Material Design - What is the hype?

Process & Techniques
#1

Hey guys,

So I’ve been chasing a new opportunity at a company BUT about 96% of the business is mobile-driven - specifically apps! So in my interviews I mentioned that I have no real mobile experience as I’ve been working on big systems catering for smallest screen sizes of 1024x768.

I was informed to go look into Material Design and I know that it’s quite the new thing, well at least here in South Africa. Everyone’s doing Material Design and this company is no exception so I was advised to investigate it.

After looking at it, my first couple of impressions were:

  • It’s not necessarily principles but rather guidelines,
  • It’s more Android focused that iOS (could be wrong)

What I’m wondering… Is material design the Be All End All of App design or should one rather abide to more native principles? I honestly don’t get the hype but yet again, I’m a noob in this field.

Would love some feedback regarding this.

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#4

@jdebari took the words out of my mouth! I work for an app design/development agency and our designers have to be familiar with both Android’s Material Design and Apple’s HIG.

Regardless what you’re designing, it’s necessary to become familiar with the platform you’re designing for—its constraints and opportunities.

That said, you can definitely learn it. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have experience with it yet.

Good luck!

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