10 Design Trends 2013

User interface and user experience trends for mobile solutions.

10Design Trends2013

10 Design Trends 2013

A great designed mobile solution is always easy to understand and simple to use. Avoid using unnecessary content. A great user experience is direct and displays only content that reflects the concept of the app. Only one concept per mobile solution. An example of a great and simple solution is the app VIVO - Need to focus. The app consists of only one screen and all the user needs to do to use the app is swipe left, right, up and down. Less is more.

1. Simplify - Less is more

01


Blue is the most dominant color for all apps out on the market and it is time to explore other color schemes such as softer/lighter colors, pastel colors, metallic colors andblack, white and gray.

2. Explore colors

02


The font treatment is an important part of the overall design and will form a bigger part of the user interface. Until now it has been a complicated and time consuming process for developers to implement different font treatmens but the latest sdks now facilitate this and it is easier to implement combinations of different fonts, sizes and styles. iOS sdks are the easiest to work with for this sort of treatment but it can be done for all platforms.

3. Font treatment

03


User interface trends is leaning towards a more flat design, escluding shadows, gradients and other elements creating volume. Skeumorphism designs as seen today is a thing of the past. When used the designs will be heavily toned down and will have more sutil details to get away from the ultra realistic look and feel. Event though trends are leaning towards flat there will also be the option where sutil shadows and gradients are used to create sensation of depth.

4. Flat vs. Skeuomorphism

04


This is probably the most contradictory trend of all. It means that we are moving towards more and more methods of interactions which increase the complexity for designers, developers and end users. On the other hand we strive towards simplyfing services and making them more and more accessible, productive, fun and easy to use.

5. Point, click, tap, swipe, wave & speak


05


Responsive design is a very interesting approach and mobile solution providers have the advantage of having the know how of “mobile first”. It is a more difficult task to make a great user experience for a mobile device than for a computor screen so mobile solution providers have an advantage towards web agencies when creating solutions with responsive design.

6. Responsive design

06


The slide menu used by Facebook, Path and Dolphin and now a million others is a fantastic solution but it’s time to explore what other user experiences can be used for menus and navigation. Some interesting examples of different menus are: · GroupON’s swipe menu replacing the navbar and a hidden tabbar on the bottom. · Band of the day’s hidden menu displayed when tapping anywhere on the screen.· Or why not give the user the option to configure where to place the menu.

7. Explore the UX

Solutions to be explored

07


A normal mistake is to fit a lot of content on a page. Layouts with more empty space between elements and texts gives the user more breathing room and allows the user to focus on the important content. To much content on the same page = less chance that any of the content will be read.

8. Breathe to read

A lot of contentGood Good

08


In scandinavia the use of white has always been of great use in all kind of designs such as graphic, industrial, decorating and web design. This is also something we will see more of this year for mobile solutions. White is clean, elegant and allows the user to focus on the important content.

9. White

09


Atractive full screen images are not only beautiful to look at but also transmits well the sensation you wish the user to have when using the app. An image says more than a thousand words.

10. Background images

10


11

Kim Peratt Head of Design

web www.goldengekko.com email [email protected]

Fighting for a world full of appssince 2005