Last Updated on March 7, 2024
If you have heard of Material Design and how it has inspired today’s design trends, then you would also understand why every designer has accepted the fact that this is one design philosophy that will stay for a long time.
An innovation by Google, it basically gives an extremely detailed set of guidelines on how apps should look like on mobile devices. It goes right to the minute details, tackling patterns, usability and other components in terms of style, layout and animation.
Simply put, it accurately summarizes how great design works when technology and science are put into it. It is the best kind of partnership between aesthetics and function.
The entire idea of Material Design stems from a few basic principles that measure and dictate how the concept flows:
Material Metaphor
When using material as a metaphor, Google hopes to incorporate the basic principles of paper and ink in a way that involves technology and imagination.
The surfaces and edges used are based on reality, but they are also made flexible in a way that goes beyond what holds true in the physical world.
To make all this possible, there is a special focus on the role of surface, light and movement especially in showing how different elements move, exist, and interact with each other.
Visual Treatments
Where traditionally, grids, space, color, typography, color and imagery are used to add a certain visual appeal, with Material Design, they are also used as a means to create hierarchy and meaning.
They basically direct the users’ eyes to what is most important, then leads them to the next important thing, and so on. Through these visual cues, the user is then pushed to become more engaged and more immersed in the entire experience.
Meaning through Motion
With every bit of motion that the user initiates, the whole design also transforms depending on what direction the user wants to take. Of course, because every motion happens in a single space, there is also a continuity in design as the transformation goes on.
Let’s look at 30 beautiful examples of Material Design. Through these, you can once again realize why Material Design has not just become a trend, but an actual design philosophy that designers will apply for a long time.
And once you have found the inspiration you need from these masterpieces, you can start applying the design concepts on your own creative work as well.