Google explains the design philosophy behind Material Design [video]

It’s been a few days since Google I/O 2015 ended but just hours after the annual shindig, Google gave its website a Material Design overhaul and now, it has released a video explaining the Material Design concept.

The video features Google designers of all disciplines talking about Material Design, from its inception to what it has become, which involved cutting out icons on paper, exposing them to light to create shadows, to finally completing a guide of material design to third party Android apps.

There is no doubt that material design is pretty to look at with its bold colours, typography that focuses on depth, animations and patterns but it’s also simple.

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What is good news about the material design language is that it appears not to be final, that the designers are willing to allow it to organically develop and become other things and this is great for design as long as it stays as simple as it is. Essentially, stick to what Google designers describe as ‘smart paper’ design principle.

“To constantly be evaluating itself, and to constantly be thinking about what is no longer relevant, what was universal and it turned out to be a fad or simply the wrong emphasis,” notes Matias Duarte, VP of design at Google.

Material design was first introduced last year in Android 5.0 Lollipop and over time it spread to all of Google’s web services, including third party developers who followed Google’s blueprint.

The company has also released a list of apps that are getting the Material Design treatment as well.