Google’s gorgeous new Material Design has received a warm reception. The design language marks a new direction for the search giant’s products, giving the new Android 5.0 Lollipop OS in particular a more intuitive and beautiful interface.Material Design is largely composed of flat shapes and colors, but utilizes layers and animations that lend depth. According to Google’s design team, Material is “grounded in tactile reality, inspired by the study of paper and ink.” By basing it on the physical world, surfaces appear to be more tactile. User interface elements offer the illusion of height and dimensionality. For now, Material Design has been reserved for Android and Google’s own mobile apps. But Google is also encouraging app developers to embrace Material Design for their own creations. The initiative not only resulted in the most visually appealing version of Android to date, but it has also provided a more cohesive look to Google’s mobile apps. Already, we’ve seen Material Design adopted by a wide range of Google’s core apps, including Gmail, Maps, Calendar, and YouTube, to name a few.However, Material Design has yet to take over all Google properties, namely desktop properties like Google’s core end-user product, the search engine at Google.com. It’s this glaring absence that led graphic designer Aurélien Salomon to ponder what the Google search engine would look like if it too received the Material Design makeover, and his vision is stunningly beautiful. Utilizing the Material Design principles outlined by Google and its designers, Salomon created a conceptual version of the popular search portal that includes bright colors and subtle shadows for a more simplified, albeit more modern look.Similar to Google’s latest batch of apps and mobile products, there’s less negative space. Gone is the cold sparseness we’ve come to expect when performing a search. In its place are bright, inviting colors, subtle animations, and the same amount of links and results on each page. In light of Material Design rolling out to Android Lollipop, Android Wear, Google Glass, and a host of apps, Google’s search engine is unquestionably beginning to look dated. If Google.com underwent a Material Design redesign like the one Salomon envisioned, it would undoubtedly change the way we see Google.In addition to making the popular portal more modern and visually interesting, a Material Design update would finally provide a common design language. It would unify Google products and standardize its design in a way that hasn’t been achieved to this point. But with millions replying on the search engine daily, it’s understandable that any updates to its core product will be gradual and carefully executed. Nevertheless, we hope that Google is taking note of Salomon’s creation because it certainly would make for a more compelling experience.

Last week, Google's annual I/O developer conference gave developers and the media a chance to see where the future of Android is heading. Among new features bundled into Android L, the code name for the next generation OS, there will be a new design language called “Material Design” aimed at providing a more consistent user experience across devices.All of Google’s apps, such as Gmail and its Calendar app, will be redesigned to adhere to the principles of Material Design. However, this new design language is more than a visual refresh. It also brings about new animations and new ways for users to interact with content. Along with revamped typography and more color, Google’s aiming to make its apps even more consistent than they are today, lending a better overall user experience."Unlike real paper, our digital material can expand and reform intelligently. Material has physical surfaces and edges. Seams and shadows provide meaning about what you can touch," said Matias Durate, Google's director of Android user experience.Google also launched a new Design website to provide developers with all the guidelines needed to build apps that follow the Material Design principles. While Android will continue to employ elements of a flat design, the UI will also have incredible depth, thanks to use of shadows. Developers can even assign an elevation value to areas within their apps, letting Google's framework automatically generate virtual light sources. Nuances like these will give Material Design a greater sensation of depth and visually indicate where user interactions can take place.At the core of this new UI is the need to bring a seamless experience across devices. Different form factors has created a significant challenge not only Google, but also for Microsoft and Apple. With Material Design, Google has incorporated all of its apps and even Search, and the company is hoping that it cracked the code that brings mobile and desktop platforms closer together than ever before.Google’s new APIs are now available, so developers can begin making apps that take advantage of this new design language. For non-developers, you can take a closer look at the future of Android below.[themedy_media type="youtube" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8TXgCzxEnw"]