Creating a powerful note-taking app without overcomplicating the experience for users is a test for even the most seasoned designer. When Evernote decided to align with Material Design in 2015, the update provided the perfect opportunity to polish features and provide a more streamlined user journey. The result combines beautiful motion and typographic detail with a cleaner, more straightforward UI, emphasizing Evernote’s central concept—the simple power of capturing and organizing ideas.
Clarifying complexity through clear and clean UI
One of the greatest challenges in designing a useful note-taking product is balancing the swift capture and recall of ideas. Evernote elegantly solves for both use cases by presenting users with a green floating action button (capture), and their note list (recall) every time they open the app. The ability to jot down a new idea is a simple tap away, while previously recorded information—whether it’s a photo, audio, chat, or any other type of content—is readily accessible via the uncluttered note list. Kara Hodecker, Evernote’s product design manager for mobile, credits the switch to Material Design with minimizing wasteful distractions for users, and making notes easier to scan and edit directly from the app’s home screen.