Google UI
A system that began from a paper and ink metaphor, published its rules for anyone to adopt, and later moved toward deriving color from each user's own wallpaper.
Dictionary entry
- Material Design 2014– / Style
A design system that reduces the physical metaphor of paper and ink to rules of shadow and overlap. Elements are given elevation, shadow states the hierarchy, and motion carries physical cause and effect. It became the model for UI design being distributed as a system. The 2021 revision added colour derived from the device wallpaper, so the palette differs from one user to the next.
- Holo 2011–2014 / Style
Google's design language for Android, introduced with 3.0 and pushed so hard that carrying it unmodified became a compatibility requirement for every 4.0 device. It rules a black ground with hairlines and lets a single cyan blue carry selection, focus and progress. It arrived as a guarantee as much as a look, since an app that asked for the theme by name would be drawn the same way even on a phone wearing a manufacturer's skin.
- Material You 2021– / Style
Material You makes adaptability itself consistent: dynamic color, generous shapes and personalized motion vary by person while semantic roles stay stable.