There may be new or hot design trends every year, so when the time enters 2024, what are the hot design trends that are worthy of our attention? In this article, the author summarizes 6 hot design trends, let's take a look, maybe it can bring you some inspiration.
In the first article of the new year, let's talk about design trends.
Every year there are new trends in the world of design, which are not only beautiful, but also very vibrant, and will be imitated by other designers. Like it or not, there are always design trends that are both smart and practical. These trends can help you fit more information into a limited space, and they can also make users more engaged.
Let's take a look at some of the hot design trends in 2024.
1. Bento Box design trends
In Japan, delicate and practical bento boxes are an important part of dining culture. With clever compartments and delicate packaging, they present delicious food in an orderly manner, allowing you to enjoy both eyes and tastes.
We may never know who invented the digital content in a bento box, but it's just as wonderful on the screen or in a bag.
Bento Boxes is the latest trend on platforms like Dribbble and Behance, taking "modular" design to new heights and attracting designers to it. In fact, "modular" design was first born in website dashboards, such as PayPal's sales and finance dashboards, Google Ads' analytics dashboards, and so on.
Remember the Windows Phone and Lumia phones, which used an interface that was an early foray into a bento design. Later, Microsoft also applied this concept in the desktop start menu of Windows 8.
Windows 8 Start Menu
While the entire industry is using bento-style design, it was Apple that really made it popular. Apple first applied it to the iPhone product introduction page, and then quickly expanded it to PowerPoint presentations and presentations at Apple press conferences.
(Note: Behind this trend, I think the user's attention is further declining, and the focused design of the content is catering to this trend.) On the other hand, good design always comes from life. ）
Apple promotional poster
Bento has taken the design world by storm and is another design giant led by Apple. Not only professional designers, but also all walks of life have favored Bento, using it in many fields such as PPT, websites, product launches, and more.
The old bento design was like a unified puzzle, while the new bento design emphasizes the independent status of each grid, so that each part is no longer just a backdrop, but a stage with its own personality and function.
Unlike many other UI design trends, Bento is not just a beautiful layout style, but it is constantly evolving, incorporating product demos, incorporating other unique layouts, and even incorporating new visual design concepts.
Like this:
An example of a bento layout interaction
The example above is from the diagram (https://diagram.com), which cleverly leverages a bento-style grid to show the tool in action and immerse the user in an interactive experience. This design makes the tool more appealing and gives users a clear expectation of its features.
In this I also share with you a treasure website, a website dedicated to collecting bento design trends!bentogrids(https://bentogrids.com) is a treasure chest of inspiration for designers, which is full of all kinds of Bento grid cases, just can't get enough of it!UI、Graphic design can be used,Website creators are simply immortal,Must give a thumbs up!
二、空间设计趋势（Spatial Design Trends）
On June 5, 2023, tech and design enthusiasts around the world woke up to find that the entire information flow was swiped by Apple's latest Vision Pro.
Image credits — Apple.com
Apple's Vision Pro has detonated the tech world in the summer of 2023, with space design becoming a hot topic, and every designer is vying to learn Xi space design skills. The craze has also spilled over into the long-dormant AR/VR space, with many AR/VR startups surfacing and gaining unprecedented attention for their technologies, giving a strong impetus to the development of AR/VR.
From smart watches to folding phones, designers are always able to play new tricks and make technology products more amazing. Of course, our designers will not miss the new battlefield of space design, and we are ready to show our talents!
(Caiyun note: I have now joined this field and am continuing to learn Xi, and I have written more than 10 design articles related to light XR last year)
vision os UI 截图
With the launch of a popular designer tool called "Bezi", space design is becoming simpler. Bezi is similar to design tools like Figma and Spline, but with the addition of 3D tools. Designers can use it to dive into the realm of spatial design, connect fully functional AR/VR headsets, and create interactive spatial experiences.
UX designers are responsible for creating amazing AR/VR experiences! In addition to aesthetic design, you also need to have a deep understanding of the technology, put on a VR headset and enter the real world, and feel and test every detail for yourself.
It's a challenging and surprising learning path that will change your understanding Xi of UX and gain unprecedented experience. Seize the moment to hone your UX skills and embrace the AR/VR era!
In addition to Apple's strong technical strength and financial investment, some companies that are not known for their technology have also brought refreshing experiments in the eyewear experience.
Also targeting the smart glasses market, Ray-Ban's Meta Wayfarer seems to have learned Google's lesson, avoiding the hurdle of mass production and adopting a more cautious strategy to take the first step into the smart wearable market.
Image credits — RayBan
Don't be fooled by the classic Ray-Ban look, the smart features hidden in the sleek frames allow you to easily store videos/images and stream them directly on social media, bringing a whole new level of user experience. This may become the technology trend in 2025, so wait and see!
3. Everything can be moved
When a new skill becomes more accessible, it often gives rise to new trends.
One of LottieFiles' missions is to make animations simple and easy to use. When I joined the company as an animation enabler, I was already amazed at how easy they were to add animations to any UI and any tool. Seeing such a strong demand, they even launched a plugin for Figma that can convert Figma animations into exportable Lottie JSON files.
LottieFiles plugin for Figma
Lottie animations make it easy for any designer to add dynamic animations at any time.
Landing pages for companies are now pleasing to the eye and interactive, thanks to the need for a personalized experience.
Here's an example page:
Apple Watch Series 9 落地页— 双击滚动效果
With the introduction of scrolling animations, users will be engrossed in what you present to them. No-code tools like Webflow and Framer are constantly innovating to allow designers to implement animation features like this without having to write lengthy code.
Animation seems to have reached its peak, and there are no surprises, but fortunately, the tech world never stops exploring, and powerful tools are emerging to make anything imaginable.
One of the exciting trends is the "animated buttons". This new UI style brings animation to the buttons, giving them more life. Buttons come in a variety of variations, from simple stroke animations to stars that twinkle inside when you hover over the mouse.
Image courtesy of learnframer
Like toppling the first domino, a designer's popular social media post can instantly trigger a chain reaction that other well-known designers have joined, allowing the trend to take the design world by storm in a short period of time.
Fourth, the end of flattening?
Recently, many designers have been discussing how the design world is moving away from flat designs to more realistic visuals.
These styles include 3D graphics, depth effects, mimicry design, skeuomorphic design, and many more. Recently, we've seen a number of companies adopt 3D as a core style. Although it may not be directly reflected in web and app design right now, many logos have been updated to reflect this new trend.
It just so happened that Caiyun's previous article also wrote about this trend: "The end of flat design?
Some examples of icon designs that are biased towards 3D, by Chan Karunaratne
If you want to play with 3D design, Spline (https://spline.design) and Vectary(https://www.vectary.com) have you covered! Say goodbye to complicated software, these web 3D tools let you embed cool 3D elements into web pages and apps in minutes. What's even more amazing is that they come with powerful animations that bring 3D creations to life and make learning Xi easy and stress-free!
Who would have thought that a simple linear gradient and a few shadows would instantly give your design and footage a sense of dimension and depth!
Airbnb, known for its simple design and smooth interaction, announced a blockbuster app update in 2023, adding more than 12 3D visual elements, and releasing videos focusing on 3D throughout the process, leading the future design trend!
Isometric visuals, 3D characters and animations, combined with smooth app interactions, kept me hooked! The nuanced shift from flat to 3D design is the secret to this enduring trend.
It may be difficult to trace who is the initiator of the trend, but the pursuit of design that is true to the needs of users is the driving force for our continuous innovation, and of course, our imagination is indispensable.
5. Here Comes the AI Designer: Friend or Foe?
AIGC was born, and the science and technology circles are all fried! Some people are afraid of losing their jobs, and some people laugh at the situation. To put it bluntly, it is to use technology to improve efficiency and make design faster and more exciting!
Adobe Firefly 应用展示
A group of design tools that claim to be "AI-driven" are trying to integrate OpenAI's APIs to varying degrees, while also developing their own AI models. However, many of the so-called AI features are just flashy gimmicks, like randomly designing UIs, arranging assets, and even providing simple solutions to some basic problems. These are just evidence of the criticism that has been widely raised by community members, and do not solve the real design problem.
In the flood of these gimmicks, a handful of heroes emerge and save the design world. One of those heroes is Relume, a designer favourite. The Webflow-focused company has launched Relume AI, a powerful wireframing and sitemap tool.
Relume A.I.
All you have to do is enter a description of your project, and it will automatically generate a fully detailed sitemap and wireframe. This wireframe contains relevant data and layouts that can be quickly copied to Figma and Webflow for use.
To be honest, I'm a little apprehensive about Chat-GPT's ability to automatically generate design proposals. While convenient, does it make designers lazy and unable to give full play to their creativity?
6. More thoughtful and empathetic user experience design
More than just flashy visuals and complex UIs, UX design is truly revolutionizing! UX designers are looking to a deeper level of needs to create accessible and inclusive designs, and optimizing the design process is key.
Recently, many designers have begun to focus more on usability than on visual design. This trend has put clean, easy-to-use design to center stage. Even as the design industry continues to change, designers are choosing more about what works, rather than just innovating.
Google Index Attention Trend for Google "UX Usability" from 2019 - 2023
As you can see from the Google Trends chart above, accessibility is becoming an unstoppable trend and is gradually becoming a necessity for the entire industry.
From color contrast, readable fonts, and clear operating elements to optimization for different groups of people with disabilities, these accessibility design techniques cover all aspects and aim to integrate accessibility-focused features into product design.
1) The trend of the times: Why has barrier-free design become the mainstream demand?
In the face of the needs of people of different ages and disabilities, as well as the pursuit of inclusiveness, barrier-free design has become the top priority in the design industry. The advent of the digital age has made barrier-free design a responsibility that designers cannot ignore.
Sensitive online courses and crash courses in design have gained insight into the needs of the barrier-free design market and have begun to offer courses to help students master the knowledge of barrier-free design and enter the design field smoothly.
2) Personalization
Aside from accessibility, personalization is what really makes people interested in an app or website. You must have seen that little video on YouTube.
Youtube evaluates what kind of content you like in order to give you better recommendations
Listen to users through trial and error! Some apps will launch new features on an ad hoc basis and withdraw them when the user response isn't good. This agile iteration is a testament to how UX designers are leading product and service innovation.
The above is a summary of the design trends in 2024, I hope you will pay attention to them and use them in your own design solutions.
Original author: Punit Chawla (The translation of this article has been officially authorized by the author)
Original: https://blog.prototypr.io/ux-ui-design-trends-going-into-2024-ca43a839b541
Translator: Caiyun Sky, official account: Caiyun Translation Design, everyone is a product manager columnist, Tencent senior visual designer.
This article was published by @彩云sky Translation on Everyone is a product manager, and it is forbidden to reprint without permission
The title image is from Unsplash and is licensed under CC0
The views in this article only represent the author's own, everyone is a product manager, and the platform only provides information storage space services.