Liquid Glass Design Guide

Liquid Glass embraces the concept of "material honesty" by creating digital materials that behave consistently with their visual appearance. Glass-like surfaces have appropriate translucency, reflectivity, and edge treatments. Solid materials provide contrast through opacity and definitive boundaries.

This principle creates intuitive expectations about how interface elements will behave. When a surface looks like glass, users inherently understand it might reveal content beneath it or respond to light differently than opaque elements.

Liquid Glass uses subtle dimensional cues to establish clear visual hierarchy. Elements appear at different elevations from the background, creating a sense of layers without overwhelming the interface with excessive shadows or borders.

This spatial arrangement helps users understand the relationship between elements and creates focal points for important content or actions. Primary actions might appear closer to the user, while secondary information recedes slightly into the background.

Interfaces should respond to user input with natural, physics-based animations that reinforce the sense of manipulating real materials. Elements stretch, compress, bounce, and settle with timing and easing that mimics real-world behavior.

This fluid responsiveness creates an emotional connection between user and interface. When digital elements respond in expected ways—like a button that depresses when tapped or a list that bounces slightly when reaching its end—users develop a sense of confidence and control.

Implementing Liquid Glass design on the web requires thoughtful use of modern CSS and JavaScript. Key techniques include backdrop filters, subtle gradients, and spring-based animations.

.glass-card {
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);
  backdrop-filter: blur(10px);
  border-radius: 16px;
  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
  box-shadow: 0 4px 30px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
}

For animations, libraries like Framer Motion can help achieve the fluid, spring-based animations that characterize Liquid Glass interfaces.

For iOS developers, SwiftUI and UIKit provide robust tools to implement Liquid Glass design. Material effects, dynamic animations, and adaptive layouts are all readily achievable.

struct GlassCard: View {
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Text("Liquid Glass Card")
        }
        .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
        .padding()
        .background(.ultraThinMaterial)
        .cornerRadius(16)
        .shadow(color: .black.opacity(0.1), radius: 10)
    }
}

SwiftUI's built-in material effects make it particularly well-suited for Liquid Glass design, with APIs specifically created to support Apple's design language.