UI design of an application keeps users invested in the brand, simplifies their journey, and increases the ROI. It is how users rate their experience with the app, its performance, and functions to form an impression.
If mobile app design guidelines are kept customer-centric with engaging content, no hurdle can stop your app from rising the ranks among the competition. Take Netflix, for example. It offers one of the best mobile UI designs for both apps and websites, irrespective of the platform. The layout is straightforward with color-coded content that reflects the brand, seamless navigation, and real-time bug fixes.
But apps UI design is not limited to its appearance. Instead, it includes the information architecture that must work seamlessly with the UI design guidelines to arrange and organize the app content in a way that is visually appealing and easy to navigate.
Mobile design trends are evolving continuously as new technologies emerge, improving apps interface designs and, consequently, the user experience. So, if you’re looking to launch a mobile app, you need to be updated with the latest market insights on UI and UX app designs.
The blog highlights the top 20 mobile design trends for the new era that will guarantee your app joins the leading names in the industry:
Top 20 Mobile UI and UX Design Trends
UI Trends in User Onboarding
The user onboarding process in apps interface design refers to the registration screens that appear when you first open an app. Social platforms or entertainment apps have a relatively simple sign up, requiring a username and password or social login.
Conversely, for utility apps like Slack, designed for easy collaboration, onboarding processes require a demonstration. Before users sign up with the platform, they need to know the benefits of the product.
Taking Slack as an example, the platform features a header that attracts users’ attention and highlights its primary function. Next, it provides a follow-up on the app’s purpose, followed by an interactive, but straightforward sign-up. The entire mobile UI design works to ease users’ onboarding worries.
You can also provide founder testimonials within the apps interface design. It will help establish brand credibility, which, in turn, will boost user acquisition and retention.
Seamless Voice Interactions
From keypads to touchscreens, we’ve transitioned into the era of voice-controlled personal assistants. Some of the leading voice assistants include SIRI, Alexa, Bixby, and Google Assistant.
Voice integrations elevate the user experience and offer added convenience, allowing users to speak their commands instead of typing or tapping the screen. Not to mention, they provide faster results and personalized experience.
Biometric Login
One of the rising UI/UX app designs that add another level of security to apps is password-less sign-ups or biometric logins. It also limits the hassle of remembering multiple passwords for apps that are used daily.
Many applications are already utilizing password-less logins in their mobile UI design. For instance, WhatsApp added a fingerprint scanner, allowing users to keep their conversations private. Banking and finance apps are other real-world examples with biometric logins or OTPs (one-time passwords) that ensure only authorized personnel can access confidential details.
Animations
Animations are an excellent way to grab users’ attention. Not only do they boost acquisition and retention rates, but also engagement. But it is a common perception that complex animations are hardware dependent, thus useless with slow processors.
In reality, however, many animations written for slow hardware are capable of surpassing industry benchmarks. That said, integrating animated graphics in mobile UI design can boost the user experience.
As mobile devices grow advanced and intuitive, designers can integrate complex animations to relay their story than plain text or images. Motion graphics, as we’ll discuss later in the list of mobile design trends, are excellent for branding and marketing; animations, on the other hand, engage the users, keeping them entertained with the way data changes between frames as if it’s a movie scene.
Typography
Bold typography will continue to rule the mobile design trends in the new era. But 2020 will also showcase new elements such as artistic fonts for added aesthetic value. Without impacting readability, designers will breakout different font styles, including outlined typography, oversized, text-only heroes, maxi, and more.
Whitespaces
From line-height to spacing, padding, and more, whitespaces are another mobile app UI design trend that will continue in the years ahead. Coupled with bold color gradients, designers can utilize whitespaces to enhance the app’s aesthetic appeal and user experience. It is a practical layout that features minimalism and highlights the content, making it indispensable for mobile UX design.
Artificial Intelligence
AI and AI-enabled technology is expanding exponentially in the digital world. From home security to chatbots and digital assistants, AI is everywhere. That said, it has grown vital for mobile app UI to enhance the user experience of apps and websites.
AI helps designers grab tons of data that they can use to personalize the app for different user demographics. The more people use an app, the more customized content they get, which, ultimately, boosts conversions and engagement for brands.
Augmented & Virtual Reality
Much like AI, AR & VR is another technology trend on the rise in mobile UI design. By superimposing digital components into the real-world image, AR allows users to view a fresh perspective, which can be incredibly helpful in e-commerce apps. IKEA, for example, has AR integration that enables users to examine how an item would look in the real world.
Media, e-commerce, entertainment, mHealth, real estate, travel, science, and education are some niches where augmented and virtual reality can boost UI and UX.
Chatbots
Chatbots are growing increasingly crucial for improving customer service. Thus, chatbot UI design not only needs to deliver data to users, but also be easy to use, support various languages, slangs, emotions, text structures, and more.
That said, to improve mobile UX consider integrating avatars, voice recognition, response buttons, typing indicators, and failure or welcome messages.
Motion Graphics
From casually scrolling feeds to surfing between app pages, the average time a user spends on the internet has decreased from 12 to 8 seconds. Thus, designers need to develop new ways to attract users’ attention within the seconds they are on screen. Animations are one of the mobile design trends that are quickly catching on that are an efficient way to engage users.
In 2020, with the availability of high-speed internet and a higher resolution in upcoming devices, designers can provide a dynamic visual experience. Another one of the best app designs to improve mobile apps UI and UX is motion graphics or short videos. It is one trend that can be used in multiple ways, in buttons, menus, backgrounds, or even text.
Data-Driven Design
Data-driven UX relates to providing users with personalized app design, so they spend less time looking for app options that they like. The trend depends on the development of data processing algorithms and artificial intelligence technology. It could also be based on A/B testing, target group studies, and marketing surveys.
Storytelling
In 2020 and the upcoming era, apps UI design will center around mobile UX featuring content with a particular narrative. Storytelling in the context of UX design implies shorter and condensed app text, so users spend less time reading information on the web.
The idea behind storytelling is to provide users with structured information following a sequence of actions to make content engaging and retain users’ attention.
Face ID
Facial recognition is another form of biometric login that is a rising mobile UI design trend. Instead of passwords or fingerprint scanning, facial IDs will become the standard logging technology as 2020 progresses.
Face ID is not new, but developers are continuously working on improving it for better accuracy and experience. The trend also comes with controversies as it is believed to be not the most secure password-less log in solution.
Dark Themes
Another rising mobile UX design trend is the dark theme feature. It is a low-light interface that displays dark screens instead of the standard light surface. It helps boost the user experience in two ways:
They preserve battery usage by shortening the use of light pixels.
They modify screen brightness to the users’ current light conditions and reduce eye strain.
3D & Faux-3D Design
The use of 3D elements in UX & UI mobile apps design is not a new trend, but before, it was limited to entertainment apps and games. In 2020, the development of device processing allows designers to integrate 3D design elements in other functional apps. These features add a degree of realism to the interactions, making the apps interface design immersive and engaging.
Liquid Swipe & Buttonless Design
As I mentioned before, digitization has progressed from keyboards and a touch interface to voice assistants and gesture recognition. Most smartphones now feature a buttonless design, freeing up more screen space that designers can use to provide more data.
The mobile UI design directs users’ attention towards the content, while gesture control allows navigating between screens and performing actions without digital buttons. Liquid swipe is one effect that is elevating the entire gesture experience.
Better Illustrations
Mobile UI design needs to be more user-centric to ensure its success. Thus, more app designers are experimenting with apps UI designs that users can connect with on an emotional level. One of the rising mobile design trends is the use of illustrations instead of stock images.
It allows designers to experiment with different illustration styles, enticing an emotional response from the users and ensuring they connect with the brand on a personal level.
Gradient 2.0
Color gradients are rising the popularity scale in mobile app UI and UX designs. In 2020, they take on a new spin, with the background growing more vibrant, adding depth to the interface, and adopting simplicity and subtlety in styling.
Conversely, designers are also using the minimalist ideology in choosing color gradients for apps UI design. With subtle contrasting colors, including pastels, they elevate the mobile UX design, and combining dark and vibrant tones with subtle shades; they can create a visually-pleasing UI.
Content Design & Readability
Prioritizing content in mobile UI designs helps create a meaningful interface, which also impacts mobile UX design, improving readability, which is a vital constituent for user acquisition and engagement. That said, readability does not only imply CTAs, brand names, slogans, or taglines. It also relates to content style, context menu, font styles, and more.
UI and UX for Disabled Individuals
As apps UI design trends continue to become user-centric, allowing customization and increased accessibility, they also grow tolerant for people with disabilities. Some of these trends enable individuals who can’t hear, see, or use their hands to input commands to use their phones with ease.
App stores now feature text scoring apps or applications that brighten the content or transform it into a more contrasting one. In-app voice navigation tools and gesture-controlled responses are other mobile app UI designs that enhance the experience for disabled individuals.
While there might not be an increase in specialized, multi-functional devices like smartphones and tablets for differently-abled people, we can expect a rise of apps that mold the device to an individuals’ health condition.
Improve Your App Design with These UX & Mobile UI Design Trends!
When you’re talking about trends, you need to remember that they change with the constantly evolving market demands, consumer behavior, and emotional state. That said, the design is not only about the visual components, but also the needs of the target users.
It’s why some of the best app designs of years past make a comeback in the new era. Conversely, the advancement of technology such as high-speed internet, makes way for recent trends to emerge, including data-driven content and increased interactive elements.
In a nutshell, the best approach to improving mobile UI and UX design is to stay tuned to the latest updates on design trends.
Consider the ones mentioned above, consult with experts to determine which one will best fit your app, and improve your app design for a higher conversion rate!
