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5 UI Design Trends On Our Radar

29 April 2022 •

By: Brent Design

UI design is ever-evolving. As a UI designer, it is essential for me and my team to stay curious and informed about the trends in our world. In this article, I will explore some of the top UI trends for 2022. Read on to find out which app design trends are on our radar!

Dark UI

We love dark mode, most of the time! Light and dark mode in UI design has now become a standard when designing apps and websites these days. If we haven’t catered for a dark theme in our design, we are at the mercy of the forced dark mode setting lurking in all iOS & Android phones, which may destroy your design or, at the very least, make it look very strange. #ThinkDarkMode

Dark mode UI.png

Image source: Up Labs

Micro-interactions

Micro-interactions provide an easy way to add a better experience to our products, whether it be a button that bounces when tapped or input fields that transition seamlessly from static to populated, or even gesture-driven transitions between screens with haptic feedback. Small enhancements can make a massive difference. Check out some micro-interactions examples here.

Micro-interactions.png

Image source: Crazy Leaf Design

Neo-Brutalism

You might be asking yourself, “What is neo-brutalism?” According to Perficient, “Brutalism references the brutalist architecture movement, which emphasised the raw materials of design. The digital style trend is defined by exposed grids, strong typography, layering, limited color palettes, and an almost unstyled HTML look.” Full-stack developers who aren’t big fans of front-end might rejoice at this, however, there is still a difference between a poorly designed website and a brutalist website. Personally, I like how brutalist design tries to mimic an unstyled app or website, it has a simplistic beauty about it and can work very well in some cases, but as mentioned above it is a fine balancing act to design an app or website to appear unstyled without making it look like an unfinished product.

Source: UX Design

Neo-brutalism.png

Image source: Medium

Native desktop apps

More and more products seem to develop a native desktop app alongside their web app counterparts.

Removing your app from all the clutter of open tabs in your browser and assisting the user in focusing solely on one app is a great idea, which ends up being a better experience for the user as well.

Native desktop apps.png

Image source: Smashing Magazine

Retro "Nostalgic" Design comeback

Designers and companies have been responding to a demand by users for better and more meaningful experiences on the web, by taking big inspiration from the ‘80s and the ‘90s; bringing back striking, bold, retro, and somewhat nostalgic themes with a hybrid modern approach, which works extremely well.

Retro UI Design.png

Image source: Dribble

There are so many other design trends worth mentioning, but we’ve run out of time for today. Which one of these trends do you love the most? Pop us a message on social media, we’d love to hear from you! Not sure where to find us? Catch us on FacebookLinkedInInstagram or Twitter.

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29 April 2022
By: Brent
Design

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