Neumorphism for Better UX

The design community is has pretty much decided that Neumorphism and usability are at odds. And I can see why. A pure white interface with color variation too subtle to be accessible  doesn’t seem like a match for usability and  accessibility.

Pulling Neumorphism into your designs CAN improve usability, accessibility, and UX though…if you push the boundaries a little to get away from a pure white interface.

I love Neumorphism because, in the words of one client “I just looks so touchable.” And when things look touchable, our motor response is primed to interact with it, increasing conversion rate. We had this with skeuomorphism before designers all decided it was ugly (which I agree with). Neumorphism brings that back while also keeping the interface clean and modern.

I’ve used colored buttons with the neumorphic drop shadow for my primary actions to make it look like molded plastic while still keeping the best practice of using contrasting button colors. Then, instead if using just icons, a second color, or the same color for my secondary actions, I am using a white-on-white true neumorphic style button. This lets me keep the burnt orange as the primary action color for a cleaner interface and more emphasis on the primary actions while still making the secondary buttons look like buttons you could physically press.

The action color – sans button – is also applied to my tertiary actions. Those are the “power user” ones that you could use the interface fine without. Since I only use burnt orange on elements you can interact with, I’m giving my power user a signal that these elements can be interacted with, without cluttering the interface.

Side note, have you tried YouTube Shorts? This is my first video foray into the new platform! A friend of mine published a short that took him just a few minutes to shoot and got 5 times more views than his usual in-depth videos. I’ll keep you posted as I experiment.