Published on <a href="http://ift.tt/2tETCpk">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Gregory Wolanski <img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2uyFo5Q">
<h3>Recently, I’ve been attacked online by Sturgeon’s Law, which states that 90% of everything is crap.</h3>
I realize that most things are crap. That’s common sense. After a brief reflection, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that this knowledge is not reflected in my modus operandi.
“90% of everything is crap” changes the game.
A 90% chance that the service or the software you are working on will prove itself to be crap is a big risk.
I’m a designer. Is there anything I know that could help you reduce this risk?
What would I do if I had been trying to create a commercial piece of software and wanted to minimize the chance that its user interface turns out to be crap?
I would build the interface using Material Design: a mature, constantly developed visual language with very good documentation. The principles of Material Design include issues from typography to iconography, layouts to onboarding, and the presentation of the new features in an application. Consistent use of Material Design significantly reduces the risk of a crappy user interface.
Being consistent is extremely important at this point. In each project, there is always the temptation to go against to the adopted conventions. More often than not, it ends badly.
Consistence (like simplicity) is difficult but essential.
With Material Design, you can design not only the user interface of your web application but also versions for tablets and phones (and not just Android phones).
It’s worth the time to choose an optimal library, which will allow you to quickly implement Material Design. In the case of a web app, I’d recommend looking at Material–UI first. Check out Polymer afterward.
What if Material Design does not suit some of your needs? What if you need to do something that Material Design documentation does not mention? Well, I’ve been designing user interfaces using Material Design for more than two years, and I can assure you that that won’t happen often.
You may miss an icon or three, but The Noun Project, Material Design’s documentation, and a few hours of designer’s work will let you solve this problem easily.
So how about it? Would you give Material Design a chance?
Let me know if you come across any obstacles.
Links worth checking out:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/2hza045">Material Design</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/1ElyjTK">Material–UI</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/109cZNJ">Polymer</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/1Cby93x">The Noun Project</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/2hybYS6">Documentation of icons in Material Design</a></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://ift.tt/2uybq1K">Don’t risk making a crappy UI, use Material Design</a> was originally published in <a href="http://ift.tt/2cAqCpx">prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Don’t risk making a crappy UI, use Material Design

Recently, I’ve been attacked online by Sturgeon’s Law, which states that 90% of everything is crap.

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