Design Trends We Will See in 2023
In digital product design, solutions-based thinking is vital. When it comes to creating a successful UX/UI design portfolio, this maxim still applies.
A UX design portfolio should showcase your multi-disciplinary talents and communicate a preoccupation with the total user and customer experience from end to end.
Portfolios should include detailed case studies and a high-level demonstration of design skills. Product designers who want to present a top-notch product design portfolio should also highlight the mastery of current design trends.
The trends prove that a designer can help businesses utilize digital products in an incredibly fast-paced industry. It's critical to create a design portfolio that shows adaptability with cutting-edge product design in 2023.
Which Trends Will We See in 2023
A good product design portfolio must include examples of these leading industry trends, lest it commits the cardinal sin of product design: irrelevancy.
The best portfolio websites feature work that showcases modern design techniques and skill sets using some of the most popular trends mentioned below. People looking at portfolios should be entertained scrolling through. There are loads of great design tools, e.g. Figma.
Read on to learn what trends to expect in product design next year and well into the industry’s future.
UI Design Trends
User interface design is about creating innovative ways to enhance user engagement.
Functionality lies at the core of good UI digital product design. Every year technology and user behavior change and adapt, but the goal of UI design never changes.
Compared to last year, UI design will focus on improving customer ease and comfort, along with sophisticated brand recognition strategies.
UX Design Trends
User experience design trends offer vigilant designers a roadmap to the future of digital product design.
User expectations and engagement are always at the forefront of UX trends, along with hyper-personalization and maximizing customer satisfaction.
As with UI trends, brand consistency is pivotal. A user’s experience and their opinion of a given brand are intrinsically linked.
Effective UX design in 2023 will provide products and experiences that foster genuine connections between brands and their customers.
Voice Design
During the COVID-19 pandemic, voice technology usage exploded and users have since grown accustomed to innovative voice design.
These assistants have the potential to serve as a bridge between services and users via digital avatars and voice technology.
Paired with futuristic AI technology, voice design has almost limitless potential in the digital product design sphere.
3D
3D product design is nothing new, but in 2023 expect to see a shift to more simplified styles of 3D art styles.
Another 3D trend to look out for and familiarize yourself with is the combination of movement and 3D shapes. This is a striking technique that goes above and beyond classic animation strategies.
Stop-motion, micro-interactions, 2D, and 3D trends can be created in Figma and will dominate 2023, and products without these elements risk the death knell of irrelevancy. The 3D motion design trend will demand thorough brand positioning and a strong visual identity.
VR
Successful product designers familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of virtual reality design like photography, motion design, depth, sound design, and environment.
In 2023 VR trends like curved design and 360-degree vision will dominate the product design industry.
Product designers should concern themselves primarily with depth consistency with their menus and UI elements in 2023. Interactive VR displays will play a prominent role in leading product design trends.
AR
Augmented reality (AR) trends have already broken ground in the digital product design market, mainly on popular social media apps like Snapchat and Pokémon Go.
Snapchat revolutionized AR technology on a mass scale through complex filters and photo editing. Pokémon Go followed the trend, using AR to help users navigate larger locations.
In 2023 expect to see more companies follow in IKEA’s footsteps, using AR technology to help customers visualize products using smartphones.
AR has a promising future in the healthcare field, ensuring patients get the best possible care and giving medical professionals powerful tools to provide it for them.
Smart Design
The future of product design is forever entwined with smart, data-based designs. The use of AI tech in smart design focuses on problem management and the apex of positive UX.
Faster Page Load Speed
Website performance and website design plays an outsized role in UX, and in 2023 you can expect to see page-load times decrease sharply. This is thanks to the advent of 5G networks’ higher maximum internet speeds.
Product designers will benefit from 5G technology primarily because they can design resource-heavy pages without worrying about tanking user experience.
Look out for 5G capabilities playing a role in the adoption of VR technology in 2023, thanks to optimal web page load times.
Mobile First Design
In years past developers scaled down their designs from desktop to mobile.
In today’s digital design landscape, mobile-first features reign supreme by creating a streamlined, seamless UX in miniature.
Mobile-first design trends are constantly evolving, but a prominent usability trend to look out for in 2023 is the smaller navigation menu. Fewer navigation items mean optimal mobile performance.
Mobile-centric philosophies ensure companies can reach their customers anywhere, any place, anytime, on any screen.
Health and Learning
Digital products continue to gain relevance in medical industries, where digital devices ensure better health and quality of life. Digital devices and digital healthcare products like meditation apps, medical wearables, and vocal biomarkers are prime examples of cutting-edge UX/UI technology in the ecommerce realm.
Meditation apps are customizable meditation practices that users can access using their smartphones. Medical wearables like Fitbits and Apple Watches measure heart rates, calories burned, and steps taken.
Vocal biomarkers analyze small vocal snippets that can potentially identify mental health issues in call centers, telehealth platforms, and medical clinics around the world.
Which Design Styles (UI) Are Trending in 2023?
Any 2023 UI design portfolio should include some of the following trends in a product design job.
A job product designer that keeps their eyes on today’s prominent user interface trends will have a powerful upper hand against any competitors.
Flat Design
It disavows any excessive use of drop shadows, textures, and gradients to provide a 3D illusion in a flat, minimalist style.
Pop Art
The original Pop Art movement originated in the UK in the late 1950s. It was championed by artists like Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol.
This short-term, expendable art form showcases satirical elements and utilizes bright, catchy colors. Pop Art designs should be vivid and clever, bonus points if they point out elements of modern consumer culture.
Expect to see lots of Pop Art inspired digital designs in 2023 with bold, statement designs and pop culture-centered motifs.
Retro Designs
Retro product designs are cyclical, much like retro fashion.
Look out for holographic textures, low poly CGI, simple interfaces, and lots of neon.
Dark Mode
Dark mode technology is not new in product or web design trends, but it will continue to impact UX design - just as in recent years - in 2023.
Predominantly dark palette designs utilize light text and black or dark-colored backgrounds.
Sites like YouTube and Facebook have offered dark mode viewing options for some time and they provide better utility for the visually impaired.
As a bonus, dark mode designs reduce OLED power usage. Expect to see many more mobile apps and websites adopting dark mode options additionally to the light mode for their user base.
Glass Optics
Glass optic technology, or smart glasses, could become the next smartphones with the variety of features available to users.
Users can browse the internet hands free using voice assist technology. Glass optics can also add information screens, enhancing the user’s immediate physical location.
Expect to see continued advances in glass optics and interactive smart glasses technology. AR displays combined with internet connectivity and smart software provides ultimate usability and hands-free software navigation.
Brutalism
Younger audiences seem to respond well to brutalism. It provides a path for easy navigation, super fast loading times, and less clutter in your UI.
Brutalism is known for its use of serif and sans-serif fonts which are much softer on the eyes than traditional mono-font styles.
Neobrutalism
Neobrutalism, also known as Neubrutalism, combines elements of Brutalism with modern typefaces and some animated elements.
It does away with most traditional design layouts and utilizes clashing color schemes, eccentric fonts, and extremely high contrast rates.
Neobrutalist designers avoid using blur elements with shadows, preferring sharp lines and simple shapes.
Fonts
Fonts are a fundamental aspect of product design and are crucial to foster brand recognition over time. In 2023 expect to see companies using font trends to get views and acquire new customers.
Authentic Handwriting
The authentic handwriting trend allows for a more personable style that makes users feel like they are receiving a handwritten missive.
Authentic typography encourages a light, genuine vibe that increases readability for an excellent UX and a unique style statement. Calligraphy style fonts are sure to make plenty of these statements in 2023 with their handmade authenticity and unique aesthetic.
Art Deco Fonts
As we continue through the 2020s, the romanticism of Art Deco has experienced a spirited revival, and expect to see plenty of Art Deco font trends in 2023 and beyond.
Sans serif fonts with aerodynamic curves with contemporary digital flare make up the majority of Art-Deco-inspired font families. This trend offers brands a font option that is classy and traditional, but not dated.
Variable Fonts
In 2023 expect to see a striking rise in variable fonts. Traditional fonts are static with predetermined design styles and letterforms saved to a software file. Variable fonts have a base typeface but can morph to suit a designer’s needs.
This includes animated typefaces, color-changing fonts, and variable fonts that retain all-important brand visibility despite their transformations.
Glitchy Fonts
Futuristic glitch font designs began as a trend in 2021 and have dominated font trends for two years. Expect to see more glitchy font options in 2023.
Glitch effects work best with dark backgrounds. They utilize 3D shapes and glyphs with red and cyan highlights that create an eye-catching illusion.
Which Design Trends Will Stay?
If you are trying to learn how to make a product design portfolio, you need to know what makes a good design portfolio.
An effective design portfolio should showcase longevity and intelligence in spotting and incorporating new trends into product design examples.
Showing your mastery of technologies like voice design, virtual reality, augmented reality, dark mode design, and mobile-first design is important.
These are the design trends that will stick around well into the next decade.
Which Design Trends Will Slowly Vanish?
A student portfolio design might include trends that are dated or stagnant. Chances are they will feature design elements with fleeting popularity that do not have substantial staying power compared to other styles.
Of all the design trends mentioned above, aspects like brutalism, neo-brutalism, flat design, and 3D elements have the most potential to come and go as the year progresses.
Though 3D design will inevitably intertwine with VR and the Metaverse, it is not necessarily a lasting product design element.
The Next Big Product Design Trend
Inevitably, immersive digital product design will become the next big design trend beyond 2023.
Users will expect a seamless digital experience, making immersive design integral to design processes shortly.
Immersive design will also play a core role in VR technology, another essential tool for product designers in the present and the not-so-distant future.
Most In-Demand Product Design Jobs
Product designers are by far the most in-demand design jobs, thanks to their role at software companies, startups, and larger corporations. In the burgeoning electric car market, product designers are in high demand.
Some other popular product design jobs include web developers, digital designers, animation designers, UI designers, UX designers, art directors, and graphic designers.
Innovation is vital for success. New and exciting products should always be on top of the latest design trends.
Will AI Replace Product Designers?
While AI technology and algorithms are already a part of the product design sphere, that doesn’t mean artificial intelligence will replace designers.
Product designers will likely be able to utilize AI technology as a collaborator. This will allow designers to remain relevant and prepare rather than remain reactive.
As of now, machines cannot match the human ability to foresee future possibilities and how events might change.
Maybe one day in the future machines will gain those abilities, but presently AI cannot replace the skills of a human product designer. Machines can adapt things, but they have yet to learn how to contextualize designs or instill a sense of empathy in prospective consumers.
For at least the next few decades, people still need to fill these strategic design positions, but until then, AI will likely act as a tool for designers rather than a replacement.
Algorithms and AI tech can undermine creative human talents, but there is still a significant demand for skilled workers that robots can’t currently fill.
Product Designer Portfolio Tips
Product designers have to stay up on current design trends to stay relevant. Out-of-date examples can ruin a fantastic design portfolio, so it always pays to let your recent work speak for itself.
That current work should have a healthy dose of the newest digital design trends to entice possible clients. If the material in your portfolio consists of work from years past, consider replacing some examples with more recent work.
Ensure your portfolio is easily navigable. Posting examples of great UI and UX designs are much less persuasive when your portfolio navigation is confusing.
Including the most current design trends can make a great impression, show of your your skillsets, and create a successful product design portfolio. Click here for more useful information on creating a design portfolio that get’s you hired!
Final Thoughts
When working on a product design portfolio, demonstrate your understanding of design trends, their current influence, and their impact.
A good portfolio example will include product design fundamentals alongside the newest trends. Product design portfolios should have several samples of trending work, including UI and samples that prove relevance in an ever-evolving field. But make sure that your portfolio is not too big, pick your best 3-5 projects and show the most variety there.
In 2023, design trends like VR, AR, voice design, and mobile-first interfaces will likely stick around for a while. Some trends are just flashes in the pan that will come and go as the year progresses.
Either way, popular design trends will always have a place of pride in any impressive product design portfolio.