NEOMORPHISM: A NEW DIRECTION TO DESIGN.
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Design trends are often repeated: they start off as cutting edge, get absorbed into the drab mainstream, and fall out of favor — just to be “rediscovered” a few decades later and revived. Neomorphism is no different.
Though neomorphism designs aims to be simple and instinctive, they also seem like it will pop out of the screen. This can be difficult for buttons and switches, but visually attractive preference for cards. If you are working on making neomorphism designs, you will have to pay more attention to accessibility, as contrast can often be a confusing factor. On top of this, buttons created in this style often look like they have already been pressed or lack the contrast that typically denotes a button. So, designers opting to use this style will have to tread carefully. But before we get into actionable tips for designers that want to explore this trend, where did neomorphism even come from?
How Design Arrived at Neomorphism
This trend goes back to the flat design trend that was all the rage about 8 years ago. It was straightforward and designs did not include any depth. Although all components seemed to exist on the same plan, the design still came together nicely on mobile and beyond. As more people got smartphones and learned how to interact with digital icons, they no longer needed the designs to exactly mimic real-world objects to understand what they were. This gave rise to a simplistic UI design style that top design purveyors, like Apple, ran with until it fell out of favor.
The Role of Color in Neomorphism
Color makes neomorphism designs modern. You must move away from white and black backgrounds for this style to reach its potential. The color you go with can be advised by branding. A softer and brighter shade of the color you settle on lets the designer to create levels and depth, helping certain aspects seem to poke out or get pushed to the background. Similarly, to make a shape an understandable button on top of a brighter background, you can make it a darker shade with shading around the edges to help it protrude and look clickable. Or some designers may take the opposite approach and choose to focus on pushing certain elements to the background for a neomorphism feel.
How to Be Successful with the Neomorphism Design Trend
In all honesty, neomorphism requires some changes in order to make it into conventional designs. One thing that we are mainly focused on is convenience: your users need to be able to recognize and use your designs without requiring a magnifying glass or a user guide manual. The fact that color changes are essential to the shades and layers means that they need to be picked carefully. If the difference is too slight, then a button might disappear into the background — making a confusing user experience.
One way to adapt the neumorphism design trend into a more user-friendly style would be to integrate it with more attempted and true designs. If you have already performed hours of user interviews and have landed on fundamental elements of your app that users appreciate and enjoy using, then try adding small neumorphic elements before doing anything extreme. After all, design concepts on CreateBytes are nice, but if they are ever going to be useful to the general public, then they will have to get a thumbs up from various potential users with different skills and likings.
Final Thoughts
Design is not a constant industry. The status quo does not last for very long with inventors around the globe aiming to enhance user experience and make increasingly attractive designs around the clock. All good designs are taken from several styles and schools of thought to create a new method to usability issues.
Even if you are not sure that the neumorphism design trend isn’t for you, it’s obvious that it created new life to UI designs. We look ahead to the next design trend that develops and builds upon this soft and straightforward method.
