The Latest Voice in UX Design: Trends That Excites Modern Users The Most [2021]
Modern customers aren’t seeking only functionality in use. They are looking to get new exciting experiences when interacting with brands in the digital world. Attempting to address customer needs, companies create unique online experiences fostering emotional connections with the community. It has led to the emergence of mobile apps and websites with the en-compassing UI content that unites surprising layouts, digital illustrations, motion graphics, voice-optimized search, and much more.
Here I share personal product design discoveries, the latest UX design trends 2020, and anticipations about mobile and web experiences in 2021. Your future product users are looking forward to seeing new incredible designs created by you as a brand or the indie product designer. Are you ready to get inspired and produce the next impressive online experience?
Just keep on reading. We’re here to exchange the knowledge and cross-inspire each other. Please share your vision and thoughts in the comments below, as I don’t want to be the only person speaking here. Let our whole community hear your ideas!
Interactive UI: The Emotion Implemented in Motion
Mobile app and website animation in UI design has become the most loved thing among users. Users of all ages and generations like to watch engaging animated stories and interact with animated screens. In some digital products, funny animated heroes assist users with helpful visual tips and explanations about how to use a product or service.
These brand ambassadors help set trust with end-users and increase engagement. Not mention the invaluable benefit for a customer support team that’s usually overloaded with consumer questions related to product exploitation.
Dynamic website backgrounds, kinetic typography, animated logos, animated app user onboarding, visual assistance provided by animated heroes — all this can turn your digital experience into an exciting adventure.
Illustration. The Story You Tell Matters to Users
Illustrations are another popular digital trend used by companies across different industries, including top brands such as Buffer, Pipedrive, Bolt, and others. Even the giant Google constantly partners with digital artists to produce creative illustrations for its products and services.
The illustration is not only what accompanies the story. It is a story itself.
Digital illustration is the way to tell your brand story without saying a word. It transfers brand mood and personality, letting customers feel that they become part of something bigger than just a revenue-generating algorithm when participating in this digital experience. Digital illustration in UI design for mobile apps and websites helps establish emotional bonds with users and increase their loyalty.
Microinteractions Driving Macronengagement
Life is in the details.
It’s made up of the little moments that stick to our memory and create the overall impression of things, events, and… digital products. Microinteractions are your chance to put a seed of excitement into product UX and grow it into an unforgettable digital experience. Being almost invisible, they add dynamics, interactivity, and intuitiveness to user interface design.
Don’t let your users get bored while waiting for a web page to be loaded. Interact with them by displaying fun uploading animation. You can also entertain people with pull-to-fresh animations.
Make every moment of your user experience feel sweet and delightful by designing pull-to-fresh microinteractions, tab animations, navigation microinteracions, and more — the sky is the limit.
Dark Mode: The Beaty Born in The Darkness
The dark UI is one of the hottest web design trends in 2020. It has also affected UI design for mobile apps. The dark mode is considered as one of the best UX practices as it allows minimizing the user eye fatigue and scrolling an application or website with heightened comfort for eyes.
It’s elegant and timeless. The black is a golden classic that still is relevant and stylish for different life contexts. Product UI design is not an exception.
Neumorphism: It Seems Even More Real Than Real
Neumorphism is a new take on skeuomorphism. The last one implies designing elements in a realistic style. Buttons, layouts, lights, cards, and other UI components look like real-life objects. Neumorphism mimics reality and brings clean interfaces to life by adding a physical element and material design to a flat UI paradigm. This style emphasizes on not necessarily the contrast or similarity between the real and digital worlds, but rather the color spectrum.
Being just the reflection of real life, neumorphism turns mobile applications and web solutions into digital experiences that look like part of our aroundness.
Your Turn
Now is your turn to create. The UX design area is saturated with fast-changing tendencies, however, there are always long-term trends that define the industry for the year or two. Above, I tried to describe my most favorite long-term UX design trends 2020 and some anticipations about this space in the next year. Hopefully, these UI and UX design inspiration will help you refresh your works and design vision.
Now is also your turn to speak and share. Do you have bright and bold UX/UI design ideas in mind? Don’t forget to share them with us in the comments below. We are here, and we are attentively listening to you.
