Opinion: neomorphism as a trend has already died, even before it has lived?

While everyone is excited about neomorphism (and we also join in the General enthusiasm), there are those who are skeptical about the trend. In principle, this was to be expected, because everyone’s tastes are different. And we believe that it is worth listening to an opinion, even if it contradicts ours. Therefore, we present to your attention the thoughts of George Kordatos-UI / UX designer in useberry. He believes that neomorphism has no future. Do you agree with him?

If you haven’t heard of neomorphism – which I doubt since you opened this article – then this is a new trend in UX that is admittedly very popular among designers (and developers).

Let me make a reservation: I don’t hate neomorphism. I even like it! Then why do I think it died as a trend, even though it didn’t have time to capture all of our projects?

First of all, let’s define neomorphism as a style.

Although there is no clear definition yet, we can say with confidence that this is an interactive (with a question mark) type of design that simulates real objects. It originates from skewomorphism, and we’ve seen examples everywhere: the user clicks on a virtual button as if they were clicking on a real one.

Neomorphism problems
Now that you know what it is, let me explain why neomorphism doesn’t have a chance to linger in the design for long. At least, in the form in which it was presented to us.

Accessibility is one of the key reasons. Your button looks really cool and almost feels like a real one. Super! But this does not mean that if you use it on your site, it can be seen by any user. The network is diverse – you can’t choose one working solution for different goals and designs. As soon as you use the neomorphism to its full extent, you will have problems.

Read also: 4 ways to make your site work for a global audience
Another accessibility problem we’ve encountered is that users are easily confused by the next action we want to give them, because their brains are trained in certain interactions with the system.

The second reason why neomorphism won’t last long is related to the development of these constructs. Although creating the concept itself is not difficult (Adobe XD or Figma do a great job), coding it is a real pain for developers. In addition, imagine this scenario: your developers need to transfer your design to code. You finally launch it, and suddenly find that your users don’t respond to the interface the way you want. We have to redo everything, and the developers return to their suffering.

Finally, let’s ask ourselves: why do we want our designs to be realistic if the Internet is not a realistic platform at all? Do we think it’s cool? Trends come and go – but we can’t change sites every time.

Move on
“Okay, we understand. You assume that neomorphism will soon die. But where is the evidence?»

Let’s be honest: new concepts are controversial in most cases, and this one is no exception. In addition, I argued that neomorphism will die at least in the form in which it exists now. Remember the first designs in the Internet skeuomorph prevailed, and then just disappeared for years.

It all comes down to this. As the Internet changes and becomes more realistic (the Internet of things), neomorphism will find new ground. It can already be used in user interfaces and applications (ideally for information exchange) – of course, if all tests and checks are performed.