Table of Contents
Introduction
When a variety of online stores look pretty similar to each other, sometimes, an outstanding design of your e-Commerce app can become your key advantage and a powerful weapon for winning the competition.
In this article, we’ve compiled tips and trends of e-Сommerce app design that will help you take the lead in marketplaces.
Tips
Tip 1. Fast and Smooth Registration
Create a simple and short registration form. First, we recommend you to ask only for the information you need most. Name, email address or phone number, and shipping address – yes. How did they know about you, the invitation code, the average user income – no. At the signup stage, users are not yet ready to lay out all the cards on the table and entrust their personal data to you. They want to register as soon as possible to make an order. If you need to collect data for audience analysis, you can always do it later after getting their consent.
Second, all elements and buttons should be highlighted and centred to grab the user’s attention. If some fields are required and some are not, they should be marked as such.
The main rule is to focus on user-friendliness when creating an interface. The e-Commerce app design elements should suggest where to click next.
There are several types of registrations that you can use for your e-Commerce application.
- Delayed registration. Don’t ask users to share their data right away. Instead, let them browse your product catalogue freely. And only when they are ready to make an order, ask to sign in or sign up;
- Integration with social networks. The ability to log in with Google, Facebook or Instagram makes the process faster and more natural. Statistics show that the less time users spend on registration, the more they are satisfied with the service;
- Autocomplete fields. This feature must be taken into account when developing applications for mobile. The system will prompt the user to automatically fill in contact information if they have enabled this feature in their settings;
- Guest mode. Some users do not want to create a personal account at all, so there is a solution for them too. They can make an order in guest mode and provide a minimum amount of data. But guest mode has a drawback: without a full login, customers won’t be able to view their order history or add items to their favourites.
Tip 2. The Rule of Thumb
The second tip is to place all the buttons in the “thumb zone”. Want to know where it is? Just take the phone in your hand and check which corners of the display you can reach with just your thumb.
When creating technical specifications for specialists in e-Commerce app design, it is important to take into account that both right-handers and left-handers will use your application.
Despite the fact that the “thumb zone” is not yet officially included in the guidelines for developers from Apple and Google, it is a bad form to create e-Commerce applications without considering it.
Tip 3. Smart Search
The third tip in the e-Commerce app design is to add a smart search to your app. The less time users spend looking for the item they need, the faster they make a decision of purchase. Here are some smart search examples you can add to your e-Commerce app.
- By name. Users simply need to enter the name of the product in the search bar and see the results;
- By image. For example, if a user likes a product somewhere on the Internet, but doesn’t know the exact name of the product or brand, they can simply take a screenshot and use the catalogue search by image;
- Voice search. Today’s users are too busy to type, so we must enable them to use voice search;
- By barcode. This feature allows users to search for a product by its barcode number. For example, by UPC (Universal Product Code), EAN13, or ISBN for books and other printed material;
- By category. We recommend you divide all products into categories to show that you care about your users’ time. Then customers can immediately view the parts of the catalogue they need. For example, categories might include electronics, cosmetics, clothing, toys, or household goods.
The search bar should be located in the centre of the page and tell users how to search for products. Don’t forget to add filters so that products can be sorted by price, colour, brand, and more.
Tip 4. Shopping Cart
The checkout process should be as fast as registration. Usually, users won’t complete a purchase if the commissions are excessively high and the checkout is too complex. Also, make sure the customer sees the exact shipping cost before proceeding directly to payment. People also abandon checkout because shipping is too expensive (or because it is not included in the price).
Another tip: the “Checkout” or “Buy” button should be located in the “thumb zone” in the centre of the screen. Try to keep your e-Commerce app design minimal and not overload the page with elements so that the user’s attention is focused on the cost and payment.
Many companies use progressive disclosure to keep the page from looking overloaded. This design pattern allows you to organize information across multiple screens or sets. The user can simply click on the plus sign or on the Next button to get more information about the order.
Trends
Trend 1. Perfect Icons
In e-Commerce app design of 2021, making motley icons is simply unacceptable. 2021 interfaces should be polished down to every pixel. Pay special attention to icons.
Tip: If you want to be trendy, do not use icons from different “families”. Do not download different icons from stock sites, but use specialized ready-made libraries. All icons should be in the same style, with the same parameters and line width.
Icons from different “families” in the interface violate the integrity and consistency of the project. Use newer icon libraries. They tend to have a more modern look.
Where did the trend for icons come from?
The last couple of years have been a boom in the development of design libraries. Recently, a huge number of ready-made, professional, and high-quality icons have appeared on the market, catering to all possible tastes. Today, there is simply no point in drawing icons with your own hands and wasting time on them. Thousands of designers from all over the world have created the best icons for any project and task.
Quality icons are now affordable and customizable. Advanced designers take advantage of this and implement ready-made libraries into their projects. That is why their interfaces look cleaner, more pleasing to the eye, and more trendy and modern.
Apple has not strayed far from this trend. At the end of 2020, the company updated its macOS Big Sur, expanding its icon library.
Also, the Sketch developers made a new update in November 2020, where they paid attention to the icons and completely redesigned them.
Trend 2. Minimalism and Simplicity
There have been a lot of experiments in the history of interfaces, and today design has come to the conclusion that a good interface is one that is not visible.
Why did this trend arise?
People spend a lot of time on large platforms and they simply do not need a flamboyant design. What online platforms must do is perform their basic functions and provide content to users. e-Commerce app design should not draw attention to itself. Therefore, a plain white colour and a simplistic design is the best option to fulfill these tasks.
Modern e-Commerce app design focuses on details: interface mesh, fonts, icons, colours, UX, animation.
What should you pay attention to?
- Keep only the most essential user functions in the foreground.
- Make the interface light and airy. Remove bright colours. Content should remain at the centre.
- Build your designs around good fonts, good layout, the right accents, icons, and consistency.
- Pay maximum attention to detail.
- Make the interface “invisible”, but intuitive and convenient.
- Do not deviate too much from the functions and designs familiar to users. Arrange your UI elements and the way users interact with them the same way large and popular companies do. It will be faster and easier for people to interact with your product because it will be understandable and familiar. For instance, do not place the notification icon in the lower-left corner of the screen, place notifications where users are used to seeing them.
How did large companies change their designs according to the trends?
If you haven’t noticed, almost all modern sites look the same. They have removed almost all colour from the main menu and made it white. Someone did it earlier, someone did it later. But the trend in e-Commerce app design is the same for everyone: minimalism, a minimum of accent colours, a lot of space, and content in the spotlight.
Tip: For more productive work, you can try to create layouts in black and white first and only then add colour to them. This will make it easier for you to place colour accents and will allow you to concentrate on details without being distracted by colours.
Trend 3. Shadows and Gradients
The trend with shadows and gradients in e-Commerce app design is an old one, but it remains relevant to this day. The only thing that has changed there is the appearance of greater airiness, lightness, and volume. All this is mixed with pastel gradients and new trending 3D icons. In fact, this is that same minimalism, but more voluminous.
Tip: Use more muted and pastel colours and shades for shadows and gradients.
Gradients have also evolved a bit, becoming more complex. It’s not enough to use a linear gradient like before. You have to mix different colours and use an overlay. Plus, the Color Blur effect is increasingly used in interfaces. Most often, in the background. It gives the interface depth and dimension. Usually, these are some kind of “coloured spots”.
Trend 4. 3D Icons and Illustrations
The emergence of a trend for 3d icons and illustrations in e-Commerce app design is due to the fact that knowledge in the field of 3d has become more accessible: many courses and lessons have become widely available. The designers took advantage of all this and began to expand on the topic by creating libraries of 3d objects.
These are simple shapes and fairly primitive objects, but they look great and fresh as images for projects.
More and more libraries like this appear every day – both ones that are more interesting and professional, and simpler free ones. The main problem is that there aren’t all that many libraries on the net, but lots of people who want to use them. Because of that, many libraries are now seen as rather hackneyed.
Over time, there will be more offers and paid collections on the market to safely use in your e-Commerce app design. Now every other project will use the same free icon pack, which doesn’t exactly scream originality.
Trend 5. 2D Unique and Absurd Illustrations
Illustrations remain in trend in e-Commerce app design. There is just one problem. As with icons, a huge number of similar and accessible illustrations have appeared on the Internet, which greatly depreciates them.
You can use free libraries of seemingly good illustrations, but they will all look the same as your competitors’. Although some years ago, such illustrations were just what the market needed. This does not mean that we must completely abandon them. They can be used, but it’s better to try and find something unique. Better yet, create something of your own.
Original illustrations that are not similar to anything else are in trend. And the bolder they are, the better. This is a golden age for illustrators and they definitely shouldn’t be out of work.
Anything from simple to complex illustrations works great. The main rule is to use fewer free libraries and be more creative.
Yes, absurdity and foolishness rule. Break logic and amaze.
2D illustrations combine perfectly with the 2021-style UI design and look just as good as 3D illustrations.
Trend 6. SVG and JSON Animation
There are many good illustrations in 2021, but they are sometimes boring to look at. To make them even more interesting, it’s better to make them animated. This applies not only to illustrations but also to icons in e-Commerce app design.
Any small animated details in the interface will be a big plus, especially when they are appropriate.
What is SVG and JSON animation? In simple words, this is animation generated by code. What are the advantages?
- Versatility on iOS, Android, Web, and Windows;
- Animation files are tens/hundreds of times smaller than graphics in size;
- Animations can react to any interaction, controlled display.
You need a programmer to create an animation and integrate it in a way that’s supported by all browsers and display sizes. But this does not mean that the designer cannot come up with animations, interact closely with the programmer, or use animation tools. It’s more about the joint work of a programmer and a designer.
In any case, the animation trend in e-Commerce app design will keep developing, and is likely to involve just as much teamwork as it does now: product designer – designer – illustrator – animator – programmer – tester.
The designer can render the animation, then transfer and show it to the programmer. Today, there are no ideal designer tools and animation editors that would meet all the necessary development requirements. When a designer transfers code from a visual editor to a programmer, it can turn out to be too heavy, or not universally supported, or have some other problem. And Gif animation can weigh a lot.
Alternatives:
- Create animations manually. Creating animations by hand is a huge investment in e-Commerce app design and development for Android and iOS. It is often difficult, if not impossible, to justify spending so much time on creating the right animation;
- GIFs. GIFs are more than twice the size of Bodymovin JSON files and are rendered at a fixed size that cannot be scaled to fit large and high-density screens;
- PNG sequences. PNG sequences are even worse than GIF sequences since they are 30-50 times the size of Bodymovin JSON files;
- Animated vector drawing (only for Android). Better performance because it runs in the RenderThread instead of the main thread. Supports only part of Lottie features. Progress cannot be set manually. Doesn’t support text or dynamic colours. Cannot be downloaded programmatically or over the Internet.
Trend 7. Pastel Colours
With the advent of minimalism and simplicity in UI design, pastel colours perfectly complement the new trend. They fit well with the concept of an unobtrusive UI, do not overload e-Commerce app design, and maintain lightness, set the tone and atmosphere.
There is nothing difficult in implementing pastel colours: just make the backgrounds and substrates in your design as bright and transparent as possible, so that they fit well with the overall concept and graphics.
Conclusion
The success of an e-commerce application depends, among other things, on the quality of its design. In such highly competitive markets as e-Commerce, customers will always choose those who offer the best prices and the most intuitive application. Smart interface design increases sales and customer retention rates.
As you can see, there are so many things to consider in e-Commerce app design that sometimes it’s hard to keep track of them all. In that case, finding a company that can help you create an outstanding and trendy e-Commerce application is a great choice. Bamboo Agile can be that company. Contact us to get a free consultation and get the best modern design for your online store!
