Google announces Material 3 Expressive design update for Android: What is changing

Material Design, Google 's design system, is receiving an update focused on enhancing expressiveness and providing developers and designers with more tools for creating distinct user interfaces. The update – called Material 3 Expressive – introduces new components, refined styling options and expanded customisation capabilities. Google says that this isn’t a launch but a refined experience of the already available Material Design 3 style.

“Material 3 Expressive is an evolution of the Material 3 design system. It’s a set of new features, updated components, and design tactics for creating emotionally impactful UX,” Google said at The Android Show a week ahead of Google I/O.

“And to be clear — M3 Expressive isn’t a new version of the system. We’re not deprecating M3, and this isn’t ‘M4’,” Google added, while explaining that the new design is a mixture of motion physics system and updated colour themes.

"There are so many more design improvements we’re working with our partners to bring to Android 16 and Wear OS 6 devices. You can try these updates first on Pixel devices later this year," Google said.

15 key changes coming to Android OS design
Key to the update are 15 new or revised components. These components, including new Button groups, Carousel, Loading indicators, Split button, and Toolbars, offer increased configuration possibilities, diverse shape options, and support for emphasized text.

Existing components such as App bars, Common buttons, Extended FAB, FAB menu, FABs, Icon buttons, Navigation bar, Navigation rail, and Progress indicators have also received updates.

As mentioned, a new motion-physics system is included, utilising motion springs to create more fluid and natural interactions and transitions. As per Google, this system incorporates spatial springs to simulate realistic object movement and effects springs for colour and opacity changes.

Typography also gains visual changes and emphasised styles for both variable and static fonts. These styles are designed to convey different emotional states, automatically adjust for readability, and support varied editorial layouts, the company added.

There are multiple shapes, offering more options for decorative details in elements like image crops and avatars and more vibrant colour schemes with an expanded colour range.