Material design is a set of guidelines developed by Google that designers follow when creating interactive media products. This ensures that apps for their service maintain continuity across aspects like layout and function, in turn providing a comfortable experience for users as they use the different apps of Google.
For instance, Google Play apps have a recurring and coherent design as shown above with the Google Play Store and the Google Play Movies & TV app.
Another example could be Android’s material design within Samsung services.
Features such as the menu bar placement and the icon design follow a pattern. You can see the repeated design across the Samsung Health and Galaxy Store apps despite them being quite different from each other.
Material Design Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Apple iOS Material Design
Although generic principles for design are followed across Apple products, they can vary depending on the type of device being used. For example, the watchOS app design strives to be glanceable, actionable and responsive whilst the macOS apps are designed to be flexible, expansive, capable and focussed.
Here are a few of the main requirements when creating apps for Apple devices:
> Accessibility – this feature ensures that users of all abilities will be able to easily access and use apple products by being able to change the settings to their required preferences – for example, closed captioning support.
> Internationalisation – this feature ensures that the apps are prepared to appeal to a global audience just as the apple devices are, to maximise the company’s demographic and inclusivity.
> Marketing Resources and Identity – those making apps for Apple products will be given resources such as app store badges, information on things like graphic standards and screen content and more to ensure that the app’s availability will be effectively promoted in the Apple app store.
Apple Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Microsoft Windows OS Material Design
Microsoft provides a clear guide for what they expect from apps made for their systems.
> Design Basics – here, they speak about how to go about designing navigation, command and content of the app to create a polished product suitable for Microsoft.
> Usability – it is important that their apps are accessible and usable by users of all abilities and so their guide features how they want their clients to go about achieving this.
The more specific categories are largely focussed on the visual aspects of design:
> Layout – creating a user interface (UI) that will look effective on any screen size.
> Style – looking at things like colour and typography that enables the app to stand out.
> Motion – utilising animation and transition styles to give an app character.
> Shell – guidelines for creating an effective tile from which the app is launched.
What is a GUI?
A graphical user interface (GUI) is an interface with components such as icons that users can utilise to interact with software. The example above is a Microsoft Windows computer GUI.
Susan Kare
Susan Kare is an American contemporary graphic designer who developed a vast selection of interface elements for the Apple Mac as well as companies such as Microsoft and IBN later on. Throughout her employment at Apple, Kare created various icons, typefaces, marketing material for the Macintosh system. Her designs, whilst revised, are still used today in computer software – examples include the command key icon on Apple keyboards, the Lasso tool and the Paint Bucket amongst many others.
Kare believed that to make a good icon, it would need to be as efficient as a road sign – not confusing to users at a first glance and easily comprehensible without having to make it too complex.
To understand what makes good interactive design, you can look at how companies like Apple, Android and Microsoft have utilised their material design guidelines. From the research I have gathered, these are what I believe to be the most important in creating effective interactive media:
> Coherent design – having a coherent design will enable users to get comfortable with the software and so they will reach for it as it isn’t intimidating or confusing. The theme should apply to all fundamentals of the product – for instance, layout, style icon design etc. This also helps when trying to find individuality when competing against other companies.
> Accessibility – it is important to be able to cater to those of all needs as technology is at a stage where it is more than possible. Enhancing the user experience is key to achieving a wide demographic of satisfied users.
> Flexible design – for an interactive media product to last, it needs to be flexible enough to successfully adapt to the innovation of technology and be transferable across select platforms without having to change its image entirely but add to it instead. A good example of an adaptive company is Apple: they have skilfully branched out to a selection of platforms and were able to do so due to their solid but adaptable fundamental design.
Jasmine Cooper 