Google introduced the Material Design Award in 2015 to showcase applications that embrace and embody Android's design principles better than any others. At Google I/O 2016, the app Robinhood won the Google Play Award for Best Use of Material Design, and today they are announcing the category winners for 2016.
The awards are broken into categories that highlight how developers can build apps that are not only great to use but perfectly express their brand using the application design guidelines provided by Google. Material Design first debuted in 2014 and over several iterations of Android has been refined into what we see today. These award-winning apps have taken the design language and style to new heights and deserve the accolades and awards they are being given.
The apps and the folks who developed them will be honored at the SPAN 2016 conference in Los Angeles in late October. Meanwhile, here are the winners in each category.
- Brand Infusion: Asana: Team Tasks & Projects
- Charming Engagement: Fabulous - Motivate Me!
- Creative Navigation: C Channel (available in Japanese and Thai)
- Expressive Layouts: Kitchen Stories
- Focused Efficiency: Airbnb
If you're looking for an app that is functionally beautiful, this list would be a great place to start. Android Central congratulates all the winners and we look forward to seeing what's in store for 2017 and beyond — great work, everyone!
You can read more about each category and why the winners were chosen at Google's Material Design Awards 2016 site.

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