It’s all black and white?

– A New Mobile Design Trend

Coined as Complexion Reduction by Michael Horton (UX/UI Designer at Swarm) this stark, monotone, type led mobile design trend of 2016 has seen companies such as Instagram, Airbnb and Apple climbing aboard. The design of these interfaces has become beyond minimal, describes Horton, beyond flat design and independent of progressive reduction.

Beyond minimal you say? Well… the brand colour palettes are being set to one side, in fact using Instagram, Airbnb, and Apple music’s platform’s the brands become almost faceless with the content itself shining through. This allows for a more visual and intriguing experience when browsing. Imagery is the real hero of the mobile design world, and rightly so. It’s far more interesting, album artwork, photography and design now has a more suitable frame for mobile in this age of ‘Complexion Reduction,’ not to mention the re-gen of mobile typography (*swoon.) Broken down, pictures and words are what we know and love, forget about the brand personality of Instagram, I want functionality, peace and quiet.

Put quite brilliantly Horton says:
“This means your iPhone home screen will soon become nothing more than a colourful mosaic of bright portals transporting you to Pleasantville.”

This monochromatic move by Mobile designers is a revolution of simplicity, as brand designers across multi-mediums we aim to achieve this on every project we work on. Users/Customers want the content, product or service outlined as easily as possible, engagement and capturing audiences through thoughtful, simple design are the twin pillars of Kaizen Brand Evolution.