Many people still don’t understand what UI and UX really mean, often endowing both concepts with false meaning. To make it clear, let’s take a brief look at the two definitions.

Although both concepts work closely together, they are not to be confused with each other. In fact, user Interface comprises elements of the product that the user interacts with. These include colours, buttons, keys, images, etc. Simply put, it is a layout of the product.

User Experience is a broader concept. It determines how exactly the user interacts with the product and how they feel about it — whether they are satisfied with the functionality or not. UX includes all aspects of user interaction with your company, service or product. As you know, the clients are always right, and their positive impressions are your key to success.

The major trends of 2019-2020

Now that you know what UI and UX are, let’s discuss the main features that will rock the industry in the near future.

Dark themes and dark mode

 

Dark themes are gaining more and more popularity every year. This approach has several advantages. Such themes are eye-friendly, battery-saving, and more elegant.

While most designers still prefer to use white themes because of their versatility, dark themes offer the opportunity to make your product more stylish. Still, the wrong combination of colours in a dark theme can become a real torture for the eyes. So keep the colours balanced to add a pure style to your product.

An additional impetus to the growing popularity of dark themes was given by Apple with its macOS Mojave update on September 2018. The brainchild of Steve Jobs continues to set trends and designers tend to follow them.

Surreal and custom design

Custom design has always been trendy. The design doesn’t tolerate uniformity and monotony, so a truly creative approach is needed here. Therefore, the more unique your product’s style is — the better. This is highly relevant to narrow-niche products.

As for surreal design, don’t go too heavy on it. Although for some this design may look obscure and odd, this is precisely the main advantage of this approach.

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Think about famous surrealist paintings by Salvador Dali or Pablo Picasso. They can be seen in the world’s great galleries of the Louvre and the Hermitage. Now, imagine that you can create something similar, but in the application or on the website.

This will immediately evoke subtle associations, and the product is likely to lure in users.

But don’t forget about balance and appropriateness — surreal design is hardly a good fit for a healthcare application or a legal services website.

Minimalism

The minimalist approach goes well with the previous trend of custom design. Ease of comprehension and use is the key to success today. The faster the user grasps the functionality of your application and jumps into it, the better.

Complex applications with a mess of interactive elements are a thing of the past, and there is nothing that portends their comeback.

Minimalist design is gaining ground due to the fact that users are no longer surprised by the complex and interesting design solutions. Content comes back to the first place – that’s why the user actually opens your application.

Minimalist design is perfect in simplifying user access to content, and that is why it is gaining popularity.

What’s more, minimalist design combined with dark themes gives an excellent result. Recall how much fun and excitement Playdead’s indie-game Limbo caused in 2010. Yes, this is a narrow-niche solution, no doubt.

 Voice interface

Voice control has already penetrated into all spheres of our life so you can find it in any device now. In the coming years, this trend will continue gaining momentum.

The most interesting thing is that voice control is not about design at all, since this feature doesn’t imply any visible elements. However, some designers try to portray the voice control interface in the form of futuristic moving objects.

Nevertheless, voice control is a crucial component of UI and UX, as it is actually a part of the minimalist design. Fewer elements of user interaction result in intuitive agile control.

Creative loaders

The load (or pre-load) indicator can be found in almost every application and website. The customers don’t like to idly spend their time waiting until the necessary file is downloaded, so you need to try your best to improve their experience.

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This is where creative loaders come into play. Instead of a typical moving stripe, they can be designed as a bouncy ball or a spinning wheel, for example. Thus, they attract the user’s attention and distract them from boring anticipation.

Due to the fact that modern users value speed and simplicity, the trend for smart loaders will definitely persist in the coming years. Here, you can find good examples of loaders to get inspired to create your own.

Summary

Summing up, we can say that 2020 will follow the motto of chaos, creativity, and innovative solutions. Switching from proven, trivial solutions to a more out-of-the-box approach is a trend for another couple of years.

Of course, the design pattern should be consistent with your product’s aims and niche, but don’t be afraid to experiment. Perhaps, it’s high time to make your app or website look more rockstars!

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Image Credit:  Irina Grotkjaer

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