2016 mobile app design trends

MOBILE APP DESIGN TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2016

Studeo 360

Published Feb 28, 2016

Like all digital design trends, mobile app design trends change rapidly. Since the first apps hit the market, the technology that powers them and the apps themselves have changed a lot. Today's trends mirror web design trends, as the two often go hand in hand. Today we see a huge shift in app design, making use of the highest levels of power that devices are offering. Today's smartphones are as powerful as computers were just a few years ago, and for this reason apps have become increasingly powerful to keep up with the more advanced options.

Today i am discussing here design trends that will go in 2016.

In the last few years we have seen a shift toward pastel color palettes. Browns, dark reds, blues and beige are prominently seen in the backgrounds of some of the most popular apps today. Even apps that don't use pastel color palettes still use other subtle palettes. These types of colors allow for the interfaces within the app to stand out, and are great at not drawing attention away from important app features.
Material design remained one of the hottest mobile app UI/UX design trend of 2015 and will go to 2016. It was developed to improve user experience across platforms making it more unified, simple, and intuitive. The roots of material design are in the concept of flat design, which has been a constant trend for the past few years and has become standard in UI/UX design. During the past few years, flat design concepts have undergone certain changes, including the adoption of concepts from other design styles, but the general look is more or less the same. Material design can be seen in most of Google's apps for both Android and iOS, such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, and Google Maps as well as in the Android versions of popular apps.
The Diffused backgrounds are spurred in many websites following the trends instantly. Blurry backgrounds overlapped with big fonts catchy text and call to action buttons have become the first choice. This is a classic style for the mobile app design that can be implemented simply. Designers must choose antique background image or create by their own. Images picked from the sites providing free images can be found repeated in other websites as well. Hence, having a unique and imposing background will make a good sense in mobile application designs.
Functional animation is the main design trend of 2015, and it makes UX more unique and immersive. The idea of functional animations, however, is widespread across different mobile platforms. Some animations are rather unconventional, but, nevertheless, accomplish certain practical tasks. Functional animations help you to "feel" an application, understand its principles, and make interactions more engaging and fun.
Mobile users do not hesitate while taking a tour through the simple navigation. During 2016, simplicity in the graphics will rock. Users stuck for a while, when they find a unique way of scrolling. Long scrolling with large images & decent font style can finely define the business approach nicely. Innovation in navigation enhances user experience, hence this technique will work in 2016. Designers are free to apply innovation in navigation, but they need to confirm that users can easily reach to the information or service that they are actually looking for.
In 2016 mobile apps graphics designers are trying to resurrect a love for the big and bold fonts in the images. Writing a conclusive big fonts text over the blurry image facilitates users to understand the idea. Apps are operated in the small screens, so big & bold fonts leave a memorable impression. With this trick, designers can make the insipid apps interesting.
The launch of the Apple Watch has spurred a race among designers to create app designs that are fit for wearable technology. In fact, customization of mobile app designs to make it easy for users to navigate the app, access products and info and make purchases on the go seems to be the next big thing in the world of mobile app design and development.
Swiping and side-scrolling is the trend that will be increased in mobile app usage. Creative use of the swiping and side-scrolling features can make your app very user-friendly and give your users more control over the experience. Other gestures, such as Peek and Pop with iPhone & iPad's new 3D Touch, are also becoming more popular as major app platforms like Apple and Android continue to improve and add to the ways we can interact with apps too.
As per the research, utmost applications seem incomplete without social media buttons. Whether it is a business app, eCommerce, game or service app there will be the social media buttons for sure in any of the screens available. Mobile App designers try out impressive ways of appearing social media buttons. They are supposed to create embracing buttons in the future as well.
Overlays are compulsory to put in some apps. The good design in overlays looks cool as the overlays always take users out of the app flow. Designers also give an attention to the models in designing and spend a good time in trying different themes and colors.

So there you have it, my list of mobile app design trends of 2016. It'll be really exciting to see how many of these trends will eventually die out, how many will continue to change, shift and evolve—and how many of these will stay ever the same.