I love glassmorphism—it's a fresh and beautiful design approach. Companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Toss are effectively utilizing this aesthetic, with Microsoft Design's recent work showcasing the sophistication of this style. Windows 11 presents clean glassmorphism implementations in its widgets and start menu.
Microsoft's Fluent Design System actively embraces glassmorphism, and it fits Windows perfectly. This style elegantly combines transparency, subtle shadows, soft depth, and color.
The attraction to transparent and shimmering elements seems innate. The impression left by Windows Vista's Aero interface in childhood was profound—the transparent, glass-like windows showed significant design evolution compared to XP's blue-green bars.
According to UX Collective, glassmorphism's characteristics are:
- Transparency (frosted-glass effect through background blur)
- Multi-layered approach with floating objects
- Vivid colors that emphasize blurred transparency
- Subtle, light borders on translucent objects
Creating a glass effect requires more than simply adjusting transparency—blur effects are essential, and high-saturation backgrounds with borders create true glass-like quality.
On the ui.glass/generator website, you can adjust blur, transparency, and saturation values, preview results, and export CSS code. Tools like neumorphism.io also democratize design experimentation.
Material Design's strong primary colors and matte aesthetic don't personally appeal to me. Glassmorphism mimics glass, while material design mimics layered paper. The recent version of Material You was disappointing and looked even worse in Android 12.
Neumorphism fails similarly—slight CSS adjustments create tacky designs, and distinguishing UI elements becomes difficult, severely hampering accessibility.
I believe glassmorphism will persist for a considerable period. Transparency elements will transform through various iterations. Imagining near-future AR/VR interfaces, transparent and holographic designs will flourish. Sci-fi movies also emphasize holographic and glass displays as futuristic interfaces.
Transparent interfaces naturally connect reality with graphics. Currently, glassmorphism emphasizes aesthetics over function on flat screens. However, when transparent displays (or glasses-form displays) become widespread, bridging the gap between actual glass displays and glass-like interfaces could improve UX consistency. Perhaps 'glass-applicable' UI specifically designed for transparent displays will emerge.
Even today's elegant glassmorphism may eventually look dated. What design trends will follow is a matter of imagination. However, I believe glassmorphism, particularly its transparency elements, will continue to influence interface design through multiple future iterations.