Expressive Design, Validated: What Google’s Material 3 Research Confirms About Physical Products

I’ve had a hunch for a while.

Years back, I pitched a concept for a home internet device that leaned into emotion. It used bold color. Soft curves. It felt less like a piece of infrastructure and more like something you’d actually want sitting out in your home. It never made it past the concept stage; deemed too playful, too different from the grayscale expectations baked into the category.

Fast forward to now, and Google just dropped data confirming what many of us suspected: emotion-driven, expressive design doesn’t just look good, it performs better.

Their Material 3 research is hard to ignore:

• Users find what they need up to 4x faster with expressive design.

• 87% of Gen Z prefer it over minimalist interfaces.

• Emotional design improves clarity, accessibility, and even brand perception; helping products feel more modern, more relevant, and more personal.

It’s not just UI. These same principles apply to physical products.

The future isn’t neutral gray boxes that disappear. It’s form-forward, emotionally aligned products that still perform but also connect. That invite interaction. That feel intentional.

In physical product design, this means:

• Color and texture as affordances

• Form that feels familiar but fresh

• Emotion baked into the silhouette, proportions, and material breaks

The image above is a reflection of that shift… a device that looks more like a design object than a blinking utility. No visible antennas. No tech clichés. Just simplicity with presence. It’s not expressive for the sake of it. It’s expressive because it works better.

Maybe we all just needed a little research to validate what our gut already knew.