Material Design and its 4 Principles

A new language for interface design termed the “Material Design”, was the outcome of Google’s Project Kennedy and Holo. The main objective of this new design paradigm was to replace esthetically anti-pleasant interfaces of older Android versions with a consistent view across all devices with varying screen sizes. Basically evolving from Holo, the Material Design concept aims to be the one single decree binding all Android app developers as well as designers. Let’s find out the four main elements of Material Design.

1.    Tactile Surface:

The structure of this latest design language for Android development comprises tangible layers or objects in the form of “sheets” of “quantum paper”, also called layers in general. These so-called layers follow the general laws of physics, in essence that they can essentially be thought of as 3-D orientations with x, y, and z-axes. They can be stacked, aligned at varying heights or can connect and stretch, casting shadows that distinguish one from the other with respect to their relative positioning. The shadows enable users to understand their interface in a better way!

2.    Print Design:

It can very well be just another fancy substitute for digital ink! Having established that material design is nothing but “sheets of quantum paper”, so in effect everything placed on these sheets is digital ink. The two aspects of print design – font and typography – are vital elements in defining the structure of content along with the identity of the application.
Although, narrowing down the typography to just one font style – Roboto – limits the creativity on the font front, it is not without good reason. Standardizing the typography plays a crucial role while further optimizing the design structure of the applications.

3.    Animations:

The Animations implemented using the Material Design language are their real world manifestations that catch as well as manage the user attention in response to a user action. Just as in real life things do not appear out of and disappear into nowhere, the animations applied to the layers ought to be realistic and print design needs careful considerations.

4.    Adaptive Design:

A combination of the three aforementioned design concepts and principles, Adaptive Design is all about their implementation on devices with varying sizes and degrees of screen resolutions. The commonest technique of applying adaptive design is to reduce the amount of information displayed on smaller screens, by creating multiple proportions for all elements.
 

With the mainstream availability and application of Material Design, existing design paradigms are set to change for the better. As an Android app development company, Clavax too has been incorporating the latest design language into the app development processes.