7 Mobile UX/UI Trends: What to Expect in 2022
As technology evolves, so do design trends and every year, mobile users expect something new from their apps. From Augmented Reality to powerful AI bots - learn about what's trending in mobile UX/UI in 2022 and further.
In the world of ever-changing technologies, companies have to put efforts into attracting customers, building brand awareness and creating new revenue streams. One of the ways to do so is through a captivating design and seamless user experience of your mobile application. Yes, we are talking about UX/UI.
Even though there are certain design principles that can be considered the timeless cornerstones of UX/UI, there are also new trends emerging every year that help companies stand out from the competition. Learn about the most expected UX/UI design trends for 2022 in this article and maybe you will find the exact one that will help your business take a step forward.
Why UX/UI Design Matters
The ultimate goal of any business is to increase revenue and promote growth and a mobile application is a perfect tool for that. But given the competition, an app needs to stand out in such a way that would immediately attract attention from the start and retain users’ interest in the future. How can this be achieved? A unique design can be the key.
Here are the biggest benefits that a good UX/UI can bring you:
- Increased ROI: A well thought-out UX/UI can greatly promote conversions and encourage users to recommend an app to their network.
- Saved time and money: By tailoring the app to users’ needs from the start, you won't have to redesign it in the future.
- Increased brand recognition: A good UX/UI greatly boosts user satisfaction which, in turn, leads to increased loyalty towards the brand and better brand recognition.
- Increased user engagement: A smooth design motivates users to interact with your product and leads them towards completing the needed conversions.
As you can see, the unique look and feel of your mobile app have a long-lasting impact on the success of your business. Now let’s see what trends might help you take your design game to the next level.
Top 7 UX/UI Trends that will Dominate Mobile
Users’ expectations of mobile applications constantly change as the technology keeps evolving and offering new opportunities for developers and designers. Hence, we can predict that modern users expect to see more of artificial intelligence or AR/VR in digital products as well as more unique design solutions.
Voice User Interfaces (VUI)
The popularity of voice search is growing consistently. According to Google, 27% of online users use voice search on mobile devices worldwide and ComScore reports that half of all smartphone users use this technology on a daily basis. The reason for that is simple: voice search is fast and we don’t have to put any additional effort (like typing) into the command.
In addition to that, there is another reason why voice search is gaining traction. With the increasing use of digital devices, screen fatigue is becoming a serious problem. Hence, voice search helps reduce the time that we spend looking at the screen of a mobile device and helps destress our eyes.
In 2022 and further, users expect their mobile devices to be equipped with powerful and advanced AI assistants that will have a certain conversational tone and will be able to differentiate between not only languages but accents and dialects as well.
Immersive 3D Visuals (VR and AR)
3D-visualization confidently maintains its position among the most applied technologies and the global VR/AR market keeps growing rapidly. If you need numbers, Statista predicts that the global augmented reality, virtual and mixed reality market will reach $300 billion by 2024.
More and more companies started incorporating 3D into their apps since this technology has numerous benefits:
- Improved usability and user engagement;
- Increased attention and interest towards an app;
- Added competitive advantage and an opportunity to stand out.
The drawback of using AR/VR is that this technology can slow down the load time of your app. However, this is not a critical issue and can be resolved if an app is optimized properly.
Metaverse
A metaverse can be defined as a network (or a universe) of 3D virtual worlds where people can communicate and work by using the virtual reality technology.
So far, the most successful example of this concept is the Pokemon Go game, which brought augmented reality to the masses. If we were to look at more massive examples, think about “Ready Player One” (either a movie or a book) - that’s a rather close illustration of the concept.
Today, more and more game and design platforms, such as Roblox, Nvidia, Unity, and Epic, are investing in the meta-world and mobile developers start to architect their apps with metaverse in mind. The real-life examples of metaverse-focused apps are retail apps that offer an online shopping experience (i.e. trying on clothes on your avatar) or travel agencies that offer virtual tours before booking you real-life ones.
Animated Icons and Illustrations
Animation of icons and illustrations is a continuing trend in 2022. Small animated details in the user interface will become a big competitive advantage and they can be successfully combined with a simplistic design. Another trend that’s gaining popularity is a mixed style of animations aka a combination of stop-motion with 3D, 2D, and 3D animations.
One more trend to consider is micro-animation: a tiny animated element/interaction with the user. These micro-animations may be taken by users for granted but trust us, their absence will be noticed immediately! And in 2022, it’s truly remarkable how designers put the right metaphors into icons and make them interactive and captivating.
As a result, such micro animations draw more attention to an interface or respond to any user action, thus reinforcing the feeling of caring about the user. Plus, it's just a cool approach!
Neumorphism
An exciting trend that continues to be popular in 2022 is neumorphism - a way of designing elements so they kind of “protrude” beyond the screen and seem like they are placed right in the background of an app. This visual style efficiently combines background colors, shapes, gradients and shadows to provide a graphically rich UI.
From a designer's perspective, neumorphism looks realistic, modern, and incredibly engaging. So we'll definitely see more implementations of this style this year.
Dark UI
In recent years, the designers' focus has shifted towards sophistication. One way to add a sophisticated touch to your application is by using a dark mode.
In addition to making an app look flawless, the dark mode brings other important advantages:
- Allows to highlight certain details of the interface and place focus on them;
- Saves the battery of your mobile device;
- Reduces eye strain and fatigue.
The interest in dark design keeps growing and it has already changed the familiar interface of many websites and applications.
Asymmetrical Layout
A boring and uninteresting design template can alienate even your most loyal users. Therefore, looking for out-of-the-box design options will be the right thing to do in 2022. This brings us to asymmetry.
Asymmetrical layouts will be the new user interface trend this year. Asymmetrical layouts challenge the basic elements of the grid system, provide plenty of room for creativity, and give design a unique personality.
However, the creation of an asymmetrical layout requires a lot of brainstorming. You can't just arrange the elements in an arbitrary order the way you want to. It is critical to keep usability and accessibility in mind so as not to confuse users but to interest them.
Final thoughts
Just think about the number of apps and websites out there - and each strives to capture the attention of users. In such a competitive environment, companies have to think about how to upgrade their digital products to keep them engaging for as long as possible. So even if you don’t implement any of the latest design trends, at least you need to keep an eye on them in order to adjust your UX/UI strategy at the right time.