How to Master Neumorphism in UI Design (With Examples)

Neumorphism, or ‘soft UI,’ is one of the prevailing trends in contemporary user interface design. This new trend, characterized by its dim highlights, soft depth, and cleanliness, has gained recognition for its ability to balance aesthetics and functionality within minimalistic designs. Neumorphism is gaining traction in the design world, reflecting the rapid shifts in popularity and acceptance of styles.

For those looking to learn more about mastering metamorphism in UI design, this guide will assist you with the main principles, tools, examples, and risks associated with the trend.

Key Takeaways

• Neumorphism blends flat and skeuomorphic design using soft shadows and rounded shapes.
• It creates a clean, modern, and tactile look in UI elements.
• Works best with simple layouts and subtle color palettes.
• Common components include buttons, cards, and input fields.
• Low contrast and shadow overuse can hurt accessibility.
• Best used alongside other design styles for balance.
• Tools like Figma and Adobe XD support neumorphic design.
• Its future looks promising, especially in VR and AR.

Source: justinmind.com

What Is Neumorphism?

Neumorphism is an ideal blend of flat design and two subtle depth design elements. It derives its name from ‘new’ and ‘skeuomorphism.’ Unlike skeuomorphism, which relies heavily on realistic and textured visuals, Neumorphism uses light, shade, soft rounded edges, and outline to give a slightly raised (embossed) or pressed (debossed) appearance.

In 2020, this style gained traction as a counter-reaction to the aggressively minimalistic and flat aesthetics that have dominated UI design recently. Neumorphism is influenced by both skeuomorphism and flat design, combining the intricate details of skeuomorphism with the minimalism of flat design.

Unlike other reminiscing styles, Neomorphic UI focuses on impressions, ensuring elements like buttons, cards, and input fields possess a shad effect that portrays a sense of depth.

Source: designstudiouiux.com

Key Principles of Neumorphism

Neumorphic design, a blend of skeuomorphism and flat design, focuses on creating a soft, extruded plastic look. This style uses highlights and shadows to mimic physicality, giving elements a tactile appearance. Clean lines are essential in neuromorphic design, as they contribute to a clear, uncluttered interface and enhance the modern, sophisticated look.

Shadows and Depth

Applying soft inset or outset shadows is one of the most indicative elements of metamorphism. These shadows create a sense of depth and give life to elements. While designing using metamorphism, it is crucial that the shadows remain subtle, as harsher shadows tend to be very distracting in most cases.

Inset shadows give the illusion that elements are ‘sunk into’ the surface, while outset shadows give the illusion that the component is sitting on the surface.

Using two shadows, positioning both light and dark shadows, can simulate a raised or indented effect, crucial for achieving the signature look of neumorphism. These two techniques add depth to a design without making it overwhelmingly busy.

Color Palette

The most common palette of metamorphism is a simple one that contains soft pastels, muted colors, and off-whites. The aim is to sustain a peaceful and uncluttered appearance that does not take the attention away from the content. To achieve balance within the design and avoid feeling cluttered, a monochromatic or analogous color palette is ideal for aiding harmony within the design.

Source: coolors.co

Rounded Corners and Soft Shapes

Neumorphism focuses more on rounded corners and softer organic shapes. These designs tend to avoid harsh lines and instead prioritize curviness and gentleness.

Sharp edges create harsh contrasts that detract from the desired soft and gentle appearance, while rounded corners improve usability, especially for touchscreen interactions.

This makes the design more appealing and easier to navigate, which is better for the user. Buttons, cards, and containers with rounded edges give the design a soft, touchable aesthetic that enhances the overall design.

Focus on Light and Shadow

In neumorphism, light and shadow create the most prominent visual features. The shadows mimic soft gradients, creating an illusion of smooth, three-dimensional projection. This enhances the feeling of softness and realism and also contributes to the interface’s interactivity.

A consistent light source is crucial in creating effective neumorphic designs, as it ensures visual cohesion and harmony by simulating real-world lighting with shadows and highlights.

Source: yeswebdesigns.com

Neumorphic UI Components

Neumorphism applies to more than just stylish buttons. Although these are the easiest design components to start with, this style can be used for various interface elements, enhancing their depth and dimension.

Let’s consider the effects of neuromorphic UI components on user experience. Neumorphic buttons are a key component in neumorphic design, ensuring usability and visibility within user interfaces.

Buttons

In modern interfaces, both aesthetic and functional attributes are essential. In the case of neuromorphic styling, functional attributes include rather prominent outlining and heavy contrast to outlines, giving the impression of a sculpted soft shape protruding from the surface. With further elaboration on shaped outlines, usability becomes more contorted.

Every board or template has buttons, and each one serves an important function. When it comes to buttons, a singular interface feature that needs a lot of attention is the change of state.

However, during the entire flow of interactions with the button, it also has to show its changes in brightness and hue within the selected skin.

Neumorphic buttons often feature low contrast, which can impact usability by making it difficult for users, especially those with visual impairments, to differentiate between button states.

Source: justinmind.com

Cards

Neumorphic design sets itself apart from neumorphic cards because they are not perceived as floating in contrast to material design. There is no shadow at the base of the card that would suggest it is set at a raised level, even when a user hovers over the card.

Rather than floating, neuromorphic cards are ‘extruded’ from the surface, which gives them a raised appearance. This 'extruded plastic' effect in neumorphic cards creates a unique, fresh interface but can pose accessibility issues, particularly with contrast ratios.

To achieve the desired effect, you place the light and dark shadow splits throughout the design (just like you would for buttons) on opposite sides of the card to enhance the illusion of a floating effect. You can adjust the shadow location to ensure that the card feels like it is being viewed from diverse angles.

Input Fields

As with all design parts, input fields should maintain a consistent ‘recessed’ look: they should blend into the design as an extension, not a focal point. The key to achieving this recessed look is using an inner shadow, also called a ‘shadow from within.’

Borders or shadowing are a prerequisite for an input field to mark the boundaries of a typing area. You can use gentle inner shadows to slightly place the input field into the background, grabbing users’ attention without overpowering the design.

Ensure that the input field and the background are not the same color, as this can cause the field to blend in too much, reducing contrast and affecting accessibility. This allows the field to gently recede into the design, giving the impression of soft nudging and facilitating engagement.

Source: themesberg.com

This subtle depth cue emblematic of metamorphism adds usability by assisting the user in quickly recognizing where to click and interact with the field. The inner shadow nudges the user’s attention towards the interaction area, providing an effortless user experience.

Pros and Cons of Neumorphism

Like any design trend, metamorphism features benefits and drawbacks. Let’s polish and look deeper into these.

Pros:

• Ease of Admiration: Neumorphism, with its subtle polish of light and shadow, creates a modern, sophisticated aesthetic.
• User-Centric: Users have commented that the design's soft, rounded edges and tactile impression make it easy to engage with.
• Creates Depth: Neumorphism conveys a minimum dimension level while keeping the details low without overwhelming the user with massive textures or details.

Cons:

• Accessibility Issues: The lack of contrast among elements remains an issue for those with visual implications, making it challenging to use the interface.
• Overuse May Cause Design Fatigue: Heavy use of metamorphism may lead to unclear design principles and cluttered or difficult-to-navigate interfaces.
• Performance Concerns: Neumorphism's overdependence on shadows and gradients starkly contrasts older devices or those with limited graphical processing power. How to Design with Neumorphism

How to Design with Neumorphism

To master neumorphism in your designs, follow these best practices:

Avoid including too many elements in your layout to maintain clarity and usability.

Use Subtle Shadows

Light shadowing is one of the most critical aspects of metamorphism. You want shadows that bring Depth. However, deep shadows that dominate are to be avoided at all costs. The ideal scenario is soft, light shadows that create sufficient Depth to enable interaction.

Keep It Simple

Follow the principle of minimalism with neumorphism. Allow the colors and shadows to take center stage, as any complex interface dulls the dim, featureless design face of metamorphism. Cards, buttons, and input fields are the focal points that truly deserve attention.

Source: thealien.design

Maintain Good Contrast for Accessibility

Even though a fully 'dim' approach is favored, sufficient differences in coloring level should still be guaranteed in the structure. Icons, buttons, and even messages have to differ sufficiently to allow for useful, easy recognition and access.

Tools and Resources for Neumorphism

Several design tools and resources can help bring neumorphism to life:

• Figma: A popular design tool with neomorphic-friendly plugins and UI kits that simplify the process of adding shadows and depth to your designs.
• Sketch: Another widely-used tool for creating neumorphic elements, with libraries that include ready-made neumorphic components.
• Adobe XD: Offers tools to create neumorphic effects, including subtle shadow features and customizable UI kits.

These tools can help a designer create effective neumorphic designs by providing the necessary resources to craft visually appealing and functional user interfaces.

If you’re looking to speed up your process, many UI kits and libraries are available that focus specifically on neumorphism. These provide templates and components that can save you time while you experiment with this design style.

Impressive Neumorphic Examples

Now that you understand the basics of neumorphism, let’s look at some examples that show how powerful this style can be. These examples use creative ideas that might inspire your own projects. They’re great for designers who want to try something new or make their work stand out.

Fitness Device App

This heart rate app interface is a prime example of neumorphism, a design style that blends soft shadows, subtle highlights, and smooth, rounded elements to create a tactile, 3D-like effect. The dark color palette with minimal accents (like red for alerts) enhances focus while maintaining a sleek, modern look.

Key features such as the central heart rate dial, bar graph, and toggle buttons are not only visually consistent but also feel naturally interactive due to their recessed or raised appearance. While the design is clean and elegant, it may pose accessibility challenges due to low contrast and heavy reliance on visual depth cues.

Source: easeout.co

Neumorphic Bank Redesign

This mobile banking UI showcases neumorphism in both light and dark themes, using soft shadows, gradients, and smooth, rounded components to create a sense of depth and tactility. The central cash availability meter and floating action buttons appear embedded or elevated depending on the light direction, enhancing interactivity and visual hierarchy.

The design balances functionality and aesthetics, clearly displaying financial data while keeping the interface intuitive. Color contrasts — green for available funds and red for expenses — aid readability, though the low contrast in some dark elements may impact accessibility. Overall, it demonstrates how neumorphism can deliver a modern, visually engaging user experience across themes.

Source: easeout.co

Common Mistakes in Neumorphism and How to Avoid Them

As with every design style, metamorphism has advantages and disadvantages. Here are some mistakes you need to be aware of:

To avoid these common mistakes, consider combining neomorphic with other design styles, such as flat design, to achieve a functional and aesthetically pleasing interface.

Lack of Contrast

Due to the soft gradients and gentle shadows, text, icons, and backgrounds may blend together. Ensure all active elements are clear and readable, especially for visually impaired users.

Overusing Shadows

Shadows are significant in neuromorphic design, but overusing them can make it too busy and complicated. Restrain your use of shadows to maintain the clean look that neumorphism offers.

Misapplying Neumorphism

Not every app benefits from using neuromorphic designs. Soft and subtle metamorphism may not work with heavily loaded data dashboards or complex interactivity interfaces. Use neumorphism to enhance the experience and simplicity, not everywhere.

The Future of Neumorphism

It is still relatively early to determine how vital metamorphism will be in the distant future. Expecting anything at this point is difficult because we are only in the early stages, and everything is still changing. However, it is guaranteed that sharpening screens will increase interest in metamorphism, particularly with vertical reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

If designers are careful with the usability and accessibility elements, it can be said that outcomes will be very effective with the below-mentioned varieties of applications. Additionally, the impact of neumorphism on digital products could be significant, enhancing user experience and aesthetic cohesion across various screens and components.

FAQ

Q: What Are Alternatives to Neumorphism?

Alternatives to neumorphism include flat design, material design, glassmorphism, and skeuomorphism, each offering different visual styles and usability strengths.

Q: What Is the Difference Between Skeuomorphism and Neumorphism?

Skeuomorphism mimics real-world textures and objects, while neumorphism uses soft shadows and minimalism to create a modern, tactile look.

Q: Why Did Apple Get Rid of Skeuomorphism?

Apple moved away from skeuomorphism in favor of flat design to create cleaner, more modern interfaces with faster performance.

Read more:

• What Is UX Information Architecture? Definition, Principles & Examples
• How to Make a Decent UI Kit? Examples, Tips, Insights from Pros
• The Must-Know UX Laws That Drive Great User Experiences

Conclusion

Mastering torso UI design requires depth while being subtle, accessible, and balanced. Use creativity with light, shadow, and color while considering the primary principles, and trust me, interfaces will be intuitive and delightful.

While any project may not be fitting to incorporate, it is guaranteed that when crafted carefully, it can boost the level of your designs by adding touchable elements.

Now, tackle your next project with zeal, focusing on accessibility, and get the best results out of UI designs while experimenting with neomorphic. Remember, maintaining a modern aesthetic in neumorphic design is crucial for enhancing user experience while ensuring visual clarity.