Matias Duarte unveiled the new Android design language called Material Design at the Google I/O 2014 keynote today. This is a major facelift, giving Android a mid-1960s Mod look. Everything is flat and square. It matches several leaked app redesigned like Dialer and Gmail, as well as the new Google+ app design from a few months ago.
That’s not all that Material Design brings, though. There’s a new focus on bringing your content to you in the cleanest, clearest way possible. There are new features for developers too. Devs can specify a layer dimension, and then the rest of the UI will follow suit and render based on that specification. The standard Roboto font has been tweaked a little. Google is making it easy to design apps for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and apps on the web. Material Design, and the Android ‘L’ release version, are supposed to react to your touch as though you are touching real world objects.
Material Design looks great, and it’ll developer’s lives easier too. This is the new, unified Android style guideline. When you add Polymer to Material Design, it makes it really easy for devs. It doesn’t matter what app you’re building, or what platform you’re building for. The Google I/O keynote is still happening and you can follow along with us here.