UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Follow publication

Member-only story

Let’s talk Neumorphism and Accessibility

Uyen Vicky Vo
UX Collective
Published in
6 min readFeb 11, 2020

A combination of Neumorphism examples

Neumorphism is predicted to be one of the top 2020 UI design trends. You might have seen it everywhere as a Dribbble shot. Neumorphism is a play on words based on New + Skeuomorphism. It is a style that uses blur, angle, and intensity of an object’s shadow to highlight the object. It’s a design that looks realistic, futuristic, modern, appealing and extremely breathtaking due to its soft shadow and overall appearance.

But let’s be honest, it’s not the most practical design for actual use. Try building and releasing a product that has used Neumorphism as its main style, and you’re most likely going to frustrate everyone — including your developers, users, and accessibility users (There are currently 57 million Americans who have a disability of some sort with 54% of adults living with a disability go online. Disabled users are NOT a myth.) — [Source: W3.org]

According to W3, Web and Mobile accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web and Mobile, including:

  • auditory
  • cognitive
  • neurological
  • physical
  • speech
  • visual

Neumorphism alone does not support cognitive, physical and visual disability, as it is.

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Responses (26)

While I agree that the examples you’ve provided here and neumorphism in its nacent iteration does not meet accessability standards, let’s not write it off yet. As you’ve shown here, it should not be used as the primary affordance, but could elevate…

Thank you Uyen Vicky Vo for writing this! I am an accessibility SME and you are on target. I’ve evaluated many applications and websites for accessibility and I have done several usability studies with low-vision participants. This design trend is…

For instance, it could start with us leaving Neumorphism behind, while focusing on developing a design that is aesthetically pleasing but practical and realistic from hereon.

Or stick to the roots of our contemporary design philosophy. Designing directly perceivable and understandable interaction invitations — AKA: affordances.
But I think a step back from design is needed to understand what this entails. The implication…