Should I stay or should I go? That’s surely not what users think when interacting with a great web design. The thing is, such design leaves customers no time to hesitate whether to leave a certain website.
One of the most important things in making a great web design is to follow the latest industry trends, and apply the ones that will work best for your web product.
So let’s guide you through the top UI/UX design trends that will boom in 2021.
1. Decluttering and minimalistic
Minimalism stands proudly among the latest UI trends and is not going to lose ground. The reason is, users encounter tons of websites every day, and they are overwhelmed by the amount of visual and text information.
To help users stay focused on the information on your website, keep it minimalistic. The minimalistic approach emphasizes the essential functionality. You can simplify graphic elements, limit colors, and experiment with proportion and composition.
Let’s explore prominent examples of minimalism in web design. Ray, a hair & body care brand, provides its users with a simple and stylish web design:
Do you want to hit your customers with a striking website following the latest UI/UX design trends? Discover outstanding examples of appealing and user-friendly web solutions in PWA for an insurance startup, and accommodation search website from Codica portfolio.
2. Simplified and straightforward
Nobody likes extra actions. In web design, it’s about creating user interfaces as simple as possible. Shorten the customer journey by eliminating unneeded steps and fields to fill out. If users encounter barriers while approaching your website or app, they won’t waste their time.
The aim for simplicity and user convenience is denoted in developing any type of software, be it an e-commerce platform or a SaaS application.
Easy and quick signup and registration is a must for achieving a straightforward and simple design for your website.
See how IFTTT avoids extra signup steps following the simplified UI design trend.
3. Mobile-first
Nowadays, mobile Internet users account for slightly more than half of all the global traffic. For modern people, sometimes, using smartphones is faster and more efficient than using PCs. For example, when they want to find a cafe nearby to chat with an old friend or to book a trip when browsing travel marketplaces on the fly.
The technology that was affected the most by the mobile-first approach is progressive web apps, or PWA for short. Nowadays, it’s a must for a business owner to know what PWA is all about.
The screens below will show you the perfect example of a mobile-first approach by Dorsia, a travel app.
4. Bright and juicy
Over the recent decade, we got used to gradients. But they continue evolving, and nowadays, gradients are much more complex, with an increasing number of colors, and overlays. All this causes a temperamental outburst and warms the customer up to make a purchase.
Look at the color splash user interface made by a skincare brand Starface:
5. Unique and absurd 2D
Exclusive and detailed illustrations are on the top of UI trends. Web designers try out different proportions, color schemes, and creative storylines. Sometimes, design can look even absurd.
See the great example provided by Magnet Co web agency that created a distinctive look for their website.
6. Powerful voice UI (VUI)
Widespread adoption of voice UI made the world realize that design is not confined to visual only. It also can be discovered among the top web development trends for 2021.
Users want to use their apps and websites quickly and efficiently. That is where voice user interfaces can be of great help. Now, you can click a button and record the voice to be recognized using machine learning.
Below, you can see how Google Translate mastered this latest UX design trend.
7. Iconic
Icons represent the strong connection between the image and the functionality. Nowadays, minimalistic icons that compress the functionality to recognizable graphics are gaining momentum.
Our advice is to select icons from the same family and of the same size. When you choose the style for your website and remain adherent to it, it’s a great way of showing your competence and loyalty to your customer.
Vegan Badun Adventures did a great job at implementing this recent web design trend on its website:
8. Welcoming
Onboarding introduces the product by highlighting its key features. Common practices for onboarding suggest including the essential screens or images of the product.
The imagery should be accompanied by concise and easy to read lines. The text here should explain the benefits of using certain products or services.
Below, you can see the appealing onboarding for the Unibank app users that observe the functionality at a glance.
9. Catchy typography
People prefer visual information to texts. On the Internet, people don’t like reading too much textual information, so they just scan the wordings. Thus, they want to consume only the most important info.
Fonts represent a big part of the typography for a web product. We have described one of our product style guides in the case study of an online collaboration marketplace.
Below, you can see a magnificent font usage in the portfolio website for Naba Zabih, a wedding photographer.
10. Immersive 3D
In 2021, elements of 3D design become even more popular than ever before due to the spread of AR and VR technologies.
For example, a new macOS Big Sur update from Apple contains elements of three-dimensional graphics in their native icons.
Tremendous 3D visuals help websites express a broader range of emotions to target their customers. See the great example of it at No-Fishing.Net.
Final thoughts
The most significant UI/UX design trends for 2021 are minimalistic UI/UX, creative typography, and tremendous 3D visuals. To succeed in creating custom software with a pleasant and unique user interface, try out the design trends discussed above.
To learn more about the latest design trends for 2021, check our full article: 12 Leading UI/UX Design Trends to Dominate in 2021.
Top comments (4)
"One of the most important things in making a great web design is to follow the latest industry trends."
That is terrible advice. In GUI design (yes, GUI, because we aren't talking about command line or some other non-graphical UI), as in any software design, you should follow patterns and strategies that have been proven over time, not chase whatever trend artists and suits happen to be drooling over at the moment.
Chasing trends is how we got buttons that look exactly like normal text, over abuse of padding that wastes so much screen real estate, infinitely scrolling pages that ruin reliable navigation, and a million other bits of cruft that look good in an artist's mockup but prove useless and even harmful in actual production. Just because some developers are jumping their sites off a bridge after the latest fad doesn't mean you have to follow them.
Thank you for your comment, Jay! We totally agree. It's not a good idea to blindly implement all the trends, but one should carefully choose the ones that are best for their product or website (if any).
User experience is above everything, we're not making products to simply look good, but for users to like them and to enjoy using them.
However, it's important to stay informed about the news in design, like in any other domain or industry. That's what we wanted to say :) We'll update this paragraph.
Hi Jay, you are right when designing an application for enterprises. Design should not impact usability for that matter. But websites on the other hand are usually for creating conversion for potential customers, which probably feel more intrigued by a new trend in design.
The same that you are probably more intrigued by this year's Nike shoes than last year's.
3D assets will flood the interfaces in the upcoming years