The main components of brand image that attract customers are attractive design and convenient interfaces. Businesses that embrace design generate 32% more revenue and 56% more shareholder returns, according to research. The overall quality of the design reflects product value as well as the customer service level of a business.

Considering the growing significance of UX/UI design in a product’s success, we spoke to four Product Designers at Transcenda and outlined some of the latest trends to consider for your 2022 product strategy.

Julia Kucherenko

Product Designer

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Name three product design trends of 2022. Which trend are you most excited for and why?

In 2022 I will continue to prioritize UX, short loading time, and minimalistic UI. However, my top pick is personalizing user experience. Businesses that adapt to customization are winning.

Firstly, it’s all about the content itself. Traditional TV is fading and products with personalized suggestions are booming. You can choose what to watch, and it’s not limited by your location. Secondly, users are gaining more control over what they consume – stepping away from ads into subscription models. The last element is accessibility. Ensure that people with different visual perceptions can access the product, or people with different mental challenges feel seen.

And let’s not forget about Memoji! It’s a cool case of personalization.

Are there any trends in product or UX/UI design that you feel are becoming a thing of the past?

Heavy scrolling animations on the websites definitely have to go – while it provides a wow effect, it’s hard to concentrate on the content itself. Also, make sure to check color contrast in your designs, the size of typography, etc. – making products more inclusive is a must nowadays.

Additionally, some visual trends such as neumorphism or glassmorphism may look good on Dribbble, but they might not complement real products. I believe in accessibility and functionality above anything.

What design tools do you plan to use most as a Product Designer?

Stepping up the game with the fresh Material You design system. Also FigJam for user journeys, personas, etc. Figma for designing and prototyping. Any video call tool for user interviews, team meet-ups. Adhesive stickers on a work desk for task management, as always.
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Vitalii Prokopenko

Product Designer

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Name three product design trends of 2022. Which trend are you most excited for and why?

Trends tend to change frequently and I am sticking with minimalism and simplicity. I also think 3D will try to break the pattern and return back to the game, we can see this in icon styling and some illustrations, so it may affect the interface design as well. It’s hard to name the last trend, people continue experimenting with skeouneumorphism, brutalism, abstract, and each of these might become the next big thing.

Out of the mentioned trends, I’m really passionate about minimalism. I’m in love with interfaces that are as simple as a piece of white paper. I do like working with fonts and believe that when good font work meets minimalistic design, something really beautiful and trendy comes up.

Are there any trends in product or UX/UI design that you feel are becoming a thing of the past?

I think product designers should rely less on Dribbble. In pursuit of beautiful visuals people often forget about the users. It’s important to keep in mind that you are doing your job not to impress other designers, but to make a functional product for the audience whose tastes and preferences may vary. And it makes me happy that user-friendly designs are taking over complex visuals.

What design tools do you plan to use most as a Product Designer?

I think the majority of designers, including myself, will work in Figma as it’s keeping up with market requests. I also expect a significant growth of prototyping tools such as Principle, Protopie, and Axure as it’s really necessary nowadays to make clickable versions of every interface.
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Roman Nazarenko

Product Designer

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Name three product design trends of 2022. Which trend are you most excited for and why?

First of all, personalization and authenticity have become more and more important. You have to stand out to your target audience and it’s quite a task.

Secondly, you need to understand the pain points of your customers and address them in your product UX, otherwise you might struggle with keeping your place on the market. Customer interviews and concise questionnaires might help you with that.

The third trend is design systems. If you have a large project you should consider using one. The bigger the product, the harder it is to support, so a set of patterns and shared practices will keep everyone updated on everything in the project.

Are there any trends in product or UX/UI design that you feel are becoming a thing of the past?

The visual trends come and go and they tend to repeat over time. So, I’d recommend not to fuss over trendy visuals but rather concentrate on the customer needs.

For example, skeuomorphism introduced interface objects that mimic the appearance of real-world objects. Now this is considered an outdated practice as it presents a lot of visual information that is hard for people to process. Modern interfaces look a lot more simple.

What design tools do you plan to use most as a Product Designer?

The same as with trends, tools are constantly evolving and replacing one another. Like most designers today, I am using Figma but still looking out for other tools. Figma has captured a significant market share and it is not always playing out well for them. Many users are encountering bugs and some core features haven’t been implemented for years. Still it is the best tool on the market today, and I’m looking forward to seeing it grow.

Checking popular products and other designers’ work helps me with references for my projects. User feedback is even more important than external inspiration, because it helps to truly understand what problems we are trying to solve and if we are successful at it.
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Oksana Nesterenko

Product Designer

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Name three product design trends of 2022. Which trend are you most excited for and why?

I will go with the combination of minimal aesthetics, personalized experiences, and modularity.

The world is becoming more diverse and a shift towards sustainability, accessibility, and inclusive design brings even more value to simple products – they look clean and have memorable customer experiences. Reduced complexity also enhances consistency and makes building and scaling products easier.

Today people are expecting personalized experiences based on their preferences and background. It is important for product designers to know their customers, use empathy to help customers reach their goals, extend experience across all channels of interaction, and help businesses grow their target metrics.

Additionally, the need for seamless integration is growing, and product designers need to be keen on modularity in their work. From combining various patterns, design libraries, and frameworks, to building up a whole product out of different solutions – modular approach can save a lot of time, not only for the designers, but for all project teams.

Combine different solutions, keep it simple and personalize the experiences – you’re ready to test and define next steps!

Are there any trends in product or UX/UI design that you feel are becoming a thing of the past?

Stop concentrating on new experiences over fixing the current inaccessible components. First of all, deal with the existing issues, but do not innovate the product for the sake of innovation only.

What design tools do you plan to use most as a Product Designer?

I use Figma (plugins+FigJam) for design related tasks, Notion for keeping all the stuff documented, User Interviews for research, Maze for user testing, and Fullstory for analytics.

I’m a fan of tools that gather communities of people around them. Communities can really bring any product to the next level by advancing it with self-made plugins or template solutions. Plus, there are online tools that can help the right people test your product solutions, so you don’t have to spend much time searching for them yourself.