Top 10 Mobile App UI/UX Design Trends in 2022

In the digital realm, every new year brings new opportunities to create a brand’s success stories. And a study by Medium states that 94% of all factors that impact the users’ first impression about a brand are connected to design.

In terms of creating an interactive and engaging user experience on a mobile app through UI/UX design, 2022 brings a revolution. Trends like neumorphic design, multi-directional navigation, glassmorphism, etc. will appeal to the users in unconventional ways. In this blog, we have compiled the top 10 mobile app UI/UX design trends that will dominate the industry in 2022 and beyond.

Mobile App UI/UX Design Trends to Look Out for in 2022

1. Content-Focused UI Design

New-age UI design is all about creating a content-centred user experience. It means the content itself is creating the design. That way, the message is easily communicated to the users. Some of the crucial features of such a design are outlined below.

Specific visual hierarchy: A strong visual order enables and enhances the users’ ability to comprehend the content. It directs their focus on specific elements and information.

Operative decluttering: It involves removing insignificant elements so as to highlight crucial information.

Whitespace: Maintaining white space between content provides much-required respite to users’ eyes and thus enhances their experience.

2. Gestures and Swiping

While button-operated app design was quite popular for a long time, mobile app designers are turning more towards a seamless user experience. Gesture-centric design facilitated by scrolling and swiping gives a break from the extra actions involved in using buttons.

According to many experts of mobile app development services, buttons create clutter and occupy excessive screen space. The gesture-based design seeks to replace buttons with swiping functionalities. Introducing animation in swiping is a smart move. For instance, many book reading apps use animation to enable the users to turn a page.

3. 3D Design or Neumorphic Design

For a future-ready mobile app, 3D design is an indispensable one. The neumorphic design transforms 2010 button and icon ideas into multidimensional ones. 3D graphics infuse life into mere images and thus offers an unparallel user experience.

Today’s generation looks for an immersive experience and a neumorphic design ensures just that. Further, skeuomorphism is a part of it that portrays the use of real-life elements blended with 3D visuals. Thus, it takes brand storytelling to the next level.

4. Retro Style

The retro style of the ’90s is making a comeback in mobile app UI/UX design. These days, app designers use retro images and fonts similar to the popular games from the ’90s like Pac-Man or Mario. Such an aesthetic appeal to different generations; while older ones feel a nostalgic vibe, the younger generation has a turn for vintage things.

However, it’s important to note that retro style is not appropriate for every type of app. If your brand syncs with such a style, opt for it. You can hire iOS developers or Android developers to experiment with your app presence.

5. Innovative Typography

If there’s one thing that remains constant for years, it’s the receding attention span of people in today’s over-saturated digital space. They simply scan through content, they don’t read it. This issue puts added emphasis on the use of typography because a complicated font will only irritate people instead of encouraging them to read.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need to use monotonous age-old fonts. 2022 is about driving innovation across all aspects of an app design. App designers take multiple aspects of typography such as point size, tracking, hierarchy, line length, and line-spacing before coming up with innovative and readable fonts.

6. Dark Mode UI

The dark mode is a display setting for an app user interface that presents light-coloured UI elements like text, icon, etc. on a dark background. Dark mode significantly improves visual ergonomics by reducing eye strain and also conserves battery power.

While experimenting with dark mode UI, it’s important to remember a few things. For instance, avoid pure white fonts and opt for a warmish hue. Google recommends using 38%, 60%, and 87% opacity of white for disabled texts, medium emphasis, and high emphasis. Adhering to this standard will make sure that your content is easily readable.

Play with shades and tints to create a sense of depth in the design. Also, it’s important to enable the users to switch their preferences. Add a toggle or a tab so that they can switch between light and dark modes.

7. Voice Control

Advanced technologies always focus on making things easier for the users and a voice interface is a step towards that. Voice control integrated UI/UX design is about to sway the app market in this year and beyond.

The voice interface gives the users a break from typing something or even scanning the menu bar. People can simply talk and the app will accomplish the task. For instance, if the users are looking for a blue shirt for men on an eCommerce app, they need not type it in the search bar. They can simply speak “show blue shirts for men in XL size” and the app will filter and showcase relevant results.

Studies predict that voice function enabled apps will reach $40 billion by 2022 (source: Quora Creative). Naturally, more and more apps will embrace this technology. Further, developers will pay more attention to making mobile apps compatible with voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, etc.

8. Multi-Directional Navigation

Intuitive navigation is a crucial part of an enhanced user experience. Multi-directional navigation forms a fluid user journey through the app. Instead of simply scrolling up and down the app multi-directional navigation through diverse features increases interaction and keeps people engaged for a longer time.

For instance, you can include horizontal sliders in a vertical scrolling display. It looks more interesting and attractive. If your app is rich with diverse elements like podcasts, videos, blogs, clients’ feedback, etc., you can use such a multi-directional navigation feature to place elements.

9. Inclusiveness in Design

Inclusiveness is a crucial feature of contemporary UI/UX design. This takes into account the problems that specially-abled people face and seeks to offer a solution. Such an approach not only enhances brand image and user experience but also extends the app’s user base.

In order to make an app disabled people-friendly, designers adopt diverse strategies. For instance, including captions in videos and audios will be helpful for deaf people. Highly contrasting colour schemes will appeal to many users. Simple navigation and easy accessibility are a must in any app.

10. Light & Shadow

Playing with light and shadow will always be an in-thing when it comes to mobile app UI/UX design. This year, drop shadows or blurring effects around text boxes and buttons that partially cover the background image will be in trend. This design technique creates a warm aura while highlighting the information or CTA.

The concept of glassmorphism should also be explored in this regard. This idea revolves around softening the contrast between dark and light design elements. Here, the transparent blurred background will resemble the surface of the matte glass.

We hope the blog has helped you find adequate inspiration to drive innovation in your mobile app UI/UX design. Try these latest trends and see how they translate for your brand.