When creating a website or an app, design is one of the most crucial aspects to make it resonate with users. Design communicates the main idea behind your product and determines how people feel about it. So, what are the trendy means that designers will use in 2023?
Design in 2023 is about taking care of users and making solutions accessible to everyone. Design connects real and virtual worlds, past and future. Designers enrich the user experience with 3D, immersive scrolling, and microinteractions in UX/UI.
So, let’s explore the leading UI/UX design trends of 2023 in detail to see how designers weave them into their web works. Thanks to approaches that are trendy in 2023, your website or app will appeal to users helping your business thrive.
UI trends 2023
The user interface (UI) defines the visual side of the product or service. UI includes brand colors and interactive design elements of the interface. This is the primary aspect that helps users perceive your solution and brand values.
UI trends that enrich user experience and interaction with solutions through visuals are gaining popularity in 2023. So, let's have a look at them.
1. Immersive scrolling and experience
Users have extensive experience interacting with web pages where they need to scroll down constantly. This is a definite pattern in UI/UX design trends. But what if the page moves not only down but also on Z-axis, in-depth? What if the page reacts to mouse scrolling differently than you expect? Immersive scrolling adds a wow effect, which makes it one of the most exciting UI trends 2023.
Engine.land, offering exclusive hand-crafted gin, explores the design trend of immersive experience in their website inspired by the 1970s and 1980s. You can click any “Go” element as in the picture below, to discover more about the brand's technology and products. Check the website to dive into its fabulous design that makes you feel like you were visiting a cafe for real.
Source: engine.land
It is worth mentioning that this design trend is suitable for presenting a product or service. It is better not to use this approach where the user wants to clearly and quickly use your product. However, if the goal is to attract and hold attention, this is an ideal option in user interface design.
The immersive experience doesn't end with scrolling in UI design. User interactions with a page, such as a mouse movement or a click, can trigger a reaction on the page. This encourages the person to further "get to know" your product and its UX/UI. This approach is increasingly used in UI trends 2023.
Immersive scrolling is also a part of KPRverse’s UX/UI. It is a brand investigating metaverse to apply it in diverse and inclusive technology, culture, and community. The letters KPR stand for Keep, Protect, Reimagine.
Thus, the company highlights its mission of bringing together artists that will help us envision the future of tech and art. With stunning graphics and immersive experience, the company applies this UI trend in its website as an illustration of its concepts of the future.
Source: KPRverse
2. Brutalism
You’ve surely come across sites with huge titles, hard fonts, and a combination of bright and contrasting colors. They lack the grid and sometimes the usual patterns of web page design reflecting one of the UI trends.
Nevertheless, this is what creates the composition. All this is brutalism, one of the leading UI design trends that became popular in 2022 and confidently entered 2023. Obviously, this style does not seek to be comfortable and convenient. Instead, it is challenging and breaks the rules.
Brutalism as one of UI trends 2023 is used in a website dedicated to showing solidarity with Ukraine as an independent state with its unique culture, history, and language.
The initiative was created by Polish designers Joasia Fidler-Wieruszewska, Alina Rybacka-Gruszczyńska, and Aga Kotowska. This idea united designers from around the world. The ‘type challenge’ implied that each day a new designer created a letter from the Ukrainian alphabet. The group shared the designs using the brutalism UI trend on their Instagram page.
Source: 33lettersforukraine.com
Brutalism is among the top UI/UX design trends. It is at its peak of popularity. So, you need to clearly understand when to apply it and when not. For example, this style is perfect for portfolio design. Also, it is appropriate for UX/UI of a conceptual clothing brand landing page or a website dedicated to a hot topic or a subject to attract attention.
Another example of bold experiments with brutalism is the platform Plain Form. It is a practice established by Lucas Descroix in 2022. The method generates different types of expressive and, at the same time, readable fonts for UX/UI. So, artists explore the capabilities of creating new typeforms. Hover your mouse on the text about Plain Form, and you will see what happens.
Source: plain-form.com
3. 3D
This UI design trend is not going to fade away, but every year it blossoms with new potential. So, it will enter our lives in 2023.
3D design elements have been used before, and UI trends 2023 show that 3D elements can be found even more often in UI. Therefore, designers will use their skills and UI design software to the maximum, creating interesting concepts and animations in 3D.
Below you can see an example of using 3D in e-commerce UX/UI as more and more purchases are made online. Decoration can be viewed from all sides, and every detail is fantastic!
Source: rouvenat.com
3D modeling, as one of the most popular UI design trends 2023, is used in many areas. They are e-commerce, architecture, fashion industry, business, culture, education, and many others. Many brands, for example, Apple, actively use 3D models to show their product’s best side to future customers.
3D, as one of the UI/UX design trends, brings customers convenience and makes websites more appealing. Exploring the 3D-modeled items that users want to buy brings enhanced experience and builds interest and trust in a brand.
For example, our team used 3D modeling to improve user experience with a real estate portal. Below is a video that shows how the platform works.
The resource lists real estate property and connects homeowners, agents, and tenants. For the user’s convenience, we included 3D tours that help visualize the property in the user interface design. Thus, users can view a home or an apartment and get the first impression before actually visiting it.
Read also: How to Design a SaaS Application: Trends and Best Practices
4. Nostalgic: vintage & vaporwave
Vintage style in 2022 is trending in many areas: clothing, interior, music, and print. Besides, it is organically integrated into web design.
Vintage is still among UI trends 2023. Nothing touches hearts like nostalgia. In 2022, the hallmarks of vintage style in web design were a combination of bright and pastel colors, line graphics, shadows, rounded yet sharp shapes, elegant serif fonts, and round text elements. All this was inspired by retro magazines, as well as the fashion and aesthetics of those times. These vintage elements are still among the latest UI design trends 2023.
One of the manifestations of vintage style is vaporwave. The movement started in electronic music but has evolved into a visual design trend in art, design, and fashion. It is inspired by the aesthetics of the 80s-90s. Vaporwave incorporates digital elements in the design, such as early Internet imagery, glitch art, cyberpunk themes, anime, and 3D elements.
An outstanding example of using the vintage style in website UX/UI design is the graphic works by Kidmograph. This is the pseudonym of Gustavo Torres, an Argentinian artist who weaves retro-futurism in his animated GIFs.
His works combine dynamics and contrasting colors. The imagery is full of expression and translates speed to the viewer with iterated and changing elements.
Old school logos, pixelated images and text, VHS tapes, old anime with their color palette (for example, Sailor Moon), and holographic effects will return to our visual space and UI/UX design trends in 2023.
Related reading: Most Common Web Design Mistakes Startups Make
5. Typography trends
We have collected in this part a whole selection of typography as one of the UI design trends of 2023. Each of them deserves attention, and undoubtedly, you will be able to embody your unique ideas with their help in user interfaces.
Oversized typography
The first thing we would like to mention is oversized typography. This is a great way to express yourself at the same time following UI/UX design trends. You can use large, bold headlines or typography-only designs where you can tell the essence of your brand with word size and contrast.
Often designers use sans serif fonts along with this trend, as in the example below. This is a combination of fonts used in UX/UI by an Australian designer Daniel Gamble and his design agency.
Source: danielgamble.com.au
Flying Papers is also a vivid example of using oversized typography to present a brand. The lines shown with bold typography invite you to explore filters, cones, and other paper products of the company.
Source: flyingpapers.com
Edgy typography and bubble typography
You can experiment and express ideas not only with size but also with shape. The following trends reflect this: edgy typography - sharp, angular fonts, and opposed to it - bubble typography - rounded and fluid shapes for UX/UI.
If you are proficient in 3D editors, you can add textures to your type compositions. The most relevant in UI/UX design trends of 2023 will be quicksilver and metal fonts, but there is no limit to your imagination, and you can embody any of your ideas.
Source: dribbble.com
For example, the Wannathis store creates 3D solutions to help designers find fresh illustrations. One of their landing pages presents a colorful 3D alphabet that can be used in various designs.
Source: inflatablealphabet.wannathis.one
Retro typography
This design trend is about using bold, bright, and rounded fonts reminiscent of the logo and headings of retro establishments. As practice shows, the new is a well-transformed old. Below are a couple of examples of this one of the UI trends 2023.
Source: behance.net, dribbble.com
Distorted fonts
The design trend of distorted fonts is a bold solution. The font distortion is only appropriate in a context where it is more important to encourage users to peer into the text than reading speed.
A great example below, created by the designer Frances To, is a vivid illustration of using distorted fonts as one of the UI trends.
Source: the-haircut.webflow.io
Mix of fonts
The last design trend we want to discuss in this selection is the mix of fonts. You can combine several different fonts to express your idea better.
For example, Flodesk uses this UI trend to present their services for e-mail marketing campaigns.
Source: flodesk.com
The mix of fonts is helpful to put accents on what you want to focus on in UX/UI. This is how the community of creative thinkers named Juliet presents their approach. Thus, the website keeps up with the latest UI trends.
Source: wearejuliet.com
6. Using UI card components
Every time users interact with a mobile app or website, they are consuming information. Creating apps and sites that people use regularly or visit for the first time to solve some problems requires a careful approach. For designers, the main task is to provide customers with convenience in user interface design.
Remember how we made cards to study something? They contained the most necessary information. So finding what you needed became much easier than flipping through a summary for a long time.
This method is about practical and convenient presenting information, and it stands among the latest UI design trends 2023.
We noticed the wide usage of cards as part of UI trends not only for such obvious solutions as cards for goods and orders in marketplaces.
Homepages where you need to talk about the benefits of the brand also apply the cards, for example, Apple uses them in UX/UI. They placed some of the features in separate cards, adding more photos and graphic elements.
Source: apple.com
Another instance of using cards as one of the UI/UX design trends is a website where you tell about a new product. You highlight the main thing to tell the user about, seasoning it with a pinch of microanimation.
Source: linear.app
UX trends 2023
The UX (user experience) is a broad definition, including all the experience users get when interacting with a website or mobile app. To compare, UI trends 2023 focus on how a product’s interface looks, and UX focuses on the user’s way of solving a problem. Undoubtedly, a good user experience is the best indicator of proper design for different websites, for example, e-commerce platforms or SaaS solutions.
In addition to UI trends 2023, we decided to share a selection of UX design trends that have arisen from user experience and feedback over the past few years. So, you can adopt a few and apply them to your app or site.
1. Page speed prioritization
When we navigate a site, we switch between many pages. So, how often do we pay attention to page loading time? Obviously, when we start to notice it. Thus, a slow loading speed becomes the reason for leaving the page.
Clearly, nobody wants to wait for a photo or video to load. We live in a time of rapid consumption of content. So optimizing web pages to speed up their loading is very important to keep up with UX trends 2023.
The designer must understand how to build an interface so that optimization does not interfere. Images, videos, and animations can often slow down the loading. Thus, designers need to compress graphic elements but without losing quality.
Without any doubt, loading speed is essential for startup sites. When a business is just launched, and you need to gain an audience, it is vital that users do not leave the site immediately. So, the UX trend of page prioritization helps businesses thrive.
Besides, it is equally essential to be among the first lines of search results. Still, well-optimized pages are ranked at the top by Google's algorithms. Therefore, page speed prioritization will become one of the UX design best practices this year.
You may also like: Progressive Web App Design: Tips for Great PWA UX and UI
Today, we have free and efficient tools to measure the load speed and optimization of a web page or site. If you want to check your web page performance according to Core Web Vitals, a Google standard of website performance, you can use PageSpeed Insights.
It is a tool that analyzes a website and shows where it performs well and points to improve. Given the results, you can optimize your website’s design.
Some websites, though, aim to emphasize the content. They do not strive to be on the first line of the search, and their speed can still be neglected a little.
In this case, you can keep the user busy while the web page download is in progress. Three seconds can seem like an eternity when looking at a white screen. So, you can add an unusual loading screen in UX design to keep the user's attention.
2. Accessibility as normal
In 2023, accessibility is what your product should aim for in UX design. Every person, regardless of their perceptions, has equal rights with others. People differ in physical and mental abilities, race, cultural background, gender, age, and language. Thus, all these aspects must be considered in the website and mobile app development.
First of all, the designer thinks about the needs of users. How to make everyone feel comfortable and safe when using the product? Accessibility stays among the leading UI/UX design trends. It is becoming normal, along with the mobile-first approach in creating websites and apps.
In order to create a website or mobile app accessible to everyone, it should be tested by different people. There are four principles of inclusive design:
- Determine what precisely in design may not be available to users with unique abilities;
- Find out what situations may arise when all users will not be able to use your product fully;
- Involve people from different communities in the development process;
- Offer several options for interaction with your design and strive to provide an equal experience for all users.
More and more companies are paying attention to the diversity of their users. A customer service website WalmartPetRx is another example of an inclusiveness trend in UX design.
They plugged in a widget in UX/UI with enhancements for viewing the website. So, users can customize the website according to their preferences, for example, by making the text or cursor bigger.
Source: walmartpetrx.com
3. AR, VR, and Metaverse
These technologies will definitely take hold among UX trends of 2023. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) connect the real and digital worlds. They enable users to perceive information visually, in a similar way they perceive the real world.
Augmented reality is excellent for use in e-commerce projects’ UX design, for example, marketplace website development. This is an excellent way to bring the product closer to customers and make it easier for them to choose. Now you can imagine the selection of furniture from IKEA Place sitting at home or see if the lipstick from Sephora is right for you.
You may also like: How to Create a Website Like Amazon?
VR itself is often used in games and has been popularized since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when people were locked in their homes. Still, it is adopted in other domains, like UX design.
Metaverses, of which VR is a significant visual part, have been discussed for a long time. Such a concept appeared in books, movies, and games as a fully working virtual world.
There, people in the form of their avatars can do the same things as in reality: communicate, work, play, create businesses, earn and sell. So we can be sure that the metaverse trend in UX design will follow us in the future for years to come.
In 2022, Meta announced the launch of their Metaverse and even changed their name to strengthen their ties to the project. Metaverse is a 3-dimensional projection of the world in which a user can create their 3D version and meet other users online.
A stunning example of using VR in UX/UI is a website created for Douyin Auto Carnival in China. It is the first event held in the automobile industry with virtual immersion. The website turns to this UX trend to present a futuristic online city with avatars, venues, social interaction, and games.
Over 50 million users interested in cars and music visited the city. So, this milestone exhibition shows how brands can reach more customers with virtual reality in UI/UX design.
Source: static.ssl.jimingkeji.com.cn
Read also: Website UX Discovery Process: Roles, Tools, and Main Steps in Web Design
4. Microinteractions
What makes the user experience enjoyable and memorable? We know that people need a response to their actions - from other people, animals, from the world.
Devices, as well as mobile apps and web resources, are no exception. When we interact with UX design elements on the screen, we get a response. In fact, our actions are not very diverse: click or tap, scroll, long press.
Therefore, it is important that mobile apps and websites decorate user experience with small but essential visual, tactile, and auditory sensations or combinations of them.
Microinteractions, as one of the UX trends of 2023, make the use of your product unique and allow the user to feel attached to it.
An excellent example of using this UX trend in design is Typefully. It is an editor that helps create impressive tweets. The tool allows you to type and save drafts, add graphic content, schedule publishing, and view statistics.
The website presents functionality with microinteractions in UX design. It gives users an idea of the usefulness and convenience of the product with microinteraction UI and UX enhancement.
Source: typefully.com
5. Synchronization of your apps and websites on all your devices
This trend in UX design for 2023 is determined by the mobility of our lives. At different times of the day, various devices are always with us. But the tasks we want and need to perform remain the same. There are many different ways to do this, but users will always choose convenience.
And this convenience is to synchronize the content and settings of apps and websites between your computer and mobile devices, such as phone, tablet, and smartwatch. This is useful both at work when you need to be on the course all the time and in everyday life. So, UI/UX design trends also embrace this idea.
Let’s take the Spotify app as an example of this UX design approach. You can start listening to a podcast or song on your laptop and then continue from the same moment on your phone. At the same time, you always have the opportunity to switch or press pause on the smartwatch.
Source: open.spotify.com
6. Wellness: how a trend of self-care influences UI/UX design
Self-care is a big global trend in recent years. The pandemic influenced its development when people were limited in actions and interactions.
At the moment, we are no longer in quarantine, but we also need our psychological and physical condition to be alright. UI/UX design trends of 2023 reflect the need for wellness.
The general self-care trend influences the mobile app and website UI/UX design. One of the self-care manifestations is the ability to know how much time you spend in certain apps on your smartphone and adjust it if necessary.
It is also interesting to consider, for example, the function of Apple smartphones to set the phone to sleep mode. In this mode, notifications do not disturb you.
The apps for sleeping, proper water drinking, meditation, and the like have become increasingly popular. This is another signal of the great demand in society for self-care.
The UI/UX design of such mobile apps is usually calm, using pleasant pastel shades. The app’s “tone of voice” expresses that you are welcome here, and using the product will definitely improve your well-being.
For example, Meditopia, one of the top relaxing apps, uses soft shades of colors to translate serenity.
Source: meditopia.com
Another app with a pleasant UI/UX design is Flo. It is an application dedicated to women’s health. The design is simple and uses pastel colors, conveying the spirit of safety.
Source: flo.health
The self-care trend makes the design industry more humane. Designers aim to make apps appealing to users and translate confidence in users’ regimens. Simple verification and well-thought personalization design show people that they are in safety and will be successful in self-care.
You may also like: Major Principles for a User-Friendly Website You Need to Know
Codica creates lovable web design: you think it, we embody it
At Codica, we can boast a great experience in developing appealing and modern web solutions. Our highly qualified specialists will find an individual approach to your idea. We will create a professional and unique UI/UX design for your solution that meets the niche and specifics of your business.
Recently, we developed a stylish and beautiful SaaS solution for bakery businesses. It is called CakerHQ. This reliable software provides users the ability to book desserts in several clicks.
In terms of web UI and UX, we made this SaaS solution clear to users about what kind of product they are selling. Chosen high-quality and neat photographs of desserts create a feeling of a cozy and warm bakery.
Here you can watch a short video that explains how CakerHQ operates in life.
You may also like: Minimum Viable Product Design: How to Build a Successful MVP
We developed the website design with the latest UI/UX design practices in mind, such as well-thought functionality and the use of vivid yet balanced visuals. Eventually, our client launched a user-friendly and attractive platform to the market. Now, CakerHQ successfully brings traffic and sales. And the design is one of the influential factors for the growth of this business.
We like to share our works. Feel free to check more designs from our projects on our Behance and Dribbble pages.
Also, you can watch a short video on our YouTube channel about all the top trends in web design for 2023, were mentioned above. Enjoy viewing!
To sum up
Hopefully, we have helped you understand the tendencies of web design and inspired you to make effective and delightful pages. Now you are acquainted with many UI/UX design trends of 2023, but remember the main thing - whoever the design is for, it should be clear and user-friendly.
At Codica, the main goal of UI/UX design is to help users achieve their goals. For this purpose, we track the latest UI and UX trends when building our products, be it an online news portal or an online service marketplace.
If you are looking for a UI/UX design agency to implement all your needs and requirements, hire UI designers from Codica. Our team will be glad to create custom software for your business according to the best industry practices.
Contact us to get a free quote and turn your idea into reality. Also, you can check our web application projects, where we share our expertise in programming and design.