Flat design has been a tremendously hot topic in recent months given the release of iOS7 this fall. Flat design alone means no textures or gradients. The design looks simpler, clean, spacious and has less distraction. It lets you focus on the content, which is the thing that matters most to users.
But flat design alone is, well let’s face it, flat. And many designers have taken the idea of flat design and incorporated a shadow. . . a long shadow.
It seems that designers often use the shadow effect in the same way. The shadows themselves are flat using a color tint with no shading, graduation or fading (see below for a great plug-in for Photoshop that makes this easy). Most of the designers utilize the same basic idea, even down to the angle and direction of the shadows. The shadows are often created with a 45 degree angle, and they point at the lower right hand corner. Some designers use 120 degrees though.
Want to create your own flat design long shadow icons and images for websites, catalogs or publications? Here’s a fantastic and simple Photoshop plug-in ($4) to create web or print ready files.
Below are some long shadow design examples for your reference. Click the image to see an entire gallery of Long Shadow design on our Pinterest Page.
