12 August 2022
You can notice dozens of mobile applications that achieve some success in the market every year. In 2023, Android and iOS apps will generate $935 billion (according to Statista). The overall market potential is tied to the global mobile internet usage, which is 63.54% (compared with 33.3% for desktop), so businesses should be aware of the latest trends and how to keep up with them.
As application design trends constantly evolve, many existing apps seem outdated and misplaced. Business founders have to update their mobile apps to expand their customer base. Moreover, you can enhance the user experience and strengthen the brand’s reputation by implementing some current practices. Let’s look at the critical facts about creating mobile app UI design in 2022.
Top 5 UI Trends to Follow in 2022
Mobile design is not limited only by vibrant colours and stylish artwork that attracts users’ attention. Convenience, usability and innovativeness must be at the forefront. You have probably heard about this earlier, and that is true.
But how can you be confident in the effectiveness and relevance of your mobile interface design? The secret is the implementation of the current UI trends. Let’s learn about the top 5 UI trends in 2022 and look at some successful cases.
Emoticons
Let’s face it, emojis are everywhere, not only on Instagram or in WhatsApp messages. And mobile designers are actively implementing this approach while creating new products. Why? Because most of us know emojis and can recognise the mood of each symbol instantly. As a result, less UX wording and more usability.
Besides, emojis make the product lighter and friendlier. They figuratively claim suggest that your app is easy to use and does not overwhelm customers with too much restraint. But you should remember your app’s primary purpose and target audience when adding some emojis to your design. Add symbols wisely so the product wouldn’t lose its unique features.
Source: Perpetio, Pinterest, Cuberto on Dribbble
Minimalism
Minimalism as a design choice has been rising for many years now. This approach emphasises the overall design simplicity, which may help create user interface design for mobile applications. You can implement a minimalistic design in any application, but this practical solution is particularly prominent in mobile products.
Mobile applications have become a common phenomenon, so almost everyone uses them daily for entertainment or business purposes. However, you can still benefit from using minimalistic details to create a user-friendly app. A design and code base will be integrated with the next-gen instruments providing extensive opportunities for development and design teams.
In 2022, businesses want to focus on creating applications with an excellent onboarding flow. It means that users will understand how to use the app much faster. They will spend less than 30 seconds getting used to using the digital products without any instructions or video tutorials.
Source: Lonely Planet, Wolly Bear Coffee app by Swathi Nirwal, csform.com
Brutalism
Another rising trend of 2022 is brutalism. Bold fonts, bright or neon colour schemes and lots of real photos — these features will make your mobile UI design more edgy and creative.
Brutalist design is not as clean or stylish as other approaches: there are strong outlines, asymmetrical elements and a lack of imagery. That is why you cannot fit this style with every mobile user interface, so you have to be confident in your client’s appreciation.
Source: Rico Smith, Dribbble, 99Designs
In addition to UI design, understanding the mobile development basics is crucial. Diverse categories and trends are shaping the future form of the market. Read more about the latest mobile development trends and approaches here.
Dark Mode
Embracing a dark theme is not a novel mobile application design concept, but its relevance is only growing. Users can find standard and dark colour palettes in many applications, having an opportunity to choose the most appropriate one.
Dark mode design turns the surface into black or other dark tones, making fonts and buttons lighter. Choosing this option reduces eye fatigue and provides more convenient navigation.
You can find the dark theme on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and other popular apps.
Source: Bashooka, Mikołaj Gałęziowski, uplabs.com
Retro UI
In recent years, the 80s style was trending everywhere (especially in the mobile app UI design). But in 2022, the 90s wave will cover the whole world with all its distinctive features, from bold fonts and pixel arts to visible shadows.
Nostalgia is a powerful and effective tool that can arouse positivity, even if your customers never knew about the 80s or 90s graphic style. Visual fashion is cyclical, so it looks like we are going back to the 00s design revival in 2023 or later.
Source: Shakib – Sneakerbumb, Bogusław Podhalicz, Abhinay Thakur
What Are Quality App UI Design Practices?
However, using all top UI design trends is not enough to create an excellent user experience. You should also implement some good design practices.
- Review other designers’ cases. You can inspect the most prominent mobile UI examples and analyse their strong and weak points. Adopt the valuable experience but never steal entire concepts.
- All your clients need is intuitiveness. Adopt all the techniques to develop an intuitive user interface for a mobile application. Whether you implement dark mode, emoticons or retro elements, make sure it makes your product more usable.
- Use standard app navigation. Creating menu bars with lots of functionality is obviously a bad idea. Keep the core ones and save up the screen space.
- Use stylish and catchy artwork. We have provided many examples of visuals for each design trend. All of them can help attract the user’s attention.
These practices are precious when discussing developing a functional and innovative mobile app.
Conclusion
Following the mobile UI design trends is vital for a company expecting to skyrocket. But, at the same time, implementing the best practices may be a challenging and resource-intensive task. In most cases, business founders cannot do such comprehensive research on their own, so looking for a trustworthy partner should be a top priority.
At Rocketech, we use our big expertise and extensive experience to create relevant UI design. Our designers have completed many unique projects on reworking an existing design or creating a new one from scratch to meet business requirements. They know how to balance functionality and beauty to achieve user satisfaction. Therefore, you may grow your customer base and generate more income. Check out our latest cases and contact us today to make the most of your mobile app!