Popular UI Design Trends in 2024

User Interface (UI) design is the core of your online interactions. It creates the initial connection your audience feels with your digital space. Imagine your website as a welcoming gesture that greets visitors and helps them find out about what you have to offer or tell the world. Good UI design guarantees you make a lasting impression your visitors remember.

The world of UI design is made up of trends that come and go, and others that stand the test of time.

We'll cover some of the most popular UI design trends in 2024 in this post, from the clean aesthetic of Flat Design to the tactical illusion of Glassmorphism.

Flat Design

Flat design is the digital equivalent of “less is more”. Known for its clean, open space, and avoidance of Skeuomorphic design, which aims to imitate natural objects through the use of shadows, textures and lighting, flat design has been a favourite for its focus on functionality and ease of use.

Key characteristics of Flat UI Design

• Typography: Typography plays a significant role in flat design. It emphasises legible

• Borders: Elements such as icons, buttons, and graphics are represented as flat shapes without Skeuomorphic depth or shadows.

• Colours: A bold and vibrant colour palette is often used, usually in combination with contrasting colours to draw attention to important elements and create a visual hierarchy.

• Layout: A grid-based layout system is often used, which reflects the design's philosophy of simplicity, clarity and functionality.

Material Design

Google's brainchild, Material Design, takes Flat Design a step further by adding light, shadow, and movement, giving more depth to flat elements. This is how it creates a more intuitive user

Key characteristics of Material UI Design

• Typography: Material Design uses typography to establish a clear hierarchy and focus on usability and legibility.

• Borders: It uses subtle shadows and layers to create the illusion of depth and distinguishes elements without heavy Skeuomorphism.

• Colours: A rich colour palette with primary and accent colours is used to indicate interactivity and provide feedback.

• Layout: It advocates for responsive layouts that adapt to different screen sizes by using a grid-based layout to organize elements and content.

Neubrutalism

A bold leap from the subtlety of Flat and Material Design, Neubrutalism combines the raw, bold aesthetics of Brutalism with modern, interactive elements. It’s the statement piece in the UI design gallery – it’s unapologetically honest and function-focused.

Key characteristics of Neubrutalism UI Design

• Typography: Often bold and stark, with a preference for simplicity and directness, sometimes incorporating unusual or custom typefaces for emphasis.

• Borders: It features strong, pronounced borders and block elements, with a focus on raw, unrefined edges and shapes.

• Colours: A limited or monochromatic colour scheme is utilised, with high contrasts to draw attention to specific areas or functions.

• Layout: It employs a more free-form layout approach and breaks traditional grid systems for a more experimental or unconventional structure.

Neumorphism

A stylistic sibling to Skeuomorphism, Neomorphism mimics real-world materials through subtle shadows, highlights, and gradients, which create soft, tactile interfaces that invite user interaction.

Key characteristics of Neomorphism UI Design

• Typography: Uses soft, readable typefaces that complement the subtle depth and textures of the design.

• Borders: Soft, inset shadows are incorporated to create a sense of depth. This makes elements appear embedded into the background.

• Colours: A muted colour palette with subtle gradients is preferred to enhance the sense of depth and dimension.

• Layout: It uses a clean, minimalist layout that emphasises the tactile quality of the design elements.

Glassmorphism

Characterised by transparency (like looking through glass), this trend uses blur and translucency to create a multi-layered, depth-filled UI that’s both futuristic and clean.

Key characteristics of Glassmorphism UI Design

• Typography: A legible, sleek typeface is used for better readability against translucent backgrounds.

• Borders: Elements often have soft, blurred borders, which emphasises the glass-like, transparent qualities.

• Colours: It uses light colours with high transparency, paired with vibrant accents to create depth and focus.

• Layout: A layered approach with floating elements is common. This creates depth and dimension through overlap and translucency.

Bauhaus

Drawing inspiration from the Bauhaus art movement, which emphasised simplicity, functionality, and the integration of art and industry, Bauhaus UI Design champions a minimalist aesthetic combined with geometric shapes, bold colour contrasts, and a focus on user-friendly functionality.

Key characteristics of Bauhaus UI Design

• Typography: It embraces geometric, sans-serif typefaces that embody clarity and simplicity.

• Borders: Minimalistic borders or no borders are preferred. The focus is on geometric shapes and clean lines.

• Colours: A primary colour palette with bold, vibrant colours to is used to emphasise simplicity and function.

• Layout: A functional and straightforward layout is adopted – often with an asymmetric balance that aligns with the design's utilitarian philosophy.