2023 What’s NOT hot in Design
After my product strategy blog about what’s NOT hot, I found a lot to talk about from the Design world. So let’s dig into the anti-trends in 2023 Design.
- Dark patterns
- Visual austerity and hyper-simple UX interactions
- 100% hand-crafted experiences
- More working than living
Dark patterns
People have gotten very savvy with smelling something off with their digital interactions. And they’re quick to call out companies that are using dark patterns to get their customers to do something that they didn’t intend. This reaction to dark patterns has been years in the making, and regulations like data privacy laws are pushing dark patterns out.
In 2023, you can see where companies, who’ve burned consumer trust with dark patterns, are now engaging with kindness initiatives and also plain old user experience design that makes customers successful — from the customer’s perspective. Another way Design is veering away from dark patterns is to embrace wellness and hygge design into apps that aren’t necessarily a health app. For example, an accounting app reminds you it’s time to take a break.
Visual austerity and hyper-simple UX interactions
Goodbye to the austere visual designs that grew out of the mid-centry trend as well modern esthetics. Thank goodness, I was tired of minmalistic everything. Hello saturated purples and magentas (see ya, grays). Will kitschy, elaborate, or ornate visuals suit every taste in 2023? Probably no. But the pendulum has swung. Vintage is still around, but not the realism vibe. Instead expect airbrush, surrealism, punk, fantasy, even Y2K looks.
Also “not hot” is highly simplified UX interactions. Gone are the days when you clicked on an object and were transported somewhere else. Instead, you’ll see even more micro interactions across mobile and desktop. 3D imagery will show up more as VR/AR expectations become more mainstream. Bye-bye flat design. Similarly, immersive scrolling and parallax effects continue their march forward, especially to advance a narrative or other storytelling intent. Sorry if you don’t like the “busier” feel of apps and websites in 2023.
Ignoring AI-generated content: text and imagery
Write your own or use generative AI? Designers are no longer manually building hand-crafted experiences. Instead, they rely on a wealth of tools to design and deliver a great user experience. The content-generation tools include ChatGPT (and others), Dall-e, Midjouney, and Stable Diffusion.
Designers are also leveraging more and more sophisticated wireframing and collaboration tools, such as Figma, Invision, Adobe XD, and Axure. That adoption has led to less time pushing pixels and more time to converse, think, and collaborate. Yes, the debate rages on about the ethics and accuracy of generative AI, but it’s out there and passing college exams.
More working than living
To be great humans, Designers need time and headspace away from work concerns. That in turn makes them also great Designers for their organizations. Yet 2023 workplace realities are not always supporting the goal of being great humans. Layoffs, belt-tightening, reduced office perks, and even skill shortages can make for a tough worklife.
Yes, tough times also can mean opportunities for designers, especially ones with a focus on the bottom line, such as working on easily-measured business impacts, consultancy, growth projects, or non-commoditized tasks. Also, expectations are rising for a single Designer to encompass many different disciplines. On the other hand, “niche” roles, such as DesignOps and Content Designer continue to thrive. So what gives? I’d lean more to Designers best serving their organizations when they can do what they do best and not try to cover all the bases.
Well that about wraps my 2023 trends. You can also check out my anti-trends for product strategy, especially tuned for product managers. As always, my trends list comes from my observations and research along with hearing what others think too:
