The New "Neu" - A trend of Neumorphism

With the changing and revitalizing digital experiences, the design trend plays a great role. In the design world, everything is about the look and feel and also, how the seer relates with the design. The more colorful, attractive and optimize your design is, it will attract more and more people. It is also a fact that when one design gets in the buzz, everybody tends to follow it. During the past years, designers are implementing many innovations and creative skills that can enhance their designs.?

Now, the question comes, what is the new “NEU”? Here, NEU refers to Neumorphism which is taking over all the trends and Designers’ interests these days. It has unquestionably become a new fashionable design trend. This modern style in UI/UX design focuses on the color palette, contrast and design appearance. If you think that this latest trending UI design style is all about providing a splendid user experience using only the color of the screen, you are right!

Illustration by – Nandita Singh

Skeuomorphism gave birth to Neumorphism -

Neumorphism was born from skeuomorphism and went on to create an entire new UI style. Designers from all over the world have seen catchy neumorphic designs on Dribble and Behance – and now, it’s a trend on its own. Even though it relates to skeuomorphism, there is a new focus in the entire UI Design style with neumorphism. This focus is not necessarily on the contrast or similarity between the real and digital worlds, but rather the colour palette.

Yes, you read that right. Neumorphism is all about the color of the entire screen, and delivering an entirely unique experience for users.

How do we use Neumorphism?

Imagine your classic iOS or Android interface for a music player. You have the background, on which we place several components, adding layers and creating depth. With neumorphism, you’d be creating a soft interface, in which the UI elements aren’t placed on the background. (Add the illustration here showing the shades, hues and percentage of shadow)

? Illustration by – Filip Legierski

It gives a feel that components like buttons or cards are actually inside the background, and are only visible because they’re protruding from within. The general style is all about solid colours, low contrast and the right play of shadowing in the UI design.

Neumorphism is all about subtle contrast and solid colours. But how can we create an interface that delivers a wow-factor without any flashy elements? In neumorphism, it’s all in the use of shadowing and light. ?It’s only about how you put Light and Dark coloured shadows to an object opposite to each other.

Now, if we simply take an example of a calculator, there are plenty of ways to design a simple UI of a calculator. Some spice can be added by adding Neumorphic elements.

The right way to do it is to make sure that your element and the background are of the same colour. This is so, we can create a look that the components are coming out from inside of the background, using shadows to create a protruding look. You’ll want to ensure your background and components’ color works well in solid form, as you’ll need to apply this same color all around the UI design. For the shadow game to work, your background can’t be fully black or plain white. You’ll need some sort of color to deliver on the visual trick.

This shot by alexplyuto gained over 3000 likes on Dribble and pushed the trend forward. After that it exploded in popularity, similar concepts started to emerge. People came up with their own innovations, imaginations and ideas to create new Neumorphic Designs.

Best of both worlds –

Why are we using Neumorphism again?

Now, to answer this question, I have to throw some light on the importance this new trend holds. It has been used widely in both, the apps and websites nowadays to bring a real-life effect. This is achieved through right shading and highlighting. Many designers add a pop of colour in strategic areas of the screen, either as a way to improve the usability or to add some flare.

The Good and Bad of Neumorphism -

It’s true that like all trendy design styles, neumorphism comes with both good and bad sides. On the good side, we have all the excitement and freshness of something new and unique. The main Benefit of this style is “Freshness”. It intends to bring a “New Feel” to the interface and make it stand out. It can also be mixed with other styles, so it’s not overwhelmingly “soft extruded plastic” everywhere.

There are however some problems with it that need some addressing –

?A.? CTA (Call to Action)-?

?Neumorphism should be soft on the eyes. It calls for minimal color contrast and very few pops of color. Logically, designers are free to apply neumorphism in any degree they see fit. Many choose to apply neumorphism to their cards, but keep classic buttons. design, how would the CTA look like?

This style calls for colors that all but blend with each other, going against what we all know about CTAs: they need to be flashy. The very last thing you want after investing so much time and effort into a product, is to see it perform poorly over something silly, like users not managing to find the CTA.

B.? Accessibility Problem -?

This style is fun! But, how will it look to the visually impaired person? Chances are that it would be a real problem, with crucial things disappearing into the background, becoming unusable.Neumorphism is all about a soft UI… perhaps, too soft. The differences in shade that set elements and components apart are oh-so-subtle. It’s perfectly possible that users with low-quality screens will miss these small details that make the UI design. This has yet to be tested but for now we’re assuming that both the elements are “OK”. Even if some people don’t see the soft shadows on it, there’s still enough contrast for them to see the icon and “use it”.

Do we really need Neumorphism?

While this new trend has surely inspired a lot of designers, it’s problems are not that great compared to the accessibility issues.

So, go crazy and wild! Play around it and tweak it to make it yours. The designer’s job is moving rectangles around, so every time the rectangles turn out to be a bit “different” and “new”,? it’s bringing a bit of that joy back. Without that crazy exploration, all the products will turn out to look the exact same and that’s the last thing you’d want to do as a Designer. Isn’t it?

Let’s have fun! But keep in mind that any new trend that comes into the market has to be carefully designed to be usable and Codeable as Designers and Developers go hand-in-hand. If you are new to Neumorphism, now is the time to give it a try and see how it can improve your design pattern and how it works for you.?

Free Resources / UI Kits for Neumorphism

There are some Resources out there for the Designers out there to get you started.

1. Neumorph UI Kit?
2. Russian Post App
3. Neumorphic Elements
4. Neumorphic UI Elements.