![]() For users to feel confident that something is clickable or tappable, they need immediate reassurance after clicking and tapping, which elevation provides through visual cues: An object’s elevation determines the appearance of its shadow. Shadows provide useful clues about an object’s direction of movement and whether the distance between surfaces is increasing or decreasing. Some elements like buttons have dynamic elevation, meaning they change elevation in response to user input (e.g., normal, focused, and pressed). Elevation in Material Design: z-depth = 1 is very close to the ground, z-depth = 5 is far away from the ground. As you can see from the image below, the shadow gets bigger and blurrier the greater the distance between object and ground. Measured from the front of one surface to another, an element’s elevation indicates the distance between surfaces and the depth of its shadow. The elevation is the relative depth, or distance, between two surfaces along the z-axis. One very important thing about shadows is that they work in tandem with elevation. Image credit: Google ( Large preview) Provide Visual Feedback Using Elevation The laws of physics are deeply integrated in our cognition: without a larger shadow, nothing indicates that the round yellow circle is separate from the background surface. A lot of people still call it flat design, but the key feature is that it has dimension - the use of consistent metaphors and principles borrowed from physics help users make sense of interfaces and interpret visual hierarchies in context. Let’s have a look at Google’s Material Design for a moment. The understanding of these interactions is the basis for our understanding of the graphical interface. Objects also cast shadows and reflect light. Why is it so important to visualize the position of an element within three-dimensional space? The answer is simple - laws of physics.Įverything in the physical world is dimensional, and elements interact in three-dimensional space with each other: they can be stacked or affixed to one another, but cannot pass through each other. Image credit: Material Design ( Large preview) Also, in some cases, shadows help users understand that one object is above another. Shadows help indicate the hierarchy of elements by differentiating between two objects. The z-axis is perpendicularly aligned to the plane of the display, with the positive z-axis extending towards the viewer. The position of several objects in the z-axis act as important cues to the user. Modern interfaces are layered and take full advantage of the z-axis. ( Large preview) Create a Visual Hierarchy and Impression of Depth You can see how the use of shadows and highlights help users understand which elements are interactive in this Windows 2000 dialog box: Perceived possibility of action: notice how the buttons appear raised. This technique is often used as a visual signifier for input fields. Elements that appear sunken look like they could be filled.This technique is often used as a visual signifier for buttons. ![]()
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