Holo

ホロ / 2011–2014 / Style / Google UI

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.

White text on black, with sections divided by one pixel hairlines instead of filled panels / A single cyan blue at #33B5E5 lighting only selection, the underline of a text field, and progress / A full width action bar pinned to the top, and a strip of Back, Home and Recents keys at the bottom / Tab labels and list section headers set in bold, all uppercase

Holo — Android 4.0 のホーム画面（Galaxy Nexus）2011 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5 — Android 4.0 のホーム画面（Galaxy Nexus）2011 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5 ／ Android 4.1 のロック画面（Galaxy Nexus）2012 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5

Holo — Android 4.1 のロック画面（Galaxy Nexus）2012 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5 — Android 4.0 のホーム画面（Galaxy Nexus）2011 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5 ／ Android 4.1 のロック画面（Galaxy Nexus）2012 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5

Dictionary entry

Best used for: Recreating an Android app screen from roughly 2011 to 2013 with the period's actual widgets and theme names · Building hierarchy in a dark admin screen from hairlines and one accent color, without adding panels or shadows
Type: One geometric leaning sans across the whole interface, in two weights only. Tabs and section headers go uppercase with the tracking opened slightly.
Composition: A full width action bar is fixed at the top and a single column list fills the space under it. Sections are separated by hairlines rather than white space, and a strip is reserved at the bottom for the navigation keys.
Material: Ground is black or a pale #F3F3F3, text is white or dark gray, and rules are one pixel of white at reduced opacity. Restrict the accent to #33B5E5 alone and let it glow only on press, selection and progress.
Caution: Redrawing the widgets so they no longer inherit from the theme throws away the one thing this style buys you, which is looking identical across devices, and leaves your app the odd one out on a skinned phone.
Further study: Android 4.0 の互換性定義文書が無改変の主題をどう義務づけたか / Theme.Holo と DeviceDefault を分けた理由と、両者の使い分け / Roboto が高解像度画面向けに作られた経緯と、その字形の特徴

Related entries

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/holo
Markdown: [Holo — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/holo)
HTML: <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/holo">Holo — IndexStyle</a>

Back to index position