Can we make up our minds, please?
In the 90s-2000s we had these shaded, almost 3D icons everywhere. Then we transitioned to a flat, minimalist style.
Give us something new and exciting instead of capitalizing on "retro nostalgia"
The 2000's were very...amorphous. Like, remember the Cingular Wireless blob dude? Or the MusicMatch logo? Not the black and white jagged thing, the orange blob and blue bigger blob? And how all personal electronics were strange plastic shapes painted silver and purplish-blue? And the world hadn't gone insane yet?
I might be in the minority, but ignoring the actual design, I'm hopeful that the trend of flat design is coming to an end. Wasn't really a big fan of that.
I like skeumorphism done right over material design (the trend of making everything into basic shapes makes me attribute to graphic designer laziness over anything).
BUT, I wouldn't want it to be like fashion where every 2 years it flips between flat, simple, material design being what's hot then the next two years, complicated and glossy icons become the norm.
I kinda like it, and hope we see more of this. Maybe skeuomorphism is not the best idea for UI elements these days, but for things like icons it makes perfect sense.
Many apps in iOS still use beautifully detailed icons which make for eyecandy without sacrificing functionality.
Not sure what you mean by this. I'm sure Google has issues but companies changing their design language to match current trends isn't exactly a unique Google thing.