Origin of Neuromorphic Design
Neuromorphic design is based on neuromorphic engineering in which neuroscience principles are used to transform design technology. This approach focuses on understanding the functioning of the human brain and using that knowledge to create design systems that resonate with the neural data accumulated. This data can be used to transform today’s UI design concepts into a more natural or intuitive interaction design.
Today’s UI designs are incorporated with such design elements that resonate with real-world elements in the digital world, for example:-
- Skeuomorphic Buttons: In the real world when we see a button, we already know how to operate it. When we press it down it also gives a feeling that some action has been performed. In a similar format in many apps, realistic keyboard buttons are used with mechanical keyboard sound to give a realistic feeling to a user while typing. As shown in the image:
- Material Design: This design was introduced by Google which uses tactile properties of real-world elements to create a realistic feel for users while they are interacting with the system. Whether it’s buttons, cards, or other UI elements, contains realistic shadows and subtle animations that give a feeling to users like they are interacting with physical objects.
- Progress bars and Loading Animations: Animations used in the progress bar and loading animation give a feeling of waiting for a physical process to complete. For eg.- The progress bar gives the feeling of filling a glass of water.
- Switches and Toggles: Switches and toggles in UI designs are made to look and behave like a switch on a screen, it behaves like a light switch, creating a connection between the digital and physical worlds.
- File Management: The icon of a file manager depicts a folder with different documents in most of the UI designs. The action of drag and drop depicts the real world example of shifting things by picking from one place and placing it to another one.
Neuromorphic Design – Blurring the Lines Between UI and Reality
In the era of UI/UX design, brands want to create a more comfortable and natural user experience. To do so they take inspiration from the environment and how a human interacts with it. Today many big brands and institutions are investing a huge amount of money just to understand the human brain and how it processes things around it. They are trying to bring real interactions into the digital world minimizing the gap between UI and reality. These types of research and approaches used have given birth to a new concept in UI design i.e. Neuromorphic Design – An approach that connects neural analysis of the brain (neuroscience) with design.