Google announced their release of a Material Design language in 2014. Their main aim was to address issues with app design for Android devices.
Actually the flat design was not translating well to smaller screens therefore they felt that the design is lacking and visually hinder mobile user’s ability to take actions. While Google explained, “digital material can expand and reform intelligently. Material has physical surfaces and edges. Seams and shadows provide meaning about what you can touch.” And now this is what is material design i.e. A way to make design elements look touchable.
Actually by releasing the new design language and guidelines, Google wanted to resolve UX issues for Android app users. Now their design language has gone beyond the field of mobile apps and is now a technology widely utilized in web design process.
10 Best Sources for Material Design Inspiration
Although Google’s own resource and websites are best examples of material design available on internet but there are many other inspirations and websites which are dedicated to this topic. Now I will discuss about our collection of the best websites/resources for material design inspiration.
Google’s Material Design Resources
Google design website is the perfect model for how to execute and do material design. Here the most important thing is the resources Google has provided to help the designers and developers in creating material design for their websites, mobile apps etc. You will be pleased to use this base to look for material design examples. This is the best website which shows the best features in material designing.
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Google Design’s Material Design Awards 2017
This award recognizes the best in class designs from around the community. A design system only comes to life when it is actually used to create meaningful and amazing experiences. This Google material design award actually recognizes the best efforts and achievements of the best designers in applying the material design system. It wants to give honor and recognition to the creators of each winning design.
Google has been giving this material award for the last 3 times in a row. This year Google did things differently. They wanted to reach back to the community to help them find the very best because there is no much excellent work being created. And after reviewing hundreds of submission finally winners are announced. For more information and to read what the winners say you can visit this link.
If Google itself label someone as innovative then definitely it is worth to look into.
Behance
Behance is the big reference for students and users who want to get inspired. Here you will get to see so many design materials which can be used. Here you will get huge amount of knowledge base. This website has also the capacity to utilize material designing by itself.
You can also feel the utility and power through the features like bold designs which do not place themselves near the grids. You can also check the background under shaded categories which looks large. They have also given easy guidelines which enable users to click faster. Whatever features you are looking for in this field you should surely check this amazing website and their amazing app.
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Pinterest is the best ever image collection site and a top source for design inspiration. Actually Pinterest and Behance are on top of the list. If you do quick search for the term material design, you will get instant access to images and videos of websites and apps using some top design trends which you can use too.
At least Pinterest is something which you may be using already. It is great resource for outstanding inspirational and learning material.
CodePen
This website has great resource for material design and you can get lots of inspiration from it for your project. CodePen says about itself, “playground for the front-end side of the web”. It is a goldmine for developers when it comes to material design. They call them Pens.
You can write HTML, CSS and JavaScript and get a real time preview. Furthermore, you can use CodePen website to do so many amazing things for example you can build, you can learn new things, you can also try out new technologies for the first time and then build components to use them later anywhere.
You can also build test cases to report bugs and get help for problems. Hence there are so many benefits you can get from this site. Everything you do is saved on CodePen. The more you will use it more useful it will become for you.
Dribbble
You may have heard about it. Dribbble is actually a social network for designers, artists, developers and other people which are visually very creative. You can search material design at their website and you can see how much famous material design really is, within internet as well as in app designing. You can get lots of inspiration from this particular website from a simple icon to a full website design.
Made With Material
Although it is a old website but it is serving as a great source of inspiration for material design. Most of this website shows high resolution screenshots of websites and mobile applications which are using the material design technique.
You can easily get lost in the given so many motivational example but do check out the reference material also which is given for developers at the top right sidebar. This information will be very useful.
Material Design Blog
This is one of the best blog as it covers lots of tools and topics which might interest you as it relates to material design and also it does a wonderful job of employing the design technique themselves. Just visit their website and see the animations in action.
You should also read some of their blog posts on their website to learn more about material design. Definitely you will get lots of inspiration from their website and blog posts.
MaterialUp
This website is in the family of Uplabs websites. MaterialUp primarily focuses on the topic of material design, mobile app screenshots, website examples, tips, tools etc. Other than the useful things on their site, you can even look at the design of their website. You will find that the look and layout of their websites is similar to Google Drive.
If you are looking for a trusty resource for inspiration then you can rely on MaterialUp as they themselves are following such principles.
Reddit is not so much popular among users who want their stories to be heard online but it is very inspiring when it comes to material design. In the sub-reddit you can find so much knowledge resources and guidelines on material designing. Almost half of the articles on this website belong to users transforming their designs to enhance their websites material designing features.
The rest half of the articles are the creation of the designers who want to gain the right opinion about their creation. In this site, you can post your own creations and can also evaluate the amazing examples with other users. Hence on this site you can analyze and learn at the same time. If you are highly interested in material design then this site is a great place to review and discuss designs with like-minded people.
Conclusion
When Google launched the Material Design design language about six years ago, the main goal was to present something valuable for the end users.
They were trying to find how new techniques can improve the app and web design experience so that the navigation and user experience (UX) become even more intuitive and user friendly? The solution Google found was very normal one which is to create something which worked in the past and put more real life qualities into it.
You can review Google’s guidelines and specifications which can be very helpful for you in this regard. It will get you started and after that you can also use the material design resources which we have discussed above which will inspire you a lot in the designing process and will give a unique and astonishing look into it.
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