# Material Design

> Guide for implementing Material Design 3 (Material You). Use when designing Android apps, implementing dynamic theming, or following Material component patterns.

- Skill: `vinnie357/material-design` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add vinnie357/material-design`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/vinnie357/material-design/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Web & Frontend
- Author: vinnie357 (https://skillmd.com/u/vinnie357)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/vinnie357/material-design

---


# Material Design 3 (Material You)

Apply Google's Material Design 3 principles when designing and developing user interfaces with emphasis on personalization, accessibility, and cross-platform consistency.

## Anti-fabrication

This skill follows `core:anti-fabrication`. The claim area is the tonal-palette, type-
scale, and layout-breakpoint numbers, which come from a living spec rather than a
versioned release. Verified against m3.material.io plus the first-party
material-color-utilities source (claude-skills-223), three corrections: tonal palettes
have 13 tones (0,10,20...90,95,99,100 per `commonTones`), not "50-99 tones per color";
the type scale is 5 categories x 3 sizes = 15 styles total, not "5 display sizes and 9
text sizes" (the sp values 57/32/16/11 were already correct); and MD3 now defines 5
window-size classes, not 3 — Expanded is capped at 1199dp, with Large and Extra-large
added above it. Re-verify against `m3.material.io` before asserting a token count or
breakpoint this skill doesn't cover — Google updates this spec continuously, with no
versioned release to pin against.

## What is Material Design 3?

Material Design 3 (Material You) represents Google's latest design system with:

- **Personalization**: Dynamic color extraction from user preferences
- **Expressiveness**: Softer, rounded components with visual hierarchy
- **Adaptability**: Responsive across devices and platforms
- **Accessibility**: Built-in inclusive design features

## Key Differences from Material Design 2

| Aspect | MD2 | MD3 |
|--------|-----|-----|
| **Colors** | Fixed brand palettes | Dynamic, user-generated schemes |
| **Customization** | Limited theming | Highly personalized |
| **Components** | Flat, rigid shapes | Rounded, expressive |
| **Accessibility** | Basic support | Priority built-in |

## Core Foundations

### 1. Dynamic Color System

Material Design 3 uses HCT (Hue, Chroma, Tone) color space for perceptually accurate color generation.

**Key concepts:**
- Color roles (primary, secondary, tertiary, error, neutral)
- Tonal palettes (13 tones per color: 0, 10, 20...90, 95, 99, 100 — per material-color-utilities' `commonTones`)
- Automatic light/dark theme generation
- User-driven personalization from wallpaper/system

### 2. Typography

Type scale with 5 categories (display, headline, title, body, label), each with 3 sizes (large, medium, small) — 15 styles total:

**Quick example:**
- Display Large: 57sp
- Headline Large: 32sp
- Body Large: 16sp
- Label Small: 11sp

### 3. Layout

Responsive breakpoints and grid system:

- **Compact**: 0-599dp (phones)
- **Medium**: 600-839dp (tablets, folded phones)
- **Expanded**: 840-1199dp (desktops, large tablets)
- **Large**: 1200-1599dp; **Extra-large**: 1600dp+ (both added after the original 3-class model, for very large tablets and external displays)

## Component Guidelines

Material Design 3 provides specifications for:

- **Common Buttons**: Elevated, Filled, Tonal, Outlined, Text
- **Cards**: Elevated, Filled, Outlined variants
- **Text Fields**: Filled, Outlined with labels and helper text
- **Navigation**: Navigation bar, rail, drawer
- **Chips**: Assist, Filter, Input, Suggestion chips
- **Dialogs**: Basic, Full-screen dialogs

Full specifications for every component live at m3.material.io (linked under Resources).

## Quick Component Examples

### Buttons

```kotlin
// Jetpack Compose
Button(onClick = { }) {
    Text("Filled Button")
}

OutlinedButton(onClick = { }) {
    Text("Outlined Button")
}
```

### Cards

```kotlin
Card(
    modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
    elevation = CardDefaults.cardElevation(defaultElevation = 6.dp)
) {
    Column(modifier = Modifier.padding(16.dp)) {
        Text("Card Title", style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineSmall)
        Text("Card content", style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium)
    }
}
```

### Text Fields

```kotlin
OutlinedTextField(
    value = text,
    onValueChange = { text = it },
    label = { Text("Label") },
    supportingText = { Text("Helper text") }
)
```

## Implementing Dynamic Color

### Android (Jetpack Compose)

```kotlin
val dynamicColor = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S

val colorScheme = when {
    dynamicColor && darkTheme -> dynamicDarkColorScheme(LocalContext.current)
    dynamicColor && !darkTheme -> dynamicLightColorScheme(LocalContext.current)
    darkTheme -> darkColorScheme()
    else -> lightColorScheme()
}

MaterialTheme(
    colorScheme = colorScheme,
    typography = Typography,
    content = content
)
```

### Web

Use Material Web Components (linked under Resources) for web implementation.

## Motion and Animation

Material Design 3 motion principles:
- **Easing**: Standard, emphasized, decelerated curves
- **Duration**: Based on travel distance and complexity
- **Choreography**: Coordinated element movements

## Accessibility

Material Design 3 prioritizes accessibility:
- Minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio (text)
- 3:1 contrast ratio (UI components)
- Touch targets minimum 48dp × 48dp
- Screen reader support
- Semantic color usage (not color-only indicators)

Load `/design:accessibility` for WCAG implementation guidance.

## Key Principles

- **User-driven personalization**: Colors adapt to user preferences
- **Expressive and flexible**: Rounded corners, dynamic elevation
- **Accessible by default**: Built-in contrast, touch targets, semantics
- **Cross-platform consistency**: Same principles across Android, web, iOS
- **Design tokens**: Use semantic tokens, not hardcoded values
- **Responsive**: Adapt to device size and orientation

## Resources

- **Material Design 3**: https://m3.material.io/
- **Material Theme Builder**: https://material-foundation.github.io/material-theme-builder/ (moved off m3.material.io; the old `/theme-builder` path now redirects here)
- **Jetpack Compose**: https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/compose/designsystems/material3 (old `/jetpack/compose/...` path now redirects here)
- **Material Web Components**: https://github.com/material-components/material-web
- **Flutter Material 3**: https://docs.flutter.dev/ui/design/material (old `flutter.dev/docs/...` path now redirects here through 3 hops)