Human by nature is fond of change. Every few years, trends of past keep repeating themselves which keeps the flow going. User interface (UI) design is not different in this regard. There are a variety of UI trends ranging from those which mimic the real world to those which have no or little exaggerations. All of them have their benefits and drawbacks. Having proper knowledge about these trends we can formulate new and innovative UI interfaces, nudge the design enterprise forward and also heighten our own design practice.
To provide outstanding and unique visual designs, and user familiarity, we will have a look at all the relevant and suitable user interface trends that were able to produce the most innovative and ingenious designs from the very beginning. Let’s have a look at 10 UI trends that every designer should have knowledge about.
1. Skeuomorphism:
Skeuomorphism is one of the earliest visual strategy to formulate user interface. skeuomorphism makes use of the technique where real world counterparts are used to make a link between natural and digital world. One of the examples is the recycle bin icon which reflects the real recycle bin.
With the arrival of smart phones and digital computers, designers had to make sure design them in such a way which will enable the first time user to instantly clasp the concept of steering the new digital realm. So skeuomorphic design prefers resemblance to the real world to make the design as relevant as possible.
Early version of apple mobile IOS used the skeuomorphic design all over across the user interface.
Until the early 2010, skeuomorphic was considered as a standard. This design played a crucial role in making the process of shifting to the digital arenas as smooth as possible. Skeuomorphic design expects a lot of technical proficiency because it is comprehensive and inclusive. The heightened digital literacy among the users over time has paved the way for new designs to thrive.
2. Minimalism as a UI Trend:
“Minimalism” is the art movement which has inspired the minimalist UI trend which believes that “less is always more” and “keep it simple”. The concept of minimalism doesn’t infer that the design is ambiguous and desolate, rather it focuses more on what needs to be highlighted and puts limelight on what matters more.
Minimalist approach is modest and elegant and concentrates on the functionality of every aspect.
Minimalist approach is clear of any decorative elements and is kept as simple as possible to keep the user’s exploration of the design intuitive. Altogether the minimalist interface has a very neat and sophisticated visual allure.
The emergence of minimalism dates back to the early 1950s in New York, and it’s motto was “order, plainness and harmony”. The “less is more” doctrine later evolved to “less but better” principle of Good Design by the German Industrial designer Dieter Rams. This principle also states that “good design is as little design as possible”
“Any combining, mixing, adding, diluting, exploiting, vulgarizing, or popularizing of abstract art deprives art of its essence and depraves the artist’s artistic consciousness. Art is free, but it is not a free-for-all.”
-Donald Judd
UI minimalist design is not the only design which follows this trend but other designs like flat design also make use if it.
3. Flat design:
Flat design is UI design which is centered on simplicity and aesthetics and it has altered the prototype of interface design from factual objects to illustrative simplification of objects. This UI trend exemplified a significant technical boon like allowing faster loading speed in smart phones. Flat design is one of the designs that use the minimalist design approach by keeping the design simple and elegant without any ornamental elements. It banks on the excessive use of dark colors and use of typography to instill a graphic appeal into the design.
Flat design amassed popularity in 2012 with the release of windows 8, apple’s IOS 7 and Google material design. Still flat design lacks visual affordance and it might be difficult for the user to recognize the interactive components.
To overcome this drawback the flat design 2.0 came into existence. This version enhanced the usability by accentuating the interactive elements by using delicate shadowing and color variations. These subtle variations helped the user to increase depth and extents and boosted the handiness.
4. Bauhaus style:
This UI design plays with geometric graphics: semi-circle, circles, rectangle, triangle etc, resourceful use of typography non-distracting inoperable details. This style depends upon the design elements themselves like line, shape, color and it also underlines abstract shapes.
This UI design style is established on the Bauhaus art and design movement in 1919 in Weimar Germany. This campaign acted as a bridge between art and craft.
The Bauhaus movement preached “Form follows Functions”. According to this function, geometric shapes were manufactured based on their intended purpose stemming into a UI design that is both aesthetically beautiful and also minimalist.
Bauhaus style interfaces have a unique modern and decent visual appeal to digital interfaces.
“Minimalism makes life feel more balanced and satisfying”.
-Thomas David
5. Dark mode:
The dark mode UI is a design interface where a dark background has light text resting on it. This design is very handy in cutting down the effect of lambency emitted by the device screen and aids in improving visual efficiency by reducing eye strain.
This design is especially compatible with those users who does a lot of reading. Another plus point if dark mode is that it conserves battery to some extent.
Dark mode UI were made as a reciprocation to dark on light color schemes which imitated the impression of ink on white paper.
This trend surfaced in 2016 when twitter attempted to test a light-on-dark scheme. Though many former operating systems use dark-on-light scheme like in the movie Matrix, there were green numbers on a dark background.
This trend blasted off when Apple releases their IOS 13 dark mode option. Since then, dark mode has become one of the popular choices among the light and dark interfaces.
Dark mode UI shows an elegant, sharp and unique allure which is also gentler on the eyes. So if you are fabricating a design where a user needs to spend a lot of his time in front of the screen, you might want to consider the dark mode option to increase its usability.
6. Bold typology:
Rule breaking typography or bold typography is the UI interface where typography in fact is the main element of the design. In this design style the typography oversteps it’s formal function and becomes the center of the UI design.
However, when typography is the fundamental element of the design, rules change. Extravagant sizes, twisting, spinning etc everything flips. It is very important to recognize the principles of typography so we can mold it successfully.
Bold typography accounts for big statements so we need to be sure and plan it attentively and thoroughly.
7. Neumorphism:
The key to neumorphic design is to merge the minimalism of flat design and realism of skeuomorphic design. It does not create or mimic a design that is relevant to real world rather it focuses on the design that could work in the real world. A neuromorphic design appears as we can physically press the buttons and move the sliders. The elements appear to be ejected out of their place.
A neuromorphic design appears sleek and sharp due to the use of shadow and depth which gives it a three-dimensional look. The main elements which help in achieving this look are monochromatic colors, low contrast, and slight shade.
The term “Neumorphism” was first used by Michal Malwicz, creative director and CEO of HYPE4 in 2019. This termed was inspired by the term “New Skeuomorphism”. It is also sometimes referred to as “soft UI” because of it’ typical low contrast.
However this designs has some accessibility issues due to its characteristic low contrast. So users with optical defects like color blindness, low vision, blindness etc find it difficult to use. So this design requires extra care to fabricate elements which ensures the usability of the interface for every kind of user.
8. Glassmorphism:
Glassmorphism, as the name indicates, is a famous UI trend where the design elements seems to be made up of a frosted translucent glass sheet. User feels like he can visually see through the elements. The design elements seems to be floating and look layered. This design effect is attained by using a background blur and to mimic the edge of the glass, a semi transparent outline is used. The background needs to have a significantly different tone for this design to pop.
Transparency, light border and pastel colors are the three most essential factors.
This trend has been a hot topic amongst the designers as if it can promote good accessibility or not. To be on safe side, this trend could be used in background so that visually impaired people would not have any issue interacting with the interface.
Glassmorphism delivers a neat and minimalist appearance. This term too was conceived by Michal Malewicz and it became popular in 2020 after Apple updated macOS Big Sur.
9. Animation/motion as UI trend:
Motion user interface designs are among the most popular designs because they are a fun way to uplift the user experience. They involve the use of life-like elements to the interface. Impressive moving and transitioning animations are added to the interface to give it a cool effect.
The animations should be carefully selected as we want to enhance the user and interface interaction rather than distract him which could easily happen if we use irrelevant animations. For example, you can use relevant animation to guide the user or lure him into giving a positive feedback.
Another way of using animation is using them to tell a story. Those animation are scroll triggered. User have to scroll the screen down in order for the motion to occur.
Overall, adding the motion and animation to the design interface can breathe life into sluggish interferences. It is not only fun but also increase the user engagement with the interface.
10. Illustration:
In a world, where there is digital advancement with each passing day, to make a mark is a big achievement. Illustration is the UI trend which makes it easier for the product to stand out and be unique. It can be hand-drawn 2D or 3D and have different looks.
