Understanding material design

For me, the name material design evokes an image of fashion or engineering, where different textures and patterns have distinct visual or technical characteristics. Everything I touch is some kind of material. Everything I see is some kind of material. All of these materials obey the laws of physics and behave in familiar ways.

These senses, of touch and sight, are fundamental to how we interact with the world. They're a broad and unspoken constant. Material design is a language that aims to bridge the gap between the physical and digital world, using material as a metaphor.

In this language, the surfaces and edges of material give us some visual interface cues that are grounded in reality. In this language, components respond immediately to touch in ways that hint at what they can do.

Material design is heavily inspired by print design. Yet all the typography, color, and imagery do more than just look good. They create focus, hierarchy, and meaning. It reinforces...