We live in a world where people judge all things on “looks”, including us also. When it comes to software, how can it be any different? Design, user interface design, and UX design combine to make the crux on which entire software is built.
Firstly, users are quick to pass judgments on the look and feel of the product. This is the pivot on which all products are categorized. Either, as awesome or are just simply overlooked in the market.
Design is a powerful word that makes or breaks your product in the market. Moreover, going broader with design, the combination of UI design and UX design help in creating standout products during 2024. Hence, that’s how the notion of UI/UX design came into the spotlight.
What is user interface design?
First-of-all, it is important to know the meaning of user interface design (UI design). User interface design is the blueprint that provides consumers the means of navigating through the product and performing various functions. Efficient designing of the interface for the software or machines also maximizes the user interaction and user experience.
You can achieve this by making the interface aesthetic, easy-to-use, attractive, and visually pleasing. The first impression of a website or a mobile application is among the two pillars of making it a success. Furthermore, the second factor is the mobile app or website’s structure and this is what converts people into users.
Why is user interface design important for businesses?
On the surface, UI design may seem like it’s all about looks or style. But going deeper, user interface design is the business flow of the software. What started as graphic designing 20+ years ago, is now a whole concept of how far we have come along.
Back in the day, the emphasis was to have as many functions in software as possible. So, websites were too “heavy” with the bombardment of text and images that took forever to load. Too much emphasis on functionality sacrificed the importance of website performance.
User experience was the last thing on the mind of anyone. Clutter and chaos were all around on the Internet. And then everything about design changed for the good.
Thankfully a few companies realized the crucial impetus behind products – the users. Accordingly, products were not just considered a means of getting revenue. They became a way of connecting to the audience for higher user retention in all industries.
Highlighting the benefits of user interface design
Here are the advantages of giving importance to UI design and aesthetic designing concepts in your product.
- Building your brand
- Gaining competitive edge
- Launching with a high
- Saving time and money
- Ensuring customer centricity
- Implementing latest design trends
Now we discuss the plus points of user interface design amid 2024 and for the future years.
Building your brand
In today’s competitive world, having your own identity is very important. Therefore, customer branding is a very crucial element that helps you get instant recognition in your industry. Let’s talk about the logos of some of the big gun technology companies.
For instance, consider Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, etc. What can you see as a common element? The simplicity in their logo and the inclusion of a single color to accentuate and identify the brand with.
This is what is required – to develop your business in the muscle memory of users. So that every time they look at even the brand color, they can remember your company by it. Be it a mobile app, a website, or a product – it is necessary to develop your brand. Likewise, design and especially user interface design can help you deliver that in style.
Read more: Advantages of UX Design
Gaining competitive edge
Even now a lot of companies tend to overlook the design element in their products. This is important to assess what the competition is doing. Besides, it is also essential to what your competitors are not doing. Interpret this data to come up with a plan that gives you a competitive advantage.
It’s even more important to see what their audience likes. This helps you understand what you need to do to win over them. That’s how you can route all that potential market segment your way.
Be it a website or mobile app design – all these require having a close look at your competition. Certainly, this enables you to connect all the dots, and creatively design your web-based solution. Henceforward, you can make something powerful for your audience.
Tip: Minimalist Website Design is hip
Launching with a high
Have you ever seen companies launch their product in the market and face a backlash? What is it that they missed out on? Seemingly, the graphic design element is a total miss.
This means that they will probably have to come up with Plan B to restore their position in the market. What it calls for is a re-doing of their product or at least some do-over of main features. They have to strategize better, and this results in even excessive costs.
All this implies putting in the extra budget, time, and gathering their forces together. Subsequently, it can exceed to the extent of getting out of hand. Even this can outcome in breaking companies to the extent of bankruptcy.
A good product design saves you from all of these hassles. As a result, it helps you launch your product at a well receiving end in the market. Therefore, this paves the path for upscaling startups and small enterprises right from the very beginning.
Battle time: Mobile-first Design vs Responsive Design
Saving time and money
Great design is backed up by wireframes and mockups. Emphasize creating a holistic user journey. Express your proper business flows through screen designs and ascertain you don’t miss out on anything.
This helps in visualizing the look and feel of the product. Similarly, it allows the development team to be part of the thought process. All main stakeholders can discuss the business requirements in every way.
So, they are likely to proactively critique the website design or the mobile app wireframes. Anything that is pointed out can be sorted earlier. This helps in reducing costs and time to market for the companies.
The ultimate point is to create a prototype for the MVP product. You can even test-run it on a smaller segment of users. Thus, you can properly assess the initial version of the software product.
Trending: Dark Mode is chick
Ensuring customer centricity
Great products are all about keeping the users in mind. This is exactly the purpose of incorporating design ideas from the very beginning. Because they help in identifying the must-have elements for the product.
For example, your users are crazy about typography and floating banners to alert them about any upcoming offers. How can you incorporate these ideas into the product inventively? So that you cannot just cater to this requirement but also bring in the money.
That’s where design helps you create something powerful and meaningful at the same time. The union brings harmony to your product which ultimately is a winner in the market. Putting users in front is a recipe for success, and keeps paying dividends through 2024 and years to come.
Faceoff time: Responsive Design vs Adaptive Design
Implementing latest design trends
The best thing with the design is that you mix the newest trends with the requirements of the developing product. Everything is evolving, and so are the design concepts of your product. Afterward, you figure out innovative ways of enhancing the user experience.
Allow an imaginative blend of UI designing and UX designing in your software product development process. Because this encourages the route for a workable web-centric solution. Ultimately, your product lands a higher chance of appealing to users.
Top 10 UI design trends to rule the corporate industry
The trending design notions change rapidly these days. You never know what may come into a trend which minute. So, it makes this more important to keep a track of the design movements for UI and UX.
Here are a few UI design trends which have great chances of staying current in 2024 and future years.
- Simplified layout and less code
- Abstract and Brutalism
- Scrolling Text
- AR/VR and the Metaverse
- Bold Typography
- Holographic Neon and Gradient
- Black and White
- Split Screen
- 3D Visualizations
- Sentimental Illustrations
Next, we look upon these UI design trends briefly.
Simplified layout and less code
The imminent trend in the world of designs is the simple version of UI. Use a minimalistic approach that is easy to use, and has no complications. Also, the right and client-focused content will engage the users.
This user-centered approach calmly conveys the message in a relaxed manner. Not only user-friendly, but the trend is also easier to make in comparison to the other trends. With lesser coding, it turns out flexible for you to choose among a lot of options.
According to your choices, you can hire experienced UI designers. For this trend, the perspective of innovation is what pops out a simplified trend among others. After all, simplicity is always better.
Abstract and Brutalism
The brutalism version is like the master of all user interface design trends. Also, it combines various design trends and styles. This design is filled with various gradients, 3d characters, daring typography, shadows, colors, etc.
Some designers believe the trend of brutalism is short-term. But it will last for a few years as a hit design style at least. Certainly, this trend is sharp and rough to explore.
It lacks the usual approach of grids, boundaries, lines, etc. Regardless of the complexity, it is really fun to look at. This makes the users feel emotions, turning the connectivity easy.
Scrolling Text
Building the design layout in a scrollable way is preferable to gain the users. So, tell the story most pleasingly to entice them. Make it scroll, save the space of the extra buttons and options.
Use big fonts to convey short messages. Put paragraphs, sentences, and words in a scrolling layout to give an idea or overview of the entire application. Also, keep the call to action (CTA) distinct to avoid confusion among the users.
AR/VR and the Metaverse
The future of technology is AR/VR and the ultimate metaverse. This trend is taking the market by storm. Also, it is ideal to make easy-to-understand virtualizations, with lower polygon representations.
This blend of real and virtual life is improving the user experience by enhancing the imagination of individuals. Metaverse is like the master, combining all the augmented reality and virtual reality. Also, it makes the user live in the digital universe itself.
Bold Typography
Making the content catchy is exactly what you need this year. Take the content and use all your creativity and imagination to grab the attention of the users. Play with the font size, the font style, the placing, the spacing, you got it all.
Make the content eye-pleasing and fun, to convey the vibe you wish the users to feel. Be bold, try new things, be experimental. Let oversizing enter the version to make them appealing, simplistic, and yet conveying all at the same time.
Holographic Neon and Gradient
This holographic trend is greatly compatible with the AR/VR trend. Usually, they are used together to make the designs even more offering and welcoming to the users. The trend uses glowing bright colors, amazing pleasing shapes, and hologram-like textures.
This particular trend is a big hit in the world of cryptocurrency, a world of its own. Also, it includes gradient colors providing a great source of light for the backgrounds. A great addition to this trend is the dynamic palettes of colors. They provide tones as per the user which might be light or dark.
Black and White
The black and white version is like a beauty growing from its roots. As simple and old-fashioned it sounds, its classiness is enough to make you think deeply. You feel freeing yet attached at the same time.
Put your creativity into the design to bring up one of the most gorgeous website or app layouts ever. That too with simplicity and subtleness all around. Even, you can use the dark-themed design which is very calming for the user to read with lesser eye strains. Also, it is extremely beneficial in terms of saving the battery, and thus energy conservation.
Split Screen
Let’s move on to the user interface design trend which is the multitaskers’ and smartphone users’ favorite. This is the split-screen design layout. It shows the importance of the main topic while putting another on the other side of the page.
Break the content into two panels to make it more accessible on different devices. Both content parts come side-by-side on laptops and PCs. Whereas, on the mobile phones they’re shown one by one. So, split-screen makes the website easier to understand on different screens.
3D Visualizations
To portray UI design depth, using 3D visualizations works fine. It provides a shadow and makes the content feel like reaching out to the user. Further, it portrays the web and virtual world seem like real life.
This gives a better idea and understanding of the elements and material mentioned in the application or website. Also, it helps in visualizing the story that is being narrated on the page. Adding realism to the virtual interactions is what 3D elements serve.
Sentimental Illustrations
Envisage: Make the users imagine. The main way to connect with any human individual is via emotions. Correspondingly, this is the way of promoting your product and business these days.
Make the users believe and trust you. This is when illustrations come to save you, helping them visualize and connect on a deeper emotional level. Maybe they can be hand-drawn, digital drawn, might be 2D or even 3D.
From making and adding customized illustrations to generic ones, all of them have an impact on the users. So, they create a friendly and trustworthy environment. This dynamism of unique illustrations creates a real-life experience via them.
It makes the user interaction even more memorable for the users. Currently, one of the favorites and most appealing UI design trends is the minimalistic touch to illustrations. It turns them look near real-like and yet professional at the same time.
Conclusion
Design (and essentially user interface design) is one of the most important elements in your software development lifecycle. Because it helps you to visually translate your requirements easily. This enables you to decide on colors, aesthetics, features, and the overall look of the product.
Finally, it assists you to figure out what the users can do through the consumer-facing screens. With it, you give yourself a noticeable product with a higher chance of achieving commercial success. Hopefully, our write-up improves your knowledge about UI design and its application in web-based projects.
How can a mobile application or a website turn out? It greatly depends on both the designers and developers. As they are the ones who are executing the plan.
Henceforth, this makes it extremely important for the designers and programmers to be good at what they do. They must have prior experience in doing such projects for delivering better results. Consequently, always hire expert UI designers and skillful developers. You can connect to outsourcing companies or even freelancing websites at times.
Do you want to launch a product with a killer design hitting a bullseye in the market? We at Techliance have a great team of UI/UX designers who can help you. So, contact us today for a free discussion about your product design.
