Material Design is a concept of application design introduced by Google in 2014. Its main objective is to simplify user experience in application interfaces.
Material Design promotes the idea for application visual parts to follow the same laws as physical objects. Users get the sense of the so-called digital paper tangibility, where they can feel a borderline between the layers. This can be achieved when elements start casting shadows allowing users to easily understand how interface works. As for the font solutions, the principles of classical printing are applied here.
Another important point in the material design is predictable interface behavior - the design changes only in response to user actions, and after transformation the objects shouldn’t break the overall concept.
A new popular idea of adaptability plays a major role here. The design should be the same on all possible devices. As planned by Google, a user can easily switch between devices, regardless of their size and screen resolution.
First of all, Material Design will simplify and unify the UX for Android mobile applications, as well as make navigation and usability easier. The Material Design concept is holistic and seamless – that’s something Google products lacked before.
By opening a separate program or application, a user sees recognizable elements and animation. Moreover, Google provides a clear guide for developers and designers. This applies to colors, fonts, and even individual design elements. And, importantly, the guidelines are now available for web development using the official Material Design Lite framework.
However, complete design unification is also a big disadvantage, which means less room for creativity and customization. However, nothing prevents from combining MD guidelines with own identity, visual style, animation and interface elements.