Last summer we first learned about Google’s Material Design language, since then we’ve slowly but surely seen traces of it roll out to various Google and 3rd-party apps. And now with Lollipop rolling out, Google has been pushing hard to bring Material Design to as many apps as possible, while also encouraging outside developers to do the same.
The honeymoon phase is (mostly) over now, and we are very familiar with Material Design and Google’s guidelines. With that in mind, this Friday Debate we ask what you think of Material Design. Are you in love with what Google is doing, indifferent or completely turned off by it? Additionally, do you think OEMS and 3rd party developers will do a good enough job of adopting the MD style.
Robert Triggs
Aesthetically I still find Material Design pretty horrible. The updated Gmail, Google+, and Inbox apps are pretty nasty to look at, I really dislike the color scheme. Furthermore, I can only hype myself up so much over animations that I’m going to have to look at thousands of times. But my biggest complaint with Material Design, for all its tawdriness, is that it also overly complicates what should be simple interactions. Let me explain.
The Floating Action Button, for instance, exists to move important actions from a bar at the top closer to the user’s thumb. Clever, to some extent, but not really necessary. Thing is, this circle will end up housing almost anything, replacing easy to identify icons with a more ambiguous menu, see Inbox. The new side-menu looks nice and pops out with flair, but it hasn’t replaced the old three dot options icon and what goes in this menu doesn’t appear to be clear cut either.
Even Google’s own apps have become a maze of busy contradictory elements, which is only going to worsen when third party developers attempt to take it up. Is content supposed to be sorted by a swipe (Newsstand), a drop down menu (G+), in app (Play Store) or in the side-menu (Inbox)? Is the FAB supposed to disappear as you read on, because sometimes it doesn’t? Occasionally you don’t even start new actions from the FAB (like setting your mood in G+), instead they’re in the side-menu (Hangouts). Settings are now usually listed in the side-menu, but sometimes they’re still hidden behind the three dot icon (G+). If Material Design doesn’t unify the user experience across apps then what is the point?
There are seemingly more menus and options scattered throughout Material Design apps than before, when these could simply be housed in a bar or menu at the top. Reaching what I want should be easier, but the more advanced app options are often now tucked away behind extra animations, icons, and menus. I get the feeling that Material Design is a lot of flash at the expense of basic user interactions. (edited)
Bogdan Petrovan
I am a bit torn about Material right now – on one hand, I love what Google has done with Lollipop. On the other, I feel that the implementation of Material in Google’s apps is less impressive than what I expected. It may be because I haven’t really tried the complete experience yet (the apps’ transition to Material isn’t complete yet and I don’t get all the fancy animations on my KitKat Mate 7). But, so far, the materialized apps I’ve tried – Gmail, Calendar, Maps – haven’t really delighted me in a way great design should.
I think the problem is Material is too minimalist, in a way that evokes times when designers were limited by technology in what they could achieve. Or, as Luka put it in our group chat, it sort of looks like the ’90s. Google has been trying to compensate this bareness with rich animations – and that works t0 some extent – but the problem is many users won’t be able to enjoy them for months or at all.
I’d like to see Material tempered with lush imagery, the way Google itself encourages designers to do in its guidelines. I think the clean typography and blocks of strong colors are complemented by richer imagery. Google Calendar does that to some extent, by using images of city skylines or Googley graphics representing each month. The Music and Movies sections of the Play Store are probably the best example, though. However, not all apps can use images in a way that makes sense – see Gmail.
I think that Josh Topolsky was right when he suggested to Matias Duarte during their FORM 2014 fireside chat that mobile digital designers are pushing too far the flat and minimalist approach. Apple’s exaggerated skeuomorphism was wrong, but I’d still like to see more richness in Google’s mobile design. After all, we have these powerful devices that are able to render gorgeous imagery and graphics, and we’re using them to show text and colored cards (that’s an exaggeration, but the idea holds). Take Microsoft, who pushed itself into a corner with the Metro design of Windows. Google is far from that, but that lesson shouldn’t remain unlearned.
Jonathan Feist
For me, the jury is still out on Material design. Here’s the thing, until I use it in full force on an Android 5.0 Lollipop device for a while, I just don’t want to make judgements.
Does it sound like I am not very fond of Material Design so far? It shouldn’t.
I will freely admit that the default soft pastel color palette is not to my liking, I like strong colors. But that is where my complaints end, so far.
Truth is, it was the Google Play Store app that first made me stop and appreciate Material Design, it flows fairly well and looks pretty slick, but a week later it just feels normal. Perhaps feeling normal is a good thing, but the awe is certainly gone.
I’ve not been displeased with Holo design, but Material Design really is growing on me, and it is all in the details. Little things that you don’t really notice unless you are looking for/at them, things that don’t matter at all to function.
Take the Play Store snapshot above. Look how the top bar goes transparent as I scroll down the page. It is perhaps a cluttered and confusing still image, but the full transition animation just feels good.
I suppose that is exactly what I am trying to say here. Forget the scientific measurements, Material Design feels good, even if it doesn’t really look all that good. Android is long over due for some feel good, so I will embrace Material Design and jam on that ‘Check for Updates’ button to get Lollipop on my devices as soon as possible.
from Android Authority http://ift.tt/1u6B363
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