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.

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.

Tools required to create Neuromorphic Designs

Creating neuromorphic design is a really big challenge as still today it is difficult to create a system that can mimic human brain and can create a full proof data to bring a huge change in UI designing. This design approach is still in its earlier stage. This doesn’t mean that the amount of knowledge we have of our brain’s working is not enough to create Neuromorphic UI designs. We have came really far and created tools that can be used by anyone around the globe to create such design systems. Such as:-

• UI designing Tools: These tools are used to create wireframes and interactive prototype of any digital system before they are launched in the market. These include – AdobeXD, Sketch, Figma, Invision etc.
• UI Libraries and Framework: Still there are no specific libraries that are based on neuromorphic UI designs but some of them do provide a good basic structures that can be customized by custom coding according to the user’s need. These Include – Material-UI (React), Ant Design (React and Vue), Flutter (Dart) etc.
• Eye Tracking Tools: This technology is used to accumulate data of hotspots in an interface that draws user’s attention. These data can be used by designers to prioritize important content, such as call-to-action buttons or key information, in these visual hotspots. Such tools are – Tobii Pro SDK, Pupil Labs, Lumen etc.
• Biometric Sensors: Devices like Fingerprint Sensors, heart rate monitor and ECG’s, BP Monitor can be used to modify UI elements on the basis of user’s current physiological state. In this data accumulated from smart wearables can be used by integrating their API and SDK into the interface. Such tools are – Smartwatches, smartbands, smart goggles etc.
• Sound Design Tools: This can be an important aspect in the world of UI as sound can be used to make the feel of UI much closer to reality. Any action we do in real life has a sound associated with it whether its a sound of keyboard keys or camera shutter can be integrated in UI to give it a more realistic feel. Tools that can be used to create such sounds – Audacity, Adobe audition etc.

Applications of Neuromorphic Design

Neuromorphic designs is capable of mimicking real world elements in digital world scenarios. This could increase user engagement by creating a feeling of familiarity in the user’s mind. There can be many uses of such designs in the design system. Such as:-

• Cognitive User Interface: By using neuromorphic principles interface can be made in such a way that it instantly reorganize menu items on the basis of user’s frequently accessed features and preferences in a way similar to a brain prioritizing things.
• Neuromorphic Iconography: Creating icons that have looks similar to elements present in real life and using colors that are more natural to he eyes. For example – a mail icon that looks similar to a letter in envelope. By seeing it brain instantly resembles it with a message.
• NLP Interfaces: It is common to see neuromorphic design being used in Virtual assistants and chatbots to understand and respond to user’s input more naturally. They try to mimic human conversations and verbal cues.
• Motion based Interfaces: In these type of interfaces system can be designed in such a way that interface reads the body language of the user and change the elements inside it accordingly. For example interfaces used inside a car screen which changes its menu items and sizes of icons according the priority of driver while driving and while the driver is in resting position.
• Biometric based Interface: Neuromorphic authentication systems can use biometric data, such as fingerprint recognition, facial recognition to provide a more secure and user-friendly login experience. Imagine you are sitting for a long duration which is not good for health. Sensing this data, interface of your wearables and mobiles notify you to move.

Benefits of Using Neuromorphic Design

Neuromorphic designs principles in UI increases its user experience drastically and makes it interactive. There are several key benefits on taking neuromorphic design approach while creating an UI. Such as:-

• Increased User Engagement: By using neuromorphic principles interfaces can be created in such a way that they keep the user engaged with the content.
• Real world like interaction: By mimicking real-world behaviors and patterns, neuromorphic UIs can feel more familiar to users, making it easier for them to navigate through the interface.
• Emotional Appeal: Realistic elements in the interface, such as textures and animations, can create emotional connections with users, making the UI more memorable and enjoyable to use.
• Accessibility: Neuromorphic design can enhance accessibility features by providing clearer visual cues and feedback for users with disabilities.
• Uniqueness: Implementing neuromorphic design can help UI stand out in a crowded digital landscape, making it unique and memorable.

Cons of Neuromorphic Designs

• Complexity: These type of design interfaces are complex and require a good amount of time for data collection. It is really difficult to form a system that mimics human brain because of which this is still in its earlier stage.
• Privacy Issues: As these designs require a good amount of user data to perform suggesting something a user is thinking may create a feeling of privacy breach in the minds of users. Today many companies are also using unethical ways to collect such data through mics and cameras of devices.
• Overwhelming and distracting: Too much of dynamic animations and behaviors, can distract users from the main content which can lead to reduced usability and user frustration.
• Incompatibility: Neuromorphic designs may be incompatible with many existing UI design systems. Hence, may require creation of UI design from scratch in many fields.
• Data Collection Issues: It is difficult to make the user trust that there data is not going to be used in wrong way. Plus, as the brain thinking is diverse due to many ecological, cultural or political factors and many more other reasons, it is really difficult to collect a data that resonates with everyone. As wrong data collection may lead to non-friendly design systems.

Conclusion

When a neuromorphic design is well-executed with an accurate data as a base, it seamlessly blend the digital and real worlds, creating user interfaces that mimic the behavior of the human brain. This offers users an experience i.e. natural, easy to understand and closer to reality. But to achieve these we will have to solve issues of complexity, data privacy and collection issues.