The latest trends in mobile UI and UX design

6 min read

Nowadays it seems like every single month comes along with a brand new trend in UX and UI design. What’s driving this? The users who are hungry for change or designers with heads full of new ideas? Before this becomes the story of chicken and egg, we’d like to say that we aren’t sure of the answer but we are loving the after-effects as we keep seeing more and more innovation in mobile design. It can seem a tad overwhelming, which is why we have decided to do the legwork and narrow things down to the biggest trends out there.

Micro UI Animations

Micro UI Animations are winning the market over as one of the latest trends in the book of UI. Not everyone will know what a micro animation represents but most of us encounter them every single day in our digital worlds. Micro animations, or microinteractions, are brief animations designed solely to direct the user through their task as they interact with a digital product. They are small but extremely powerful as an attention-grabber. Additionally, micro animations are very helpful when it comes to supplying the user with effective visual feedback. Designers are starting to implement micro animations in software more and more every day, so it’s inevitable to say that this trend is here to stay.

Less Sharp Angles – More Round Corners

Round corners are yet another trend that emerged in the world of mobile devices. Both Android and iOS flagships have round corners, it’s very difficult to say that you didn’t notice as they are everywhere. Round corners are now overpowering sharp ones in the applications’ icons since sharp is now perceived as not clean or not tidy enough. Just glance at your smartphone menu and you will see it yourself.

Now that you’ve checked that yourself, you can see how round corners are actually one of the most frequent UX design trends and it will stay that way for a while as UI objects are becoming round because of the evolving user experience and designers only want to catch up with the expectations that are being set by the users.

So, let us ask you this – Do we actually prefer round corners and if we do, why is that?

There are many theories but the most common one is the way that a human brain associates round corners with safety. Just think about the action of baby-proofing a home when one’s expecting a newborn baby to start its life in a certain space. Round designs are being used in mobile apps with the goal of making the experience captivating and calming at the same time.

Gradients in Design

First things first, what is a gradient?

Gradual blending from one color to another is what we refer to as a gradient and it is winning over the market as designers are seeing it as an opportunity to almost create a brand new color. Additionally, gradual blending from a certain color to black or white, while playing with opacity, can also mimic proximity to or distance from a light source. The reason why we prefer gradients to flat colors could be because real life in which we participate on a daily basis, one way or another, isn’t made of flat colors.

Using color transitions or gradients simply gives designers more options as they are no longer limited to just a few colors. A richer palette is most certainly one of the leading trends in UI design for 2021 and the users are loving it so far!

Dark Designs, Anyone?

Another trend that’s becoming more and more common in UI design for mobile apps is dark modes. Switching to a dark mode makes the experience of using an app easy on the eyes while making it a bit more dramatic at the same time.

Thanks to the higher contrast, content becomes more readable and the eyes are able to rest from the pungent brightness.

Going for a dark mode or sticking to the regular bright mode can be something that’s tied to one’s personality or it could only be one of those new trends that are a game-changer that makes them attractive to the users simply because they are new. Be that as it may, we are very excited about dark designs – so excited that our developers tagged along with that trend when we designed an app for Scount, one of our clients.

Neumorphism

Were we saving the best for last? You tell us!

Neumorphism derives from skeuomorphism, which is a term used to define an interface that mimics real-world items. Great examples of skeuomorphism are the recycle bin on your computer and a dial icon on your smartphone. Both represent real-life objects, a landline phone, and a dustbin, that users are already familiar with (Landline may be the thing of the past for some of us but we all definitely know it’s a real-life object, hopefully). Well, neumorphism takes graphic design to a whole new level here. It allows the users to perceive something between 3D and flat graphics. Examples of a good UI relying on neumorphism can be found in one of the most basic apps we all have on our phones. We all turn to our calendar, calculator, or the settings menu every once in a while and they all have that minimal feel in common.

Although neumorphic designs look aesthetically pleasing, they come with tons of limitations, too. The subtle variants in color value make the designs look minimal and pleasant on the eye, but having a low contrast ratio presents an issue for accessibility. It basically overlooks the fact that not all users have clear eyesight if not done correctly – which can be a fairly big issue for the users.

We could keep yammering about the latest trends companies are trying to push for in order to provide the best possible interface and coolest app design, but as the world keeps moving and changing constantly, so will app design and design trends.

The goal is pretty clear – we all want to give the users the most satisfying interfaces and help them achieve the best possible user experience out there. All developers wish for their apps to stand out from the sea of apps one can find in their app store, and we’re not any different. We want to provide the best possible app design to our clients and we manage to do so by making a smooth blend of simply phenomenal UI and UX. User attention will come hand in hand with having a solid and splendid interface, it’s as simple as that.

Bottom line is, the job of a UI designer is to move rectangles around, so each time a rectangle turns out to be slightly different-looking and new, we are witnessing the birth of a potential new trend. Without constant and consistent exploration, all products would eventually start looking the same.