Study from material.io

As a developer, my instinct is to build upon the tried-and-tested work of others.

As a designer, my instinct is to keep control and to re-invent the wheel. (because it’s fun!)

These two sides of me clashed when choosing whether or not to use Material Design for my startup Pilcro.

This piece outlines the thought process I went through, and a step-by-step guide to help you decide whether to use Material Design.

So what is Material Design?

It is used all across Google’s product suite, from Google Docs through Google Search to Google Maps. If you haven’t heard of it, you will recognise it. Here is a snapshot from the guides showing the simple Material Button:

The Action Button — It has become the poster child of Material Design.

Google headline the Material Design homepage with this synopsis:

“Material Design is a unified system that combines theory, resources, and tools for crafting digital experiences.”

So Material Design is simply a set of rules, guidelines, components and best practises for creating websites and apps.

Why did Google develop Material Design?

Google developed Material Design to create a consistent visual language for all of their products. Seems sensible — they didn’t want to do the same bit of design work twice for two different products — and besides, it creates a consistent Google Look that their users can become accustomed to while navigating between Google products.