A Quick Checklist for Product Teams

Choosing between Google’s Material Design and Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) is more than a design decision, it’s a product strategy choice.

Both are leading UI frameworks with distinct philosophies, component systems, and development implications. For product teams, especially those building native or cross-platform apps, knowing which to use (and when) can impact your launch timeline, user experience, and even app adoption.

This blog breaks it down into a structured, comparison-based checklist—so you can confidently pick the right design system for your app.

Quick Comparison Table

Let’s start with a high-level view of how these two frameworks compare. This helps surface key differences at a glance before diving deeper.

Criteria	Material Design	Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)
Best For	Cross-platform, Android-first	iOS/macOS-native apps
Design Philosophy	Bold, structured, motion-rich	Minimalist, subtle, content-forward
Development Stack	Flutter, React (Material UI)	SwiftUI, UIKit
Customization	Highly themeable	Limited to Apple-native styling
Motion Use	Strong use of animation & feedback	Subtle motion for clarity
Branding Flexibility	Very flexible	More constrained
Speed to Prototype	Fast via templates & components	More custom work
Learning Curve	Moderate	High polish, stricter rules
Web Support	Yes	No (Apple ecosystem only)

Design Framework Checklist

This checklist is designed to help founders, product owners, and developers evaluate which framework aligns better with their immediate goals. Each question includes a quick explanation to guide decision-making.

1. What’s your primary platform?

If you’re building for Android or planning a cross-platform launch, Material Design is your best starting point. It integrates seamlessly with Google’s tools and works across mobile and web.

If you’re focused on an iOS-only launch, especially in consumer-facing industries, HIG is optimized for the Apple ecosystem and offers a native-first experience.

2. Do you care about native feel?

HIG apps tend to “feel right” on iPhones. Apple’s strict UI conventions create strong consistency across apps. Material apps can feel slightly alien to iOS users unless specifically adapted.

If platform-native UX is important, go with HIG. If consistency across platforms matters more, Material is more flexible.

3. What’s your dev stack?

If you’re using Flutter or React (with Material UI), then Material is already baked in. You’ll save development hours by using their ready-made components.

If you’re on SwiftUI, Apple provides built-in support for HIG, but it may require more custom styling.

4. How important is brand expression?

Material Design offers robust theming systems, so it’s easier to inject your brand identity into the UI.
HIG apps are meant to blend into the iOS ecosystem—which limits how far you can customize things like buttons, typography, and layout styles.

If brand identity is a priority for you, Material gives you more room to differentiate.

5. How fast do you need to build?

Material’s documentation, libraries, and pre-built design systems make it easier to prototype and launch.
HIG takes more finesse and attention to Apple’s standards, which can slow development—especially if your team is new to iOS.

If speed is critical (especially for MVPs), Material Design is more efficient.

Use Case Breakdown

Here’s how we generally recommend these frameworks based on app type and product maturity:

App Type	Recommended Framework	Why?
Productivity Tools	Material Design	Functional UI patterns and fast dev cycles
iOS Health Apps	HIG	Trust, clarity, and native expectations are high
Startup MVPs	Material Design	Speed and iteration outweigh polish early on
Lifestyle/Creative Apps	HIG	Native aesthetic matters for user adoption
B2B SaaS Platforms	Material Design	Cross-platform consistency is key

These are starting points, not rules. Many apps end up using both—depending on platform-specific requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Choosing between Material Design and Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines isn’t about picking a “better” system, it’s about choosing the right framework for your product’s users, tech stack, and growth goals.

• If you’re prioritizing speed, cross-platform support, and brand flexibility, Material Design is likely your best bet.
• If your app lives in the iOS ecosystem and demands a polished, native-first experience, HIG will offer more alignment and long-term trust with users.

At Rocket Farm Studios, we help founders and product teams make these strategic decisions early, so they don’t cost you more later. Whether you’re building an MVP, scaling across platforms, or redesigning for long-term UX gains, we can help you build design systems that grow with your product.

Learn more about our UX/UI design services, and how we can help.