Ten exciting mobile-end app design trends

From the mobile end of the rise, mainstream design style stereotypes, and then to the rise of Uber, Vine and other phenomenon-class app, mobile end of the app design until now to get better. There are many factors contributing to this, such as the change of social development trend, the great heat of sharing economy, the accumulation of new technology, and so on. The appearance of these things takes time to accumulate, which is why these applications are only now in flames.

Again, this year we are looking at the stereotypes of the giant screen phones and the gradual precipitation of wearable equipment.

With the increasing application of mobile terminals involved in daily life, users are consuming more and more mental and mental abilities on these things. viewing mail, booking hotels, ordering takeout depends on a variety of applications, and high quality applications such as Airbnb and GrubHub dramatically reduce user energy dissipation in irrelevant detail, better handle other tasks, and focus on more valuable things. The more tasks a user faces, the more obvious the value of apps that are really easy to use and cater to the needs of users.

It is in this context that we should have a clearer understanding of the development trends of app design. Today, let's take a closer look at the current trends in app design.

　　1, for large screen mobile phone design

Yes, well, whether you like it or not, big-screen phones have been out for a long time and become mainstream, but the UI and user experience design for the big screen has been unsatisfactory.

Designers and developers need to face a growing screen and the contradiction between the length of the thumb, has been criticized for the iphone in the upper left corner of the return button, now it seems to be just a lot of "anti-human" design of a very humble member. At the same time, you can't put all the day-to-day controls in the lower right corner, after all, there are about 10% of the users are left-handed, let alone many right-handed users will also use the left hand operation!

Of course, it is a good choice to give users custom space. When outspoken's "fast-seeding" mobile app had been known as "left-handed Mode", and UC browser such as the mobile end of the Overlord in the early time to join the design of the left-right habit of judgment. Of course, this is only one of the many problems in the design of large screen mobile phone interface.

Typography, interaction, use of scene switching, user experience design changes are a need for designers to put themselves in the place of careful thinking (for example, I have been not accustomed to flymeos the default font size, you can see but not good-looking). The present design is not good enough, but it is gradually developing.

The next design trend is closely related to the design of the big screen mobile phone.

　2, sliding interaction into the mainstream

When webOS was just emerging, exquisite cards, a lot of sliding interactions, and gesture operations amazed the entire mobile-side design field. Today, 7 years later, the sliding gesture operation has become the mainstream. In fact, when the iphone just came out, the intuitive operation of sliding and double pointing scaling, which was closer to the physical world, was already being noticed by the designers, and the design was no doubt more in line with the needs of the user-no more cramped little buttons on the cramped screen.

Sliding is an intuitive operation, no doubt. We are accustomed to perceive external things through continuous touch. Sliding on the screen can be found in real life a variety of corresponding operations, swipe, sliding latch and so on, and so on, the passing of experience is so direct and natural.

The mainstream mobile-end platform has incorporated sliding interactions into every detail of the system, and consciously directs developers to use this interactive approach. Now, when you open the application, you subconsciously switch the interface through the sliding operation, return to the top level, delete or view the menu, don't you?

　　3, wearable equipment began to affect the mobile end design

The screen of the mobile phone is getting bigger and larger, but the screen of wearable equipment is small enough to be usable, the big difference in size makes the app's interface design face more challenge. Although Apple Watch is not as popular as anyone might think, IDC's data suggests that 2015 manufacturers shipped up to 45.7 million wearable devices, covering wrist-watches/hand-ring devices, wearing and eyeglasses.

Still, the highest level of concern remains the Apple Watch and Android-Wear devices, which have led to the boom in wearable devices. Wearable devices are no longer limited to measuring heart rate and sleep quality, they can tell you how long you will walk on the road, tomorrow's weather will remind you to bring dinner for your aunt and so on. The little thing on the wrist has great potential and infinite possibilities, so how does it affect the work of designers and developers?

Both Apple Watch and Android Wear emphasize the importance of a glance. Unlike mobile phones and flat panels, smart watches are very different from the use of the scene, the user will not be staring for a long time, the content of the display to be quick, intuitive, to easy digestion, even to consider the user with the corner of the eye to glance at such a situation. This means that the layout, color, and contrast control on this small screen is particularly important. In addition, many applications originally have mobile phones and tablets available version, and then design the version of wearable equipment, you need to consider the features, experience and other trade-offs.

Because wearable devices are emerging areas, the design for them requires, in particular, the availability of applications, user feedback, and immediate updates for requirements. While Apple and Google have a set of specifications for their respective platforms, the user's appeal is also an important factor in shaping the direction of future design.

　4. Layered layout

Flattening and materialization itself is the product of different style tendencies, the two are approaching two extremes, but not black and white of the complete confrontation, we said before the flat 2.0 and the present hierarchical layout, is the "gray zone" between the two. Although the digital aesthetics of recent years have naturally spawned a flattening trend, in the past few years we have learned about the excessive ornamentation of complex textures and highly fitted objects, and also the importance of shading and small gradients even in flattened designs.

Google's material design is a very candid way to push shadows and layered layouts to the front. Although the overall style is still very flat, but the elements that Google's designers draw from the design of physical materialization make the whole language of design perfect and more humane (if you're a Mac user, you'll find that the current OS X and material designs are also flat and fitting blends). The layered structure in the Material design is derived from nature, which is derived from the physical metaphor of "paper", and the relationship between objects and objects is expressed by color blocks and shadows.

This kind of typical layered structure, so that the virtual object has physical properties, color and shadow to build a spatial relationship, the relative speed of use reflects the object's weight and inertia, through the touch screen you seem to interact with real objects, this is not more clever "fitting"? An elegant experience, a real operation, This is the uniqueness of layered layouts.

　　5, more dynamic effect

Our phones have more computing power than the entire NASA mission on the moon. The coverage of the 4G communication protocol makes it quicker and more efficient for information acquisition than in the previous era. In addition to the development of technology, the amount of information the app can carry is increasing. All of this has created today's app design, over and over, the dynamic effect begins to carry the function of guiding, reminding, and transition, and the app is no longer all by simple notice to communicate with the user, each tremor and rebound effect can convey the message, and all this, let the app more natural and intelligent.

　6, more simple and soft tones

Like the fashion circle every year, the color habit of the design circle is changing every year. In the big direction, we seem to be more and more fascinated with the simple and soft tones, which is the natural result of the whole design direction toward minimalism. This color in the current demand has a natural advantage, if the use of a monochrome color scheme of different colors, with a white font and a small number of contrasting elements, or try two or three cool soft color matching, you can quickly out a very good visual manuscript.

Considering the user for a long time staring at the screen, soft tones and refreshing color will make the user less distracted, after all, strong contrast color will aggravate the visual burden. If your app is designed with this color, it will not only be more design-friendly, but also make users feel smoother and more comfortable.

　　7, more attention to typesetting

The rise of the retina screen is, after all, a matter of recent years, and in the past a long time, the font resolution on both the mobile end and the Web page is relatively low. With the high evolution of the mobile end and the advent of services such as Typekit, the increase in font sharpness makes the layout of Web pages and apps more likely, and designers can use different fonts and multiple images to match more expressive designs, even on mobile-side designs. Text and content is very important, borrow by the font, typesetting, picture collocation to reasonably present, it is not 1+1=2 so simple.

　　8, app built-in Blur effect

It is also one of the design trends to enhance the visual usability of the app by using background blur and translucent effects. Compared to the solid color background, users tend to use the picture, although improved personalization, but the background layer above the icon, the control can not be clearly resolved visually. The app's built-in blur and semitransparent effects can ease this visual barrier, ensuring readability, and preserving the customization that the user pursues.

　　9, mobile end accessibility of innovation

The innovations in design and technology have greatly improved the accessibility of various devices and apps. Sliding gestures, typekit, and dynamic effects are all products of accessibility innovation and ascension. At present, the built-in "old age machine" mode in domestic mobile phones is one of the results of accessibility innovation, which simplifies the interaction and solves the problem of reading for a part of the visually impaired users.

However, improving accessibility and availability is not a simple way to enlarge the font or adjust it. To ensure the availability of the app, you need to have a deeper critical thinking about its accessibility. When it enters the "old age machine" mode, can the layout adapt to the interface after the font size adjustment? will multiple-selection controls be easily manipulated as they zoom in and appear to be coordinated? And so on and so on.

　　10, the more intelligent prototype

The design and development of mobile end app are more and more complicated, and the design and exploitation are more and more systematic and trivial. Simple static diagram and wireframe, lead is not enough to present the details of the entire design, blindly ask the client brain repair can not solve the problem. Fortunately we now have new tools such as Uxpin, Proto.io.

Without complex programming to present the details and processes of prototypes, designers can seamlessly present their thoughts and ideas through these evolving new tools. Prototype design will become more and more intelligent, and the design process will be adjusted to match.