Claymorphism in user interfaces by Fred Tinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8 How we crave an illusion of depth on our flat screens. en-us 2022-01-13 09:41:58 UTC 2025-04-24 12:12:25 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/270f.png Intro ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990003632 There is a new design trend emerging and this time it’s also stepping outside of the UI world and into the art space.]]> 2022-01-13 09:44:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990003632 Hello, Claymorphism! 👋 ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990005173 We’ll get to the defining traits and features of this style in a minute. Before we do, we need to address the Neumorphic elephant in the room.]]> 2022-01-13 09:45:12 UTC https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990005173 Depth reimagined. Again. ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990007082 Let me start with the obvious. For reasons I stated in the very first article, Neumorphism didn’t really take off. I don’t think the biggest issue with it was accessibility, as it could be made accessible with a few tweaks. No, the bigger issue was that it was simply visually boring in most of the examples. To achieve a level of fidelity that would compensate for that, it would require a lot of artistic skills and almost impossible front-end capabilities.]]> 2022-01-13 09:46:16 UTC https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990007082 ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990009971
It had a group of very strong supporters in the dev community, and some products were actually built using that style — for better or for worse.

However, designers were increasingly becoming bored with the typical flat-layered designs of most products. It seems like people wanted more depth, even if fake, but not necessarily done in the way neumorphism tried it.
]]> 2022-01-13 09:47:42 UTC https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990009971 ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990010739 Some real products were actually built using the Neumorphic style.]]> 2022-01-13 09:48:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990010739 Neumorphism 2.0? ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990012771 Since the early days of flat displays, we tried to simulate depth on them. That high-level skeuomorphic approach helps us better process what we’re looking at, while also being more friendly, organic and simply human.]]> 2022-01-13 09:49:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990012771 This a test ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990016395 Here is the original article]]> 2022-01-13 09:51:54 UTC https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990016395 Fluffy, friendly, 3d ftinsel https://padlet.com/ftinsel/7hgvxt3hezpfsyu8/wish/1990070584
With the advent of metaverses and rising popularity of NFT’s the 3D scene exploded. Tools like Spline also democratised the landscape the way Sketch did when all designers worked in Photoshop.

3D became hip and trendy as an art style.

But one particular style of 3D seems to be gaining popularity, often mixed with otherwise minimal designs. I call it „fluffy 3d” and the first time I noticed it go mainstream was when the startup Pitch used it as their cute key visuals. Since then Amrit Pal Singh, Sam Briskar, the team at Icons8 and others explored this style pushing it further through artwork, UI assets and iconography.
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