Android Design Cheat Sheet: Material Design Principles & Best Practices

Introduction

Android design is centered around Material Design, Google’s comprehensive design system for creating intuitive, consistent, and beautiful user experiences across platforms and device sizes. This cheat sheet provides essential guidelines, specifications, and best practices for designing Android applications that adhere to Material Design principles while providing optimal user experiences.

Core Material Design Principles

Design Philosophy

• Material as a metaphor: Interface elements behave like physical materials with surfaces, edges, and movements
• Bold, graphic, intentional: Elements should be visually distinctive and deliberate
• Motion provides meaning: Animations should guide users and provide visual feedback

Design Pillars

Layout Fundamentals

Screen Dimensions and Density

Common Screen Sizes

Density Buckets

Responsive Layout Grid

Grid Anatomy

• Columns: Content containers that scale with screen size
• Gutters: Spaces between columns
• Margins: Space between content and screen edges

Common Grid Patterns

Key Layout Measurements

Basic Spacing

Component Placement

• App bars: 56dp height (portrait), 48dp height (landscape)
• Navigation bars: 80dp height (bottom), 56dp height (side)
• Floating Action Button (FAB): 16dp margins from screen edge
• Bottom sheets: 56dp peek height minimum

Typography

Type Scale

Font Recommendations

• Roboto: Android’s default system font through Android 11
• Google Sans: Used for product branding and headlines
• Product Sans: For Google product logos
• System default: Respects user’s system font choice on Android 12+

Text Styling Best Practices

• Use hierarchical typography with clear visual distinction between levels
• Keep body text at 16sp minimum for readability
• Use appropriate weights to create emphasis (rather than just size changes)
• Maintain high contrast ratios (4.5:1 minimum for accessibility)
• Consider line length (aim for 40-60 characters per line)
• Use dynamic text sizing (sp units) to respect user’s system font size settings

Color System

Material Theme Color Roles

Primary Color Palette

Secondary Color Palette

Additional Color Roles

Dark Theme Considerations

• Saturation Differences: Colors typically higher saturation in dark theme
• Surface Colors: Multiple surface tonal variations (surface1, surface2, etc.)
• Elevation Effect: Higher elevation surfaces appear lighter in dark theme
• Content Contrast: Light text on dark backgrounds requires different weight/size considerations

Color Accessibility

• Ensure 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text (14pt and smaller)
• Ensure 3:1 contrast ratio for large text (14pt bold or 18pt+)
• Test designs in grayscale for color blindness compatibility
• Don’t rely solely on color to convey information
• Use Material Theme Builder to generate accessible color schemes

Component Guidelines

Common UI Components

Buttons

Text Fields

Cards

Selection Controls

Navigation Elements

Component Spacing

• Button content: 8dp between icon and label
• List items: 16dp vertical spacing
• Card content: 8dp between elements
• Dialog padding: 24dp
• Form fields: 16dp vertical spacing

Motion and Animation

Animation Duration Guidelines

Common Animation Patterns

Easing Curves

Iconography

System Icons

• Size: 24 × 24dp baseline
• Touch target: 48 × 48dp minimum
• Keyline: Place icons on 16dp or 24dp increments from screen edge
• Padding: 4dp padding within 24dp frame (resulting in 20 × 20dp visual size)

Icon Guidelines

Icon States

Accessibility Guidelines

Touch Target Sizes

• Minimum size: 48 × 48dp for all interactive elements
• Spacing: 8dp minimum space between touch targets
• Density: Avoid crowding interactive elements

Content Guidelines

• Text contrast: 4.5:1 minimum for normal text, 3:1 for large text
• Non-text contrast: 3:1 minimum for interface components and graphics
• Text size: Minimum 12sp for all readable text
• Content scaling: Support system font size adjustments up to 200%

Screen Reader Support

• Provide meaningful content descriptions for all images and icons
• Use proper semantic markup (headings, lists, etc.)
• Maintain logical focus order
• Group related elements with containers
• Use Android’s accessibility services and testing tools

Input Methods

• Support keyboard navigation
• Provide alternative input methods
• Make gestures simple and consistent
• Include visible focus indicators

Common Design Patterns

Navigation Patterns

Content Display Patterns

Form Patterns

Common Challenges and Solutions

Responsive Design Challenges

Dark Theme Implementation

Performance Considerations

Best Practices and Tips

Design Workflow Tips

• Start with wireframes before adding visual design elements
• Use a component-first approach with Material Design components
• Test designs across multiple device sizes early in the process
• Create a consistent visual language throughout your app
• Maintain a design system with reusable components

Visual Hierarchy

• Direct user attention with size, color, and spacing
• Create clear relationship between elements with alignment
• Use white space strategically to group and separate content
• Apply the 60-30-10 rule for color distribution (primary, secondary, accent)
• Design for F-pattern and Z-pattern reading flows

UI Polish Techniques

• Maintain consistent padding and alignment throughout
• Use subtle animations for feedback and transitions
• Ensure touch targets are appropriately sized
• Apply elevation consistently for depth perception
• Test color schemes in various lighting conditions

Performance Optimization

• Optimize images and assets for each density bucket
• Use vector drawables when possible
• Minimize over-drawing and layer count
• Simplify animations and transitions on low-end devices
• Test scrolling performance with realistic content volumes

Resources for Further Learning

Official Documentation

• Material Design Guidelines
• Android Developers Design Guidelines
• Material Components for Android
• Material Design Components Tool

Design Tools

• Material Theme Builder
• Material Design Figma Kit
• Android Studio Layout Editor
• Device Art Generator

Accessibility Resources

• Android Accessibility Guidelines
• Material Design Accessibility
• Accessibility Scanner

Community Resources

• Android Developers on Medium
• Material Design on YouTube
• Google Design on Medium
• Stack Overflow – Android Design