evolve Material Design to empower individual identities by enabling product expressions that are as richly varied as human behaviors, needs, and desires. We're designing a future in which devices support, not suppress, individuality.