Material design

You might have heard of material design, but what exactly is it? The objective of material design is, quite simply, to achieve beautiful user interfaces. It is also, however, about making these user interfaces consistent across Android devices. Material design is not a new idea. It is taken straight from the design principles used in pen-and-paper design, like having visually pleasing embellishments such as shadows and depth.

Material design uses the concept of layers of materials that you can think of in the same way you would think of layers in a photo-editing app. Consistency is achieved with a set of principles, rules, and guidelines. It must be stressed that material design is entirely optional, but it also must be stressed that material design works, and, if you are not following it, there is a good chance your design will be disliked by the user. The user, after all, has become used to a certain type of UI, and that UI was most likely created using material design principles.

So, material design is a sensible standard to strive for, but while we are learning the details of material design, we mustn't let it hold us back from learning how to get started with Android.

This book will focus on getting things done, while occasionally pointing out when material design is influencing how we do it, as well as pointing you to further resources for those who want to look at material design in more depth right away.