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Google’s Material You design language has been making waves across the tech industry ever since it was announced at I/O 2021. It focuses on personalization, accessibility, and seamless integration across all of the company’s services. Today, I noticed that with the proper flags enabled, my Chromebook Files App has a new coat of paint on the Canary channel.
The new redesign (Pictured below) features a two-tone stylization that separates the sidebar from the main body where your files reside. This separation provides a more organized and visually pleasing experience. The sidebar itself is darker than the main body, creating a clear contrast that simplifies navigation. I have to admit that since I’m such a sucker for UX design, this is a pleasing visual change.
I’m excited that Material You continues to permeate every aspect of Google’s laptop operating system. The new design language is coming full-force to Chromebooks and will allow users to apply custom colors to their shelf, quick settings menu, and all system app windows simply by swapping out their wallpaper via the Personalization app. The Chromebook Files App now being redesigned as a positive consequence of the larger initiative tells me that Material You with Dynamic Colors for ChromeOS is likely close to release for everyone.
Love it or hate it, Google is all in on its new eye candy, and there’s no aspect of its ecosystem it will not eventually touch and it’s been rolling out faster than I expected. From Android 12+ to ChromeOS, Google’s apps, and even its websites, Material You is literally everywhere.
Over the years, the company has changed its approach to visual design quite frequently, and anyone who remembers how quickly it jumped back and forth on the hamburger menu and bottom navigation on its applications will remind you that the moment it finishes polishing something, it completely changes it again. With that being said, I personally love Material You and hope that it continues to evolve instead of just being replaced in a few years.
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