Google Introduces Material Design Lite

Madonna might have been correct because we are in fact living in a material design world. Google has just announced Material Design Lite, a new platform that will allow you to overhaul your existing website in the easiest possible fashion.

What Is Material Design?

In 2014, Google introduced the material design specs which are guidelines for better design and UI across all device platforms. Think laptops, cell phones, etc.

“We challenged ourselves to create a visual language for our users that synthesizes the classic principles of good design with the innovation and possibility of technology and science. This is material design.”

In essence, material design incorporates grid-based design elements that provide better spacing and contrast, responsive animations, and depth through the use of shadows and lighting.

Google material design lite

Material Design Lite

Material Design Lite (MDL) allows you to update your aging, tired website or blog and bring it into the here and now. You can easily apply the crisp, clean elements to any HTML, Javascript, or CSS. MDL includes page components such as: enhanced buttons, Cards, tooltips, spinners, and many more! They’ve also included design templates that can be used to create blogs, text-heavy articles, or marketing pages. 

There’s really no question that, for now, material design is the future of the web. In recent years, Google has been slowly overhauling their Android platform and web apps to reflect the new trend. Although technically not “material design”, even Apple has been moving towards a flatter, more responsive design language. Rene Ritchie of iMore describes OS X as “…flatter, cleaner, and more coherent than what’s come before”. We can save the debate of who’s copying who for later. 

If you’re interested in getting in on the “cross-browser, cross-OS web developer’s toolkit” you can download Material Design Lite right now