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CSS Neumorphism Generator

Soft UI had its big moment in 2020, and it still suits calm, single-surface designs like audio controls and smart home dashboards. This neumorphism generator produces the signature look: an element that shares its background color with the page and gets its shape entirely from a pair of shadows, one light, cast toward the top left, one dark, toward the bottom right. Pick a background hex and the tool computes both shadow colors automatically from your Intensity setting. A soft ui generator only convinces when that math matches the surface color, which is exactly the fiddly part handled for you. Flip the Inset checkbox and the same neumorphic shadow css reads as pressed instead of raised.

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background: #E4E4E7;
border-radius: 24px;
box-shadow: 12px 12px 24px rgb(194, 194, 196), -12px -12px 24px rgb(255, 255, 255);
Radius24px
Shadow distance12px
Intensity15%

How to use

01

Pick the surface color

Set the Background with the color picker or hex field. The element and the page behind it must share this exact color, or the molded-from-one-surface illusion breaks immediately.

02

Adjust distance and intensity

Shadow distance moves both shadows between 2 and 40px, with blur automatically set to double the distance. Intensity, from 5 to 30%, controls how far the light and dark tones deviate from your background.

03

Choose raised or pressed, then copy

Leave Inset (pressed) unchecked for a popped-out element or tick it for a sunken one. Copy the three-line block containing background, border-radius, and box-shadow.

Why CSS Neumorphism Generator

Common questions

How does the neumorphism effect actually work?
It's two shadows on one element: a dark one offset toward the bottom right and a light one mirrored toward the top left, both derived from the background color. Your eye reads that pairing as a soft object lit from above, extruded out of the page surface.
Why can't I see the neumorphic shadows on a white background?
Pure white leaves no headroom for the light shadow, since the channels are already at 255, so half the effect vanishes. Use a light gray like the default #E4E4E7, or any mid-tone, so the tool can compute a visibly lighter and darker pair.
What is the accessibility problem with neumorphism?
The edges of every element are deliberately low contrast, so users with low vision can struggle to find buttons at all. WCAG 2.1 asks for a 3:1 contrast ratio on the boundaries of interactive components, which soft shadows alone rarely reach. Add visible borders, strong focus rings, or clear color changes on interactive states.
Is there a way to make a pressed neumorphism button state?
Yes. The Inset (pressed) checkbox moves both shadows inside the element, which reads as pushed into the surface. A common pattern is copying two versions from this tool, raised for the resting state and inset for :active, and swapping between them.
Does this neumorphism css generator work with dark backgrounds?
It does; the light and dark shadow colors are computed from whatever hex you enter. Very dark surfaces compress the darker shadow, so raise Intensity toward 25 or 30 percent to keep both shadows distinguishable. Charcoal tones around #2A2A2E behave better than pure black.
Is neumorphism a good idea for a whole app?
Honestly, no. Everything melting into one surface makes hierarchy and affordance hard to communicate, which is why the style retreated from full products. It works best on one contained surface, like a media player card, inside an otherwise conventional interface.
What border radius suits soft ui elements?
Generous ones. The default here is 24px and the slider reaches 80px, because the style imitates molded plastic and sharp corners kill that association. Match the radius roughly to shadow distance so the curvature and the lighting agree.

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