The 2022 UI Design Trends for Web and Mobile Apps

11 April 2022

Liubomyr Sirskyi

Content Manager

Another year started with lasting and new trends in UI Design for web and mobile. They can affect everything, from new developments to future iterations of long-term projects. Let’s look at the 2022 UI design trends guide backed by the best web and mobile examples.

Clean User Interface

This trend builds on the geometric shapes and the strokes straight. This style is common in both painting and sculpture. 

The clean approach is user-friendly, which makes it popular in UI design. Why? First, it allows users to act intuitively with a simplified design. Second, it refers to an uncluttered design that is less overloaded and easier to navigate. And finally, it satisfies the user with its aesthetic beauty.

Furthermore, there are some other features of clean user interface:

  • Strict visual hierarchy
  • Special attention to typography
  • Symmetry modules and mature proportions
  • Adding only functional and essential elements

All those factors create a desirable UI. And that’s why all designers look at the clean approach as one of the leading trends in UI design. 

Source: Meta Quest 2, Stord, Clari, 

3D Graphics

3D technology has been capturing designers’ attention for years. Hundreds of website creators integrate this trend into their pages. But this is not the end: prospects of UI design depend on 3D. Moreover, it will become increasingly diverse and inclusive. And this is the reason for the more extensive use of such graphics.

3D objects mixed with animation are a great choice compared to the standard animation approach. They are closer to our worldview so that it’s way more effortless to put the energy into graphic elements. 

But remember: 3D graphics may be heavy for your website or mobile app so check the performance before integrating them

Source: Big Sur OS, Oyasim Ahmed Naeem, Minh Pham, 

Claymorphism

This trend is new and follows the sense of neomorphism. It may be helpful if you need to create softer shapes and bring some deepness to your objects. Thanks to the mixture of shadows and pastel colours, your characters and illustrations will look like they are made of clay. 

Claymorphism highly depends on the colour palette. This style is about contrasts so that no black figures appear in the dark mode. 

Claymorphic design looks completely tangible, which makes navigation easier. Plus, it plays well with virtual and augmented reality. These features turn Claymorphism into a perfect choice for VR and AR-supported apps and websites.

Source: Amrit Pal Singh, Vitalii Zhy, Samuel Briskar, 

Unique and Absurd 2D Illustrations

Stock images are fading because of their artificiality and cheesiness. Instead, unique illustrations take up the throne. Designers use both digital and hand-drawn pictures with asymmetric elements and components. It helps your mobile design stand out and create a unique user experience. 

Motion elements and vivid animations may follow them for effect. It helps bring the user’s attention and explain all benefits of the brand more memorably. Visitors will definitely scroll through the web page or app to see what happens next.

However, not every industry may use such a bold solution. By the way, you should test all changes in motion design properly to save the conversion rate. That’s why most companies prefer to use unanimated components. Minimalistic style with elegant 3D illustrations can help to create a modern and professional solution. 

🔵 Check out our website and blog with first-class custom illustrations created by our designers.

Source: Nimasha Perera, Maze, Icons8, 

Gaming Experiences

Video games rival Hollywood, so it’s obvious that some experiences appeared in UI design for different industries. As for now, various brands add micro-interaction and colourful content on their websites or applications. It can take many forms, ranging from small icons to full-fledged content strategy. 

Thanks to gamification, users can better interact with companies and their products. It will become a usual practice in the development process, providing more creative opportunities. Further, it grabs people’s attention and adds a little colour to your app or website. 

Source: Mine, Balenciaga, Karan Menon, 

Retro UI Comeback

And now, let’s talk about happiness and enjoyment in one of the most eye-catching web UI design trends this year. Retro’s coming back with some colourful and textual motifs from the ’80s and ’90s. This trend stands out with cropping pictures into oval and arch shapes with a mirroring border set slightly apart from the picture. 

There are also pastel tones, fancy fonts, and an off-grid arrangement of elements. All these features will definitely attract the user’s attention in 2022!

Source: Farhan Fauzan, Shakib – Sneakerbumb, Kristen Ryan for MakeReign, 

Dark Mode

Another trend of 2022 is a dark theme, which means a display of a dark surface. It may be a complementary mode to a default application or website theme. 

Dark mode reduces the brightness of screens while keeping the optimal contrast level. Furthermore, such a theme has other advantages:

  • It reduces fatigue of the eye;
  • It facilitates work with the device at night;
  • It improves visual ergonomics.

In comparison with saving battery life, the dark mode is one of the most beneficial things in UI design. Plus, it looks stylish and functional.

Source: Mikołaj Gałęziowski, Breitling, Afaq Ahmed, 

Typographic Experiments

If talking about no constraints, we need to review typography. It’s one of the vital elements when it comes to UI. As for now, we’re seeing the rise of the following solutions:

  • Mixing of typefaces in one paragraph
  • Using unique fonts to highlight some crucial moments in the text
  • Experimenting with different directions of the type on one page
  • Stunning motion graphics based on typography

These are not the only modern UI design trends in 2022. But it’s worth learning more about it, so do it ASAP. 

Source: The Flat Head, Bennett, Craft Agency, 

Web Animation

Dozens of small and medium-sized enterprises use web and mobile animation to upgrade the user experience. It helps to make your content more exciting. 

The most popular solution is mixing 3D and stop-motion animation, or 2D and 3D. Such unusual styles are improving the UX a lot, so that’s why designers obtain different animation approaches. 

If you want to create top-notch mobile app designs or a website, do not miss the opportunity to consider using animation.

Source: The Originals Museum Renault, Platoon aviation, Fully Studios, 

4 Ways To Use Web Animation in 2022

There are four different ways to implement such a trend. Let’s meet them:

  1. Making a creative story

Your mission is to create an emotional connection between the user interface and your audience. If you do it properly, you effectively convey your brand message. 

  1. Making a standard loading screen engaging and fun

Do you know that customers hate waiting for the most? And the only way to make them less anxious is by turning the standard loading screen into an entertaining experience. You can do an animation with percentages, a progress bar, or anything else to show the course of time when the page loads. 

  1. Turning cursor movements into a fascinating process

Every user follows the cursor position when using the site. Make your design more captivating by adding exciting animations to cursor movements. This approach was widespread in the noughties; like they say, out with the new, in with the old.

  1. Implementing kinetic typography

Yes, you can make every letter dance with such an approach. Use stunning typography-based motion graphics to make the next-level UI design. 

Micro-Interactions

Some visual or sound elements help users navigate an application or a site. They show three things: the current position of the user, the required action, and the final result. In other words, they speed up your users to do a specific action.

This approach will improve the UX and add some flavour to your design. But it’s better to keep the harmony of all elements so that your users don’t get shifty eyes. Colours play a significant role when you’re implementing micro-interactions. So make sure you use cold and warm schemes correctly to bring the required meaning to the elements of UI. 

Visual or sound micro-effects are incredibly practical as a part of the gamification approach. They help your brand show you care about customers and how they navigate through the mobile app or website.

Source: The Spatzek Studio, Instagram Micro-interaction, Twitter tweet options, 

Conclusion

Let’s sum it all up. All UI design trends in 2022 mentioned above are focused on creating a clear and fascinating user experience. But you don’t need to implement all of them. It’s better to choose a couple of them and improve your product. 

Or you can apply for big expertise and extensive experience in Rocketech. Our designers take on many unique projects on reworking an existing design to meet new requirements or A/B testing results. We know that functionality is more important than beauty. That’s why our experts tie your brand’s package to the business logic; it helps to achieve maximum results and user satisfaction. If you want to get the most out of your website, feel free to contact us today!

Resources:

https://design4users.com/hot-ui-design-trends/

https://uxstudioteam.com/ux-blog/ui-trends-2019/

https://uxplanet.org/ui-ux-design-trends-of-2022-you-need-to-%D1%81atch-up-to-d02ff6623d5a

https://www.uprock.ru/articles/trendy-v-dizayne-mobilnyh-prilozheniy-kotorye-tochno-ostanutsya-s-nami-v-sleduyushchem-godu

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