Material Design, codenamed “Quantum Paper,” was Google’s idea in mid-2014, and it represented a fresh “ink-and-pen” approach. The purpose of Material Design is to produce consistently high-quality output across platforms, providing users control over clearly indicated, pleasant-looking components that behave like real-world things. It’s a highly sophisticated and well-defined collection of principles aimed at assisting designers and end users in replicating Google’s work as well as explaining why things in Google behave the way they do.
Material design has three core principles:
- The metaphor of material
Our on-screen design should serve as a metaphor for things that aren’t on screens, particularly pen and paper. This means that on-screen buttons should resemble real-life buttons, that objects should have shadows, and that “the foundations of light, surface, and movement” must be respected. Material design is based on the premise that the user experience is improved when objects on a screen reflect how they appear in the real world.
- Bold, graphic, and intentional
Material design seeks to create simple and clean experiences by guiding designs that make sense right away, are easy to follow (e.g. bold colors, headlines), and provide a clear and uncluttered experience (for example, with negative space).
- Make messages with motion
Motion can be utilized to help the user move and establish meaning; in particular, it can be used to provide feedback to the user.