{"id":6464,"date":"2018-12-21T12:53:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T12:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tubikstudio.com\/?p=6464"},"modified":"2025-10-24T11:28:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T11:28:27","slug":"review-popular-interface-design-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tubikstudio.com\/blog\/review-popular-interface-design-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Popular Interface Design Trends in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

The year is almost over – so, it’s high time we looked back and reviewed what it has brought for UI and UX designers. Traditionally, we have collected a big set of popular design trends for websites and mobile applications and supported them with a variety of UI examples from our team. Enjoy and get inspired!<\/p>\n

3D Graphics<\/h2>\n

One of the hottest trends of this year is the integration of various 3D graphics<\/a> into mobile and web interfaces. Applying this kind of graphics to UI is quite a challenge that requires specific skills and artistic eye to be crafted well. In addition, it’s\u00a0time-consuming. However, it is definitely eye-catching and users will never pass by not noticing it. The 3D renders often look photorealistic which is a big advantage for user interface design. This kind of graphics may save the game in cases when photo content you need is impossible to get or highly expensive.<\/p>\n

\"homes<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a\u00a0website of a company\u00a0that designs and builds sustainable homes using solar power to get all the needed energy. 3D rendered model of a house allows users to see the photorealistic image of the offered service and even manipulate it to see the view in day and night mode.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"book<\/p>\n

This\u00a0website of a booking service\u00a0uses 3D graphics as a big theme image that takes the left part of the page and catches user\u2019s attention at once. Not only does the artwork set the theme but also makes the interface beautiful.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"my<\/p>\n

Here’s the onboarding screen<\/a> for My Baby app, a cute mobile diary to save all the precious stuff such as photos, videos, and achievements. 3D graphics<\/a> set the mood and theme instantly in an elegant and attractive way.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"restaurant<\/p>\n

With catchy and elegant graphics, even the\u00a0basic app screens<\/a>\u00a0like sign-up will look tasty and capture users from the first seconds of interaction. Here’s how it is realized for a restaurant app.<\/em><\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/blog.tubikstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/moon_astronaut_animation_design_tubik.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

This is a part of an app for a creative studio Moon<\/a> where children and teens study design and animation. The splash screen animation based on 3D renders is definitely out of the box, isn’t it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Personalization of Interactions<\/h2>\n

This year is marked out with a strong movement to deeper and more sophisticated personalization for the user experience of digital products. Designers strive to present more functionality that enables users to customize the features according to their personal needs.<\/p>\n

\"perfect<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Perfect Recipe\u00a0app<\/a> allows for setting the goals users strive to (losing or gaining weight, keeping a healthy diet and the like). In addition, users may mark the ingredients they avoid using so that the app didn\u2019t show the recipes containing them. This way each user gets a personalized feed, recommendations and search results.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.tubikstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/perfect_bouquet_app_tubik.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

The Perfect Bouquet app allows users to create and order bouquets with all the details they want.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"burger<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Tasty Burger app<\/a>\u00a0provides users with the opportunity to customize their own burger adding or excluding particular ingredients before making the order.<\/em><\/p>\n

Full-Screen Background Images and Video<\/h2>\n

As you could also notice from previous examples, another trend growing its presence, especially in UI design for websites, is the usage of full-screen background visuals. Those may be photos, specially rendered visualizations or even videos. Such an approach helps to make the screens visually and emotionally appealing as well as support the integrity of all the layout elements.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.tubikstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/balloon_rides_website_design_tubik.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Here’s a website design for a service organizing different types of balloon trips. It gives users a deep perspective of the screen due to unframed full-screen images with motion effects creating a strong association with a smooth flight on a ballon.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"creativo<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the home page of the website made for the design studio specializing in exterior and interior design visualizations. The high-quality original graphics rendered for the page take all the background area: this way the image immediately sets the theme and presents the company services.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"explore<\/p>\n

This is a UI concept for Explore Universe, the interactive online encyclopedia devoted to the Solar System, its planets and interesting explorations. Photo, video and graphic assets are\u00a0integrated into the\u00a0dark background to support the visual connection with the theme. Smooth animation supports the feeling of diving into the endless outer space.<\/em><\/p>\n

Complex Digital Illustrations for Web<\/h2>\n

Custom\u00a0digital illustrations<\/a> are steadily getting more and more presence, especially on web interfaces. Featuring a variety of styles, custom graphics\u00a0effectively support the quick perception of the information on the page or screen. What\u2019s more, they set\u00a0the solid ground for originality. Websites and apps apply custom\u00a0mascots,\u00a0icons,\u00a0and\u00a0illustrations\u00a0to\u00a0enhance the looks of a page or screen as well as boost usability and\u00a0intuitive navigation<\/a>.\u00a0In addition, images improve the accessibility of UX design pushing the limits of perception for users who have natural problems with text recognition, for example, non-native speakers for the website language, dyslexic\u00a0users or non-reading preschoolers.<\/p>\n

This trend also actively stretched on creating digital illustrations as\u00a0title images for blog articles<\/a>, as well as we do here on Tubik Blog. It\u2019s definitely a cool trend\u00a0because it adds meaningful and informative beauty to blogs and websites we often read as well as broadens the creative horizons for artists.<\/p>\n

\"babysitting<\/p>\n

Here’s a landing page for Kiddy, a platform that makes hiring a babysitter just a piece of cake. Isn\u2019t it cute? The feeling of cuteness and positivity is supported by several factors, among which animated\u00a0custom illustrations<\/a>\u00a0with funny characters play the key role. They transfer the message and the mood, create the needed atmosphere before the user starts reading about the service, and give all the page a unique look.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, this year designers pushed the limits of web graphics with sophisticated animation.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.tubikstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/design_event_landing_page_tubik.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

That\u2019s the\u00a0landing page for a conference\u00a0where illustrators and digital artists share their experience. Custom hero illustration and it\u2019s animation make the web design catchy and original.<\/em><\/p>\n

Visual Storytelling<\/h2>\n

The trend of custom graphics has opened a wider perspective to storytelling in the interfaces. More and more websites and mobile apps turn to specially designed characters showing the story, setting the atmosphere, sending the message or presenting the benefits in the way that corresponds to the mood, tone, and voice of the platform. Original characters help to make the interactions more human-like, set strong visual associations with the real world and instantly transfer the needed mood. What\u2019s more, depending on the composition, the characters may become an effective tool to make the page or screen dynamic and lively.<\/p>\n

\"website<\/p>\n

This set of custom illustrations was made for one of our recent projects\u00a0Florence App<\/a>. It is an online marketplace where self-employed nurses can find high-paying shifts across the UK. Characters create visual storytelling and present the features and benefits of the app.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.tubikstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/marketing_services_landing_page_design_tubik.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

This is a\u00a0landing page\u00a0for the company that offers a full cycle of services for marketing and promotion. Custom digital illustrations enable storytelling with quick visual prompts about the nature of the offered services, set the mood with a vibrant color palette and support the integrity of all the parts of a page.<\/em><\/p>\n

Buttonless Interactions<\/h2>\n

Buttons are still one of the vital elements of UI design, yet this year we see more creative experiments\u00a0on mobile user experience from the perspective of UI interactions without buttons.\u00a0This approach saves precious space on the screen for more information and it is even believed to be the initial step to the virtual interfaces based on gestures only.<\/p>\n

\"nature<\/p>\n

This encyclopedia app<\/a> presents interactive infographics for a variety of themes, this time elephants. All the interactions with the data happen based on gestures without any buttons applied in the layout.<\/em><\/p>\n

UI-Oriented Branding<\/h2>\n

2018 continued the massive trend of the redesign for branding: global and local companies, products and brands changed their logos and brand visuals mostly aiming at simplification of forms and details.\u00a0One of the reasons for the trend was striving for better usability and navigability of brand elements as more and more businesses competing for the higher online presence. So, both new and redesigned logos were created to be more UI-friendly and effectively perceived on a variety of digital devices and layouts. Furthermore,\u00a0animated logos<\/a>\u00a0became a trend making identity symbols more interactive and strengthening brand awareness.<\/p>\n

\"moon<\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.tubikstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/moon_creative_app_ui_animation_tubik.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Logo design and app branding<\/a> for Moon Creative, an educational facility for children and teens studying design and animation. The color palette, animated logo, interactive elements and animations inside the app feature a consistent approach to the company brand.<\/em><\/p>\n

Catchy and Handy UI Animation<\/h2>\n

As well as in the previous year, 2018 didn\u2019t experience any loss of interest in\u00a0interface animation<\/a>. Not only does it add life and motion to the interaction process but it also\u00a0significantly improves usability. User experience becomes more informative and engaging while manipulations with the elements of interaction get more clear and respond to the user in an understandable way. So, this year designers worked well on a variety of buttons, tabs, charts, preloaders and scroll animations.<\/p>\n

\"finance<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a set of interactions of a Finance App, the application enabling people to track their expenses and income individually or in a group. UI animation supports intuitive navigation and draws users’ attention to the core elements and changes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"slumber<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Slumber app<\/a> features a nice and catchy point of the main screen \u2013 a\u00a0custom illustration\u00a0that is animated together with preloader and makes the process of waiting not boring and aesthetically appealing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prominent Typography and Carefully Crafted Taglines<\/h2>\n

Bold and catchy\u00a0typography<\/a>\u00a0continues to keep its high presence in web and mobile layouts. It usually becomes one of the key design elements and designers pay much attention to keeping it readable and scannable:\u00a0typographic hierarchy\u00a0and choice of proper fonts are\u00a0among the core tasks of every UI design project. More and more often, we come across websites and apps in which text is not only the source of information but also the core element of design and the center of user experience. What’s more, this year shows more care about copywriting for UI<\/a>: in particular, informative and catchy taglines showed themselves an integral element of web design.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.tubikstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/construction_company_website_animation_tubik.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Here’s a\u00a0corporate website for a company that provides the full range of services in architecture and construction. Minimalist layout, high readability, catchy animation of keywords and descriptions of services and contrast limited color palette \u2013 that’s the choice for this UI design.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"stanley<\/p>\n

Here’s design for\u00a0an elegant biography website\u00a0devoted to Stanley Kubrick<\/a>‘s path of glory, life, and creative heritage. It\u2019s easy to see that contrast and elaborate typography were chosen as the main tools of expressiveness in this design.<\/em><\/p>\n

High Readability<\/h2>\n

One more aspect that drew active and deep attention of UI and UX designers this year was general readability<\/a>, for not only core copy elements such as taglines, brand names or calls to action but also the rest of content in the text. It resulted in a careful choice of fonts and font combinations for web and mobile interfaces, with intense preferences to simple and highly readable fonts rather than complex and artistic ones.<\/p>\n

\"museum<\/p>\n

This is a concept of an interactive museum app supporting visitors: it helps to check the available exhibits, learn more about them in split seconds and can even make a route through all the museum to the exhibits you want to see. Stylish and prominent visuals are connected with easily readable fonts to make an app convenient for use on the go.<\/em><\/p>\n

Experiments with Transitions<\/h2>\n

With more and more accessible and improved tools for motion design, animation of scrolling and transitions between screens saved its popularity both for web and mobile interfaces. Creative and original transitions enhance user experience making it natural for the human eye and adding grace for basic interactions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"car<\/p>\n

This UI concept is a helping hand for those who are in search or just want to keep up with the auto news. The shown set of interactions for a web application Carfinder makes diving into the world of cars easy and elegant with special effects and engaging motion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Catchy Hero Images<\/h2>\n

Hero banners are big images catching the user\u2019s attention in the first seconds of interaction with a webpage. They contribute much to the attractive visual presentation of the main content. Hero banners proved themselves as highly effective in setting the mood or transferring the message. Moreover, as well as any other striking graphics on web pages, this is a kind of content that is both informative and emotionally appealing. Prominent hero banners<\/a> can satisfy multiple goals such as:<\/p>\n