Simplistic, minimalist web design has become a staple these days, especially with the continual push for mobile and user-friendly websites. While clean, responsive design has provided this, web designers are now taking the idea a big step further with material design.
Material design is a newer concept in web designing and combines the basic elements of function with more fresh and spacial layouts to create simpler, yet striking websites that are easy to use.
What Is Material Design?
Material web design is a recent development in website building that emphasizes visual elements, using them to create beautiful, yet simplistic user-friendly websites. It is a bold style that highlights interface elements using visual cues that aid the user, while remaining minimalist and easy to navigate.
Material web designing can be used across platforms and devices without compromising function since it is built on intuitiveness and interfaces that use recognized visual cues from everyday life. Objects and elements may transform in many ways from page to page and device to device, yet the basic layout and how the elements work remains the same.
How Does Material Design Work?
The basics of material design are fairly simple, using known principles of visual layout and perception. Elements are displayed using size, color, shadows, light, and movement to indicate importance and function and show the user what they can do on the page.
Web designers can use these principles to create a hierarchy of elements, from the active and prominent functions in the foreground to the more subtle and inactive ones in the background.
In creating layout elements using simple shapes, bold colors, light and shadows, this style of responsive web designing is built on lighter, faster code that allows users to get the same results regardless of the device on which they view the site.
Bold Yet Simple
The most striking thing about material web design is it gives web designers a much larger layout canvas on which to work. It is now common to use large, photographic backsplashes on these sites, with minimalist but obvious functions that stand out boldly from the backgrounds. By using this approach, it is easy to generate impressions and emotions and give users a good idea of the brand behind the site without actually using words to do so.
Function is self-explanatory based on user intent and is completed by using simple shapes and minimalistic, easy-to-read fonts. It is what most people understand with regard to visual layers, color shades, and similar cues.
Although this concept in web designing is relatively new, material web design uses very basic ideas and principles to create simple, yet highly functional websites and is especially suited for mobile use. Web designers who venture into material design may find they have greater freedom to be creative using photographic and graphic imagery, while still offering the function required for their sites.
By using material web design, it is possible to build memorable and expressive websites that can travel from smartphone to desktop, providing the same experience for the user. This type of design may be a new concept, but it is an exciting one that seems to be catching on very quickly today in the effort to build simple, yet unique websites!