User experience, more commonly known as UX, has become an important factor in web design. This is because, through a good and positive UX, your site users are likely to stay loyal to you and your brand. Moreover, giving them a good human-to-device interaction through your website, web app, or software can keep them engaged, increasing the possibilities of converting casual visitors into loyal customers.
But what makes a good UX design? To keep you and your brand up to date with what’s in and what’s not, here are 7 UX design trends for the year 2021.
Anthropomorphic Animations
Anthropomorphic animations imitate human motions, such as nodding heads and blinking eyes. Due to the rapid advancement of technology, it is just a matter of time before our screens start looking back at us. Fortunately, they don’t speak (yet), but as of now, many interfaces can take on the illusion of life via anthropomorphic animations.
Advanced Micro-interactions
The digital design may achieve a literal background, but the main goal of creation is the correspondence: that of feedback and interaction. When a user acts—such as a click on a button— and causes a reaction from the page, it is usually called a micro-interaction. These interactions are designed to create a sense of tactile pleasure.
In 2021, we find that micro-interactions are much more macro. A lot of designers amplify them by using excessive animations and screen transitions, which vary from sudden zoom-ins to a complete transition to a different webpage layout.
However, while keeping things minimal has been a long-time rule in the world of web design, these types of transitions do not seem invasive since the user is responsible for them. Instead, this results in a UX that reacts in more brilliant and innovative ways to maximize the connection between the user and the website.
Individual Learning
In the modern age, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become prevalent. Not only that, it has become one of the most significant advantages of the Internet era as it makes skill acquisition highly convenient and accessible.
But this also comes with a disadvantage: compared to conventional training, this mode of learning depends exclusively on the participant. Hence, the student must also self-motivate while evaluating their own work.
In 2021, however, UX is going to empower students and product experiences by providing tools and interfaces that may make learning more engaging and interactive.
Escapism
Mapping a user’s path is an essential part of any software architecture, and user journeys will be even more scenic in 2021 when UX takes a virtual vacation. UX designers will focus their designs on creating a bizarre and attractive virtual location, which creates a feeling of escapism in viewers.
This style may be expressed in organic and dense colors, scrolling gallery loads, or over-dimensional heroic pictures where the stacked images provide genuine depth. Also, the integral approach of this style, which gives these pictures the whole focus, is Minimalism, a simple concept that minimizes unnecessary elements.
Furthermore, this UX trend has emerged due to community guidelines of staying at home that force people to live in the digital world. And fortunately for us, the 2021 UX designers have created an environment that will make us feel like we are living in locations where we would desire to be and make our digital world experience worthwhile.
Brand Transparency
A good UX is like having a quiet instructor; it tells users where options or buttons may be found without asking. UX also teaches a lot more than just navigation, as we’ve lately seen a surge in UX that focuses on showing the user exactly how goods or services are created or delivered.
This may include labels that emphasize durable materials, pop-ups, or overlays in social media that provide clear rules about how content is regulated. Moreover, brands are starting to understand that visitors on their websites do not want to use a CTA button shoved in their faces, for most of them are ethical customers who want to ensure that the business shares their beliefs.
Furthermore, UX design platforms of 2021, such as Candu for design teams, demonstrate that an app exists in both the digital and physical worlds.
Live Collaboration
An epidemic outbreak appears to have established work from home as a worldwide norm when work could not be more digital. As a response, it’s no surprise that online collaboration attributes have grown, and we anticipate this trend will grow during 2021.
Some examples of these online features include a live display, edit, remark, edit, and tagging– all of which may be performed on a local repository. Also, for their part, UI designers portray these concurrent users via vivid color coding, innovative cursor designs, and bogus avatars.
While collaborative applications are sufficiently widespread in the IT industry, we also see them extended to other fields, like the collaborative dashboard for automobile repair professionals by PurrWebb UI. Overall, collaborative interfaces like these may become the standard in 2021.
90s Retro UI
Brutalism has made poor design fashionable in recent years via stunning colors and aesthetic glitches. But, in 2021, this tendency has become considerably less harsh and nostalgic. In particular, retro interfaces inspired by the 90s have been increasing.
Moreover, this style includes VHS distorted typography, glitch transitions, original screen tearing, Memphis design, and 3D animation. While the vintage flare may be discreet at the moment, we anticipate this trend will become more prevalent on interfaces. This will result in a UI that seems avant-garde while at the same moment is pleasantly familiar, which reminds us that digital design is just starting and that there are infinite possibilities.
Conclusion
Eventually, new UX designs will emerge and trend each year, so this is also a great chance to look forward to more intelligent instruments—the small things that will simplify our life so much. These trends indeed guarantee that users will enjoy grounded experiences, from the promptness of live cooperation to the responsibility for brand transparency to individual learning.
Neha Nidhi
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