What’s the most important factor if you want to give your users a positive first impression? You guessed it, design, so you need to get it right. You want someone to land on your page and think “wow”. But above all, it needs to be easy to use and intuitive to navigate.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out in our fast-paced digital world. A website or app with cutting-edge design can seem dated pretty quickly. UX & UI designers know that better than anyone.

There are certain fundamental principles of design that should be adhered to for a positive user experience. Beyond that, it’s up to you to stay on trend and develop your product’s distinct identity.

We’re here to help with that. We reached out to our network to break down some of the hottest UX/UI design trends. With this information in your arsenal, your UX and UI can shine.

Mobile-first design

Many people use their mobile phone for the majority of their online activity. Why reach for a laptop when you’ve got a phone in your pocket? In fact, about half of web searches come from mobile devices. Just about anything can be done on your phone, and the user has the expectation that it should work flawlessly. There is no room for error.

Additionally, you’ll probably encounter more problems designing for a large screen and scaling it down than vice versa. Save yourself the hassle and start with mobile.

Illustration and animation

It’s important to remember that we’re not far removed from chimpanzees. Moving things quickly grab our attention. That explains why animations are taking off in the UX/UI world. They can lead the user where you want them to and create a meaningful journey – and they look nice!

Animations can do wonders to craft the identity of your brand, but animated illustrations take that to the next level. Depending on your end user or target market, illustrations can make your brand very unique. Whether you favour 2D line drawings or colourful 3D illustrations, the user is sure to love it. They make your product seem more approachable and human while adding character and bringing it to life.

Both illustration and animation will provide benefits in their own way but paired together they’re a real joy.

Accessible design

Network Rail highlighted the importance of accessible design when they decided to make their website greyscale to honour Prince Philip. Great idea in theory. In practice, it left thousands of visually impaired people unable to use the website.

Not many websites are greyscale of course, but it illuminates an important point. Even if you have no problem using the website or app, you need to think about the people that might. It could be as simple as having high contrast colours or implementing great keyboard navigation

Don’t risk shutting out the 1 in 5 people who have some form of disability. Building inclusive and accessible digital products will involve extra consideration, but it’s worth it in the long run. Take on the challenge and disabled users will thank you for it. It’s not really a trend, this is something you should always be incorporating into your UX and UI design going forward.

Bold typography

Typography has always been an important aspect of a design, but the latest trend for UX/UI is large, bold lettering that captures attention immediately. Users often don’t want to read large bodies of text to find the information they need. They want it served up clearly so they can quickly scan the page.

Font has become a much more important way to display personality than before. A more complex, sharp font will signal different traits than a simple, rounded one.

Some websites are now entirely built with typography as a major design element. Leaning on typography can create a really striking look and feel that users get to grips with straight away.

Storytelling

As development technology has advanced, the ability to tell stories in digital products has skyrocketed. There are a lot of ways to craft a story – great copywriting, bold colours, interactive elements – and all of them will leave the user with a positive impression if well executed.

One of the most exciting storytelling trends is scroll-triggered animation. This brings the great benefits of animation that we’ve already talked about and makes it an interactive and dynamic experience. Not only does this lead to a more engaged user as they are in control, but it will have a greater lasting impression too. On top of that, it can boost sales if it really leaves the user wanting more.

There you go. You’ve got the information, now put it to use. The sooner you hop on these trends the more current you’ll be and the quicker you can start to wow your users.