There are tons of web applications available, but some of them meet users’ expectations and needs, and others don’t. To ensure that a solution will have success, developers keep a bird’s eye view of recent trends, and UI/UX design is no exception.
In this article, we are going to take a look at the top design trends of 2021, as well as learn from professionals working at Emerline — a software development company with strong UI/UX expertise — about the value of their implementation.
(Top 5) Design Trends Defined
Minimalism
Do you remember when content was presented in a very vivid, overwhelmed with catching elements way? Today, with minimalism coming as a trend, most people see previously used strategies to catch users’ attention as eye-bleeding.
With minimalism, it’s possible to send users a complete message without overwhelming them with colors, forms, and other elements. To do this, professionals find new ways of making graphic elements look simpler, limit the number of colors, as well as use different proportions and compositions, highlighting the essentials of a product or idea and giving a user a taste of its value.
Simplified UX
One of the issues that often confuse users is related to UX. Experience needs to be highly intuitive, and there’s no better way to ensure its ease of use than to simplify it. And it’s exactly one of the 2021 trends.
By minimizing the number of elements and fields to fill out, simplifying the process of registration and signing in, designers provide users with more convenience and greater satisfaction from the use of tech solutions.
One of the examples of the trend is the provided ability for a user to sign to their account with a phone number, which eliminates the need in remembering another password.
Voice User Interface (VUI)
As we live in a time when everything goes at a high speed, the same is expected from the use of technology. So one more trending design practice today is the voice UI. It implies that the effectiveness of using an app is not determined by the visual side only. Examples you might know are Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, etc. You give them a command with a voice and they perform the needed action.
Icons
How to send a user a message with no words and in a limited space? The answer is the icons — a trending solution in design in recent years. It’s an effective way to communicate with customers, achieve the above-mentioned minimalistic design, and not overwhelm users with tons of unneeded stuff.
If you need an example, you can simply open your Instagram app, take a look at your iPhone screens, etc. Everything is minimalistic, pleasant to the eye, and pretty clear.
Mobile-First Approach
It’s not a secret that today, the use of web apps on mobile devices happens more often than ever before. Because people use their smartphones for everything, from searching for a route or cafe to making huge purchases, some businesses go from web to mobile, and some adapt their web apps to mobile devices. It’s one of the most efficient ways to improve customer interaction, and it’s one of the most common requests app development companies get today.
Expert View on Design Trends
As we promised, we are sharing with you some ideas and attitudes on design trends received from UI/UX experts working at Emerline. And the first thing to mention is that regardless of being trending or not, the approach to design should be focused on the needs of your users. For example, specialists at Emerline adhere to the Design Thinking methodology — an approach that seeks to understand the user, challenge assumptions and refine problems to give the app under development a real value instead of just blindly tailoring it to the current trends.
Furthermore, because trends come and go, it’s always better to focus on timeless principles, as those once defined by Dieter Rams. One of them is that a sound design should be long-lasting, so if you want your app to serve you and drive benefits for years to come, its design should be based on proven fundamentals. So trends should never serve as the ground for building a solution, but rather as a recommendation and optional consideration.
Want to learn more about the company’s approach to design? Then take a look at the produced results to create a clearer picture of how your business can benefit from professional UI/UX design services.