UI/UX Trends 2022

Over the past years, our daily lives have increasingly moved to the virtual world. The year 2022 will continue to lead to an already complete digitization. The offline world will slowly cease to exist as most industries have to surrender to the current realities and take steps to survive. Users who have not dealt with any applications before are getting better and better at using them.

In response to the current situation, there are trends forcing constant progress, self-training, differentiation of products. All this in order not to get lost in the maze of newer and newer ideas. Outdated solutions push down in google results, dramatically reducing the chances of standing out in positioning.

Personalize the UX

Today’s consumers are increasingly demanding, they want to be treated individually. Standard solutions are discouraging, and proposals that have worked so far, at the moment are starting to get boring. Growing competition forces constant, continuous progress, because lagging behind can lead to unpleasant consequences.

A new feel of the application is usually a necessity, especially if they are aimed at young people who have lived online forever. These, compared to new users, who have also already had a bit of time to get used to it, expect strongly unusual options, constantly looking for new experiences.

Interesting, innovative solutions do not have to be complicated or difficult to get through. The trick is to create a product that is easy to use, even striking in its simplicity, and whose use will remain in the memory for a long time. It is easier to buy in the store, where we approve everything with one click, and the application provides us with purchases that are still safe.

How much fun can it be to open an account with a bank that allows you to authorize with a selfie. Face recordings made from the comfort of your own home will more effectively encourage interaction, compared to a standard visit to the bank, which risks waiting in a long queue and quite complicated formalities.

Animation moving towards interaction

In the text “UI UX Trends 2021” you can read that even the simplest movement on the page draws attention of the recipient and stays in the memory for a longer time, compared to the most beautiful but static interface. In 2022, 2D/3D animation is slowly becoming obsolete, it is no longer something surprising. It even creates technical problems, because it happens to overload pages and slows down their loading.

Today, the movement is moving toward user interaction. A static interface changes into a dynamic one if the consumer, for example, hovers over a button or makes a selection. Thus, the design and the viewer enter into a reaction, providing a novel experience. Such options are more memorable because the contact is modern, unusual. Until now, interactions have already been used, but they were approached with reserve, they were not as noticeable as now.

A step forward in Mobile first

Adapting the interface to mobile devices is no longer just an option, but an obligation. To meet the growing demands of customers technology does not slow down, it continues to develop. Manufacturers are constantly trying to surprise with a new shape and appearance of phones. Websites, which are currently being created, must look good and be properly read on both standard and newer forms of screens.

Moving away from standard navigation

When reviewing modern interfaces, there is a growing trend to move away from the standard navigation that involves vertical scanning – from top to bottom. This simple and tried-and-true user move is fine, but it runs the risk of drowning in a maze of the same solutions.

The new trend is aimed at surprising the user, providing him with unusual experiences. These solutions will make us stay in the consumer’s memory for longer. With a modern approach to the action on the page, however, we should remember not to discourage with the level of difficulty. Therefore, it is worth to combine subtle clues, e.g. hints after hovering over buttons, or using simple icons, easy to recognize, suggesting the passage of subsequent views.

Contemporary designs

In 2022, most trends are aimed at attracting attention, and this is also the case here. Innovative approach is no longer recommended not only when using embellishments on the page, but also using interesting forms for previously simple elements is what consumers can expect today. Rectangular button has long been a thing of the past, nowadays it has to be legible but interesting at the same time. If, in addition, hovering over it causes movement or prompts for the next step, and everything is designed in an uncomplicated way, the chances of converting the interface increase significantly.

Minimalism is fine, but it reigned supreme in the previous year. Now it is starting to be treated as an excuse by a designer who chooses standard solutions, has an average workshop, or who lacks creativity.

Asymmetrical layout

Users are already bored with predictable and simple page layouts, built mostly under the same bootstrap grids. Elements that break out of this pattern draw attention, stay in memory for longer.

Asymmetrical interface layout is another answer to the requirement of personalization of both UX and UI. The trend is sometimes visible in menus, buttons, or in all kinds of content or graphic elements.

However, it is worth to keep moderation in the use of this solution, because unusual proposals are meant to subtly attract the user’s attention, but their excess may already annoy and discourage the passage of subsequent views.

The advantage of contactless search

The voice-based interface that sprouted in 2021 (link to UI UX Trends 2021 text) is starting to appeal more and more to users. Recipients with no previous experience with apps have been forced to use them in the pandemic era. Slowly they are getting used to the new everyday life, they are getting better and better at handling individual devices. The most resistant ones have noticed that technical innovations do not bite, and one can even say that they make life easier. Not only do they make searching more efficient, but also enable, for example, filling in questionnaires by voice, creating the possibility of painless acceleration of work.

The transition from the dominance of minimalism to the tendency to experiment, be it with typography or page layout, should be done gradually, step by step. It’s a fact that users want to be surprised, but let’s not exaggerate in the other direction. Too many new solutions at once can be overwhelming especially for older consumers. It’s true that they are already online more often and they are much better at handling applications, but let them use what they are already accustomed to. Subtle changes will be then treated as an interesting novelty, and not a complete novelty that they have to learn from the beginning.

For further reading on UI/UX trends, I suggest you read this article about microinteractions in the e-commerce UX