UI Design for Mobile Apps: Trending in 2021

As we spend more and more time on our mobile devices, businesses are ensuring to keep a mobile presence, whether it’s having a mobile-friendly website or building a custom mobile app. Being readily available on mobile is the first step – you also want to give users a great mobile experience.

What is User Interface (UI) design?

Think about the buttons, sliders, icons, etc. that you use to interact with a web page. These are components of the graphical layout – the UI. So UI design essentially considers the aesthetics of these visual elements and interactions between the user and the interface.

UI Design Trends for Mobile Apps

Here are 3 popular UI design trends for mobile apps:

1. Micro UI Animations

Cute animations for buttons or icons, etc. that signal to the user to do a specific action or simply provide visual feedback for the user. Micro animations can be fun and can be used to evoke emotions. You don’t want to go overboard with animations but using them strategically can enhance user experience and make mobile apps or websites more engaging for the user.

2. Bottom Navigation Bar

Ergonomically speaking, having the navigation bar at the bottom makes sense – the bar is easily accessible from a handheld position on a mobile device. Consider “thumb-driven design”. According to research by Steven Hoober and Josh Clark, 49% of people held their phones with a one-handed grip, compared to 36% who cradled the phone in one hand and tapped with the other, and 15% who used the two-handed grip, tapping away with both thumbs.

3. Dark Mode

Users seem to love the ability to switch their operating system (on mobile and desktop) into dark mode, so you may want to consider having a built-in dark theme UI for your mobile app. Some advantages of the dark mode feature is that it may be less straining on the eyes of users, as well as consume less battery.

Does your business need a custom mobile app or mobile-first website? Not sure where to start? Get in touch, we love talking all things mobile apps. We’ll make sure your business is mobile-ready!