UI/UX Design Principles That Will Rule the Digital Space in 2021

Technologies – across domains – are continually changing. Website design practices and trends are no different. Design standards and website movements which were once considered in-trend or innovative, modern, are soon finding themselves getting obsolete and cliched. For example, with the excess use of ‘white space,’ brands like Apple are taking designers towards the black background era –  an element that is prepared to join the list of up and coming UI/UX design principles and trends.

As a business, the last thing you need is people coming to your website and losing interest (and conversion) simply because the website is old-looking or doesn’t follow the necessary web standards like the following GDPR rules of data collection. Fortunately, with a few days still left for 2020 to end, there is time to keep up with the trends introduced with 2021. These are ideated to reinstate the importance of UI/UX development in app development and website designs. This article will look into the latest UI/UX design trends for websites that will help the domain deliver easy-to-use, functional websites that perform well and look good.

Website Load Time & Page Speed Are King

One of the primary web UI/UX standards is the speedy load time. A fast loading time has been a critical factor in SEO and the UX domain for several years, and it continues standing as a priority for the websites which wish to rank better and get conversion-friendly. Several types of research hint towards the fact that internet users expect a website to load fast. They should not have to wait for more than 2 seconds for the page to load. Anything more than that, and they will most likely leave the page.

Smart Load for Memorable Use Experience

Several businesses active today can be held guilty of carrying a resource-heavy website and pages containing multiple graphical components and third-party APIs, slowing down the websites. Thankfully, some new technologies and feature sets are coming up in the domain in 2021 to better the situation. >Infinite scrolling and lazy loading are two of them. The technologies are popular among both one page and multi-page websites.

All the websites must consider the implementation of approaches that would help them outperform their competitors. The features can better users’ experience for all the website visitors, directly impacting the conversion rate and website ranking. Lazy Load functionality ensures that the web browsers – Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc., download only the content which one sees on screen without utilizing any other valuable server resources and loads the offscreen content which doesn’t necessarily should be seen.

A considerable number of people do not even reach the bottom webpage. So it doesn’t make sense to load the complete page content and raise the website load time. A better approach for this would be to load the content as the users start scrolling down.

UI/UX Design Principles – Voice-Activated Interface

The way users ask for information is fast-changing. Gone are the times when users were dependent on typing in their queries. They have to ask a question by sending a voice command and hearing back the reply. This means that there will be a greater prevalence of virtual assistants and chatbots for the web design domain. Although a voice-centric interface is still new and needs some time to master, the trend will remain intact in the coming future. One can expect the design industry to take the cue and develop more user journeys toward the trend in the coming time.

UI/UX Design Principles – Accessibility

Accessibility and inclusivity are not just a trend anymore. It is going to be a design factor that makes your business one that cares and us empathetic. Having a website that people with special needs can access and work around independently is key to a good user experience and immersive customer service. It can also play a massive role in bettering conversion, boosting SEO efforts, and helping you reach a greater audience size.  There are a few elements that are coming in place in 2021 to better accessibility. They are

• Creation of a stark color distinction between background and text.
• Addition of focus indicators like the rectangle boxes that appear around links when you use keyword navigation.
• Using interactions and labels through form fields rather than in place of less-context placeholder texts
• Use of descriptive alt tags for visuals.

Micro Animation

You must have guessed from the name. Micro means small animations. However, in the website design world, little in no way means insignificant. Micro animations are extremely helpful when we talk about guiding the users through website interactions. In addition to a seamless experience, they offer a sense of playfulness to the users. For example, the Smashmallow website design -The idea around using micro animation as a trend is keeping the interactions as small as possible – ensuring that they don’t hinder the user journey or try to find their place in the website design.

UI/UX Design Principles – Organic Shapes

Geometric shapes were one of the hottest website UI/UX design trends in 2019. And now, in 2021, it is all about organic shapes. Fluid or organic shapes are anything that does not involve straight lines. Think of them as visible shapes – rivers, hills, or trees. Asymmetrical and winding designs like those will be a massive trend in 2021. Organic shapes are a fantastic way to break down sections on a website without angles or harsh lines. They are also notable as a background, like how Google uses a circle behind almost every product on their homepage. Organic shapes are so popular that you would barely find a UX agency or a freelancer that don’t utilize them.

Minimalism (Flat Design)

Minimalism, commonly known as the flat design – is not typically a new web design trend. However, it has stood the test of time as a constant trend. In 2021, we can expect people to experiment with colorful minimalistic designs.

A website that is setting a great example of minimalism done right is Shopify Every page of the website comes with a bold background color embossed with minimal design elements and clean text. The outcome is an attractive and easy-on-the-eyes page. Pages like those are proof that minimalistic designs do not have to be bland or stark. Here were the 7 website UI/UX design standards that will witness substantial demand in 2021. I hope this article will help you join the bandwagon.