In recent years, our daily lives have increasingly moved to the virtual world. Year after year, the tide of digitalization advances and these days, two of the most important aspects of any digital product are UX and UI. They can raise your product to the highest level or break your business. Understanding changing user preferences and keeping up with all the latest technological developments is crucial if you want your IT business to become a unicorn. Based on our experience and predictions, we are presenting a list of the eight hottest UI and UX trends for 2022.
3D elements
When talking about UX and UI design trends, it is impossible not to mention 3D elements. 3D design has excelled over the past few years and it doesn’t seem likely to stop any time soon. Although it isn’t anything new, 3D design will definitely be upgraded in 2022. It seems that in 2022, the emphasis will be on small frameworks that can reduce the time to open a resource (so far, this has been quite problematic). During the next year, UX design will likely see improved usability which will make 3D elements more original. The improvements will give product displays a more realistic feel, which in turn will drive an increase in sales. A perfect way to provide a proper ‘mojo’ without being overbearing.
Mobile-first concept
Can you imagine your life without your smartphone? Probably not. And nor can UI and UX design. Today, an online website or app must be usable with diverse gadgets. 2022 will bring a step toward a mobile-first approach. Adapting the interface to mobile devices is no longer an option. It’s become an obligation. To meet the rapidly growing demands of customers, technology continues to develop and websites and apps must look good and be easily readable on all types of screens. The goal is to be as seamless, responsive, feature-rich, and functional as possible. A mobile-first design is imperative – in some countries, 2/3 of all web traffic comes from mobile phones.
Animations
Can we all agree that there is something satisfying when your selection slides onto the screen, rather than just abruptly loading? Animations bring that touch of extra spice to a digital interaction. Like 3D elements, animations are nothing very new in UX and UI design; however, their purpose has evolved to foster a feeling of visual/tactile satisfaction. Properly designed animations invite a user to keep playing with different features throughout the website or app. As today’s focus moves towards user interaction, providing a novel, animated experience may be key to winning customers’ hearts. Such an interaction is modern and unusual. Motion design captures the user’s attention and is useful in portraying how the product works or telling a story to communicate value. The more time someone spends playing with your site or app, the more likely they are to complete a measurable action. In 2022, animations will slowly become more common in UX design – for sure, they’ll no longer be a surprise.
Minimalistic design
Sure, having an eye-catching design is important. However, in most cases, it can be hard to balance form with function. Site or app design shouldn’t be too cluttered or overwhelming because that makes it more difficult for people to find what they are looking for. Today’s people are overloaded with ads, fighting for their attention. Interfaces are overburdened with information. To reduce information overload, UX and UI designers have been searching for new ways to make graphic elements simpler. Simplicity helps users to clearly recognize a site or app. When it comes to UI design, in 2022, it will be clean with all unnecessary information reduced. With distractions removed, customers will be able to focus on the essentials. A great idea is to use elements such as carousels, a toggle to show and hide content sections, or a tool-tip feature. Regarding UX design, it can be simplified with a minimal number of elements and fields that need to be filled out. No more extra actions that users need to take! Of course, you should use minimalistic designs carefully – if your app becomes too simple, it could be seen as boring or give people the impression that you haven’t put enough effort in.
Tailor-made experiences
Today’s customers are increasingly demanding. Everyone wants to be treated individually. Standard solutions are considered to be boring and usually lead to unpleasant consequences. Users crave a personalized experience. Without it, they ultimately turn to the competition. In 2022, a personalization algorithm will be one of the most powerful tools to attract prospects’ attention and focus them on the product you’re promoting. In UX and UI design, a personalization algorithm helps your software or app decide what customers are interested in and show them only the most relevant content. Tailor-made content will be a crucial part of custom UX design because it shows that you follow your audience’s needs.
Typography and bold fonts
So far, using new fonts has been considered the easiest way to give a website or app a fresh look. It turns out that unique, extravagant fonts tend to negatively impact a user’s experience. Therefore, in 2022, we can expect new font designs – neater and more balanced. You have probably noticed that recently, web typography has become bigger and bolder than before. Especially when it comes to landing pages. We believe that this trend is here to stay in 2022. Bold typography stands out, gets users’ attention but at the same time can be elegant and classic. It’s a straightforward yet successful approach to grab users’ attention. In the near future, many websites and interfaces will incorporate thicker, unique fonts – it’s a way to attract attention without investing a huge amount of effort into pulling it off.
Neomorphism
In a discussion of UX and UI design trends for 2022, we have to mention neomorphism. This trend has been gaining popularity mainly because of its subtle yet innovative look. It combines flat design and skeuomorphism – meaning certain elements appear to protrude from the screen which makes it easy for the users to make a choice. Neomorphism uses a wide variety of colors, blending contrasts and the use of shadowing effects. In this UI design, elements are placed behind the background, similar to the watermark setting. When a user makes a selection, the element emerges and looks like it’s coming out of the screen. The background and the UI elements are kept in the same color. While talking about neomorphism, it’s impossible not to mention so-called ‘glassmorphism’. This is a multi-layer approach giving depth to the UI. Each layer (a window, a popup, etc.) has clear contents on a blurred, frosted-glass effect background through which the user can see the ‘lower’ layers. This technique gives a 3D verticality to the display while remaining clear and easy to use - the user simply focuses on the layer which is on top In 2022, both neo- and glassmorphism will be even more relied on by designers to create various aspects of the user interface.
Voice User Interface
The dynamic growth of the smart speakers’ market has boosted voice interaction’s popularity. Some research shows that around 65% of customers (25 – 64 years old) use voice search at least once a day. It seems that in-app voice interactions may become one of the fastest-growing trends in UX design. Voice User Interface (VUI) allows for multitasking and helps people operate their devices at their full potential. From a UX point of view, it makes surfing the Internet much easier and more convenient. For several months now, teams of UX designers have been competing with frequent updates and the latest advancements in this field. We believe that VUI will become a standard feature of smart devices that we use daily, and some experts suggest that the number of VUI assistants in use worldwide will reach 8.4 billion by 2024.
Conclusion
So, we know what the future holds… It will be extremely interesting to see how UI and UX trends will evolve in 2022. 3D, animations, the mobile-first concept – UX and UI designers are facing a challenge to think more creatively than ever, while always keeping the design relevant and valuable to users. We cannot wait to see how UX and UI design trends will evolve in the coming year.
