Chapter 35 Material Design
Material Surfaces
As a developer, the single most important idea you should be familiar with in material design is
the idea of material surfaces. Designers think of these as 1dp-thick bits of cardstock. These bits of
cardstock act like magically changeable bits of paper and ink: They can grow, they can show animated
pictures, and they can show changing text (Figure 35.1).
Figure 35.1 An interface with two material surfaces
However, as magical as they may be, they still behave like real pieces of paper. For example, one
sheet of paper cannot move right through another. The same logic applies when you animate material
surfaces: They cannot animate through one another.