The Google I/O conference ended just a few weeks ago, but the wild predictions and speculations about where the tech giant is headed are unyielding. Along with the exciting tech announcements for televisions, cars, smartphones, and wearables, Google is unveiling Material Design : Google’s new visual look for Android, Chrome OS, and web.
Digital Design Trends
Trends in tech design change extremely quickly. Just a few years ago, Apple was invested in digital skeumorphism: a type of design that tries to retain ornamental realism of an object. Imagine a radio application that has the texture, gloss, reflection, and realistic aesthetic of a hand held radio. The value of skeumorphism lies in that it is very intuitive; that is, it lowers the learning curve that comes with using a digital form of an otherwise familiar tool. However, skeumorphism is quiet limited in its application since most software applications do not have clear physical counterparts.
In recent years, skeumorphism has practically disappeared due to a rising popularity of flat design: a polar opposite look and feel that favors solid colors, geometric layouts, and a dearth of gradients and shadows. Microsoft made a bold leap to flat design in 2012 with its Windows 8 Metro theme. Apple soon followed with iOS 7 in 2013.
Google’s Digital Design
Google’s move to flat design was more gradual. It began under the leadership of Matias Duarte, director of Android OS user experience, with the introduction of the Holo theme on Android 3.0 Honeycomb. In addition to creating an appealing design, a big push behind Holo was to reduce and virtually eliminate design variance that existed in Google’s OS ecosystem.
Over the years Holo has evolved to deliver a cleaner, flatter, milder UI experience, but the design discrepancy across various Google properties remained. Google’s announcement today offers a sleek solution. Material Design is a new design language that unites Google’s largest digital properties: Android, Chrome browser, and the Chrome OS.
Material Design
The evolution of flat design has come a long way, and Google’s new implementation looks beautiful and intuitive. The new design includes splashes of color, 45 degree angle drop shadows, refreshed icons, typography, and a more consistent interface layout.
Flat design is evolving and it looks like some elements of skeumorphism are making a comeback. A large focus behind the new redesign has been on adding realism to the interface. The materials used in the design are “grounded in tactile reality, inspired by our study of paper and ink”, explains Matias Duarte. The video presented at the I/O conference suggests that materials will have a realistic feel to them and react to the user’s touch – perhaps with a ripple effect or zipping animation emanating from the touch point.
It’s hard to judge such a large design update from a short video. Still, at this point it’s hard to come up with any solid criticisms albeit those involving personal design preferences. And for those who are unsure about the look and feel of Material Design, look for solace in the fact that even with this release, Android will remain the most customizable OS on the market.