Android its apps aren’t the only offerings soon to be on the receiving end of a Material Design makeover. The ay Store itself is being overhauled to fall in line with ‘s new aesthetic push, according to Android lice, which has revealed a slew of leaked screenshots purporting to show the state of the revamp in its current pre-release phase.
“’re relying on bold, graphical, intentional graphics,” said Nathan Streu, the ay user experience lead, during a panel on ay’s revamped design at I/O, that’s in full effect in these leaked screenshots. The drab, gray background of today’s ay is gone in the alleged redesign, replaced by screen-filling “hero” images pulled from the content itself (at least on tablets). Books magazines are framed in the blue of ay’s Books Newsst sections, respectively, since their vertical imagery doesn’t translate well as an app’s background image.
You can see the redesign next to today’s ay aesthetic in the side-by-side tablet screenshots of the o’s Fortune game below.
Android lice Click to enlarge to very, very long proportions.
The overhaul, assuming it’s legit, is clearly still in the early stages, since the informational cards shown in the images are devoid of anything but barest bones of text. Android lice suggests the ay revamp will go live alongside Android later this year.
ile the new look certainly catches the eye, I’m a bit worried about a lack of information density if this Material-Design-inspired tweak indeed becomes reality. The overhauled apps show much less actionable information onscreen compared to the current ay design, which could force you to scroll swipe around listings much more than you do today—sacrificing experience for eye cy, in other words. Microsoft’s ndows 8 apps have suffered from criticism for taking that very approach.
Head over to Android lice to see all the leaked images, including screenshots of the revamp’s phone interface, which isn’t as drastic as the tablet makeover. And while you’re at it, check out our own Android Influencers interview with Android lice’s Artem Russakovskii to learn more about the site’s policy to leaks unofficial previews.
