The Benefits of Using Google's Material Design in Your Next App

Image Credit: http://trello.com/

The very first question which comes to our mind is, what exactly 'Material Design' is?

How can you use this feature to improve the performance of your developed app?

What is Material Design?

Material Design provides amazing benefits for your Android APP. It is a visual design framework which provides amazing benefits for the Android APP and is developed by Google with a flat, elegant, and vibrant interface and all set to create a unified Android experience.

Google states that this new language for designing is based on Paper and Ink.

It makes use of grid-based layouts, animations, transitions and many other effects such as shadows and lighting.

Material Design can be virtually used on all android devices that were made after the year 2009.

How Can Material Design Boost Your App Development?

Branding: Material design makes use of flat and light objects and just two to three colors to brand the entire app which you have developed.

Branding of your app can be done in various other ways too.

• Mark your brand with a Logo: The logo that you choose for the branding of your app plays a very important role because that is the very first thing that the users see. It would be better if the logo was established with high level UI elements.

• Brand it with the Typography: The default typeface for the android system is Roboto, but that does not mean it is the only typeface that would work with all the materials. The typeface which you choose should in real, be something which depicts your brand so you need to choose it wisely.

• Brand it through the App Color: Choice of the color is a very important element of your brand identity. You can use simple yet appealing color stories for your UI. You can apply your own customised color story, but then you need to stick with the same.

• Brand it with the Images: The images that you choose for the app make a major difference. The imagery along with the graphic elements and the iconography should be going similarly together. Also, the imagery you choose should be informative and highlighting the qualities of your app.

• Be Precise with the Terminologies: The terms and words which you use should be specific to your brand and must delight the audience. Try to always guide the user with patterns and gestures rather than written explanations with simple terminologies.

You need to strive hard to mark your product’s brand identity be it through color, imagery, typography, or any other affecting factor because that would bring uniqueness to your product and also extend the overall language of material design.

User Engagement: For any app to be a success, it is very much essential for the app to keep its users engaged. There has to be a constant communication with the users. About 35% of the smartphones apps are just being used once in their lifetime after the user has installed the app.

Trello has designed its new app based on the guidelines of material design and gained 42% more activity success.

Effective UI/UX: The UI/UX has to be interactive and meaningful because, if the user is not satisfied with the UI, then he/she may uninstall the app. In this aspect, material design takes care of the betterment of user experience with a satisfactory UI/UX.

Cost Effective: Google introduced this prototype of material design so that it can be utilized for web, mobile as well as for APP. This in return, reduced the overhead cost of designing for all the platforms.

Material Design will prove to be the best and a one stop solution for designing in all the platforms based on Android.