#100 Big UX Trends for 2025 You Need to Know
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the future of UX, where we explore the trends that will shape the future of design, tech and user experiences. I'm your host Patricia Reines and today we are diving into UX trends for the new year 2025.

These trends are shaping how we design, what we build and how users interact with products. And trust me, it's a wild ride. And yeah, you know what? I want you to leave this episode feeling excited like you've got a secret advantage for the new year 2025.

So we will dive into real examples, we will share practical tips, we will share resources and maybe even a few stories from my own experience to make it all click and easier to understand. But before we are diving into the episode, I need to announce something. I'm not sure if I can actually believe it, but this is episode number 100 of the Future of UX podcast and I

I can't believe it. Episode 100. This is unbelievable. And I just really want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you and to you, you're listening, whether you've been here since the beginning or you're tuning in for the very first time today.

Your support, your messages and your insights have been so valuable and so helpful for me. And it's been an incredible journey. I'm so grateful to share it with you. If you enjoyed the show, it would mean the world if you could share it maybe with a friend. If you could give me a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or leave me a review.

I can only say thank you so much. Here's to the next 100 episodes. And the episode 100 is a special one because we are diving into the trends for the new year to help you to stay a little bit ahead of what's happening. But just a little heads up.

I am not here to share a one size fits all solution. So this is not the master plan. I'm sharing what I have been observing in the design world lately. So this is my personal take based on the conversations that I'm having with clients, on the things that I'm talking with other experts, on the insights from real projects that I've been working on. So this is my personal take.

And for me, it's super important to make this episode also a little bit tangible. So make it easy for you to apply these trends in your projects and prepare for all the future shifts and make your design more impactful and better.

We've, we definitely will be going beyond the buzzwords and this is about actionable insights that you can actually use. And by the end of this episode, you will have hopefully everything you need to know to turn these trends into opportunities. So I would say, let's get started with the first trend. Actually, we are going to talk about eight trends. So eight trends and we will get started with the first one.

And this is not a surprise, this is my favorite topic, this is the AI explosion. I would say let's talk about the big elephant in the room: AI. Especially generative AI is transforming how we design and what users expect and maybe you can't, you don't want to hear about AI anymore because everyone's talking about it and there has been so much change because of AI.

the thing that it actually is changing is it's automating repetitive tasks. It's creating personalized user experiences. So there's a lot going on at the moment. And I think there's the catch. AI can be both. It can be an amazing tool, but it can also be a threat

It can make our life easier, but if we don't use it correctly, it can feel impersonal and even alienate users. And I want you to imagine a scenario. You've a UX designer at a mid-sized company, maybe working at a mid-sized company anyway, and you've just integrated an AI feature into your product. Maybe it's a chatbot.

and it's supposed to save users time by predicting their next action. But instead of delighting them, users are confused, maybe they're frustrated because they don't understand how the AI works or they don't believe in it, they don't trust it.

And that's because AI needs careful UX planning to ensure it feels assistive and not intrusive. So UX for AI is super important to do it right, to have the right strategies, to collaborate with the right people and to come up with solutions that help the user. So a few tips.

Help or embrace AI as a collaborator, not as a replacement, especially when it comes to designing with AI. Tools like ChatGPT can help you brainstorm ideas, automate tedious tasks, but the human creativity is still key. So you need to use your critical thinking. And this is what I'm seeing every day. It's the combination of really getting the most out of the tool and then using critical thinking.

The second really big tip when it comes to AI is design human-AI interactions very, very carefully. Think about how users will feel interacting with AI. Does it feel helpful and human or cold and robotic? And this is what you find out through testing. So user research and testing has never been more important than today. And the last tip is really trusting or testing for trust.

Always consider how you're building trust with users, so transparency is key. For example, if your AI is making recommendations, explain why. If you want to dive deeper into how to design AI products, I can highly recommend to sign up for the waiting list for AI for Designers because in just a few weeks I'm going to share with you the compact self-learning version of AI for Designers where we have

one module all about how to design AI products from a UX perspective with all the strategies, with the methods, with everything you need. This is an amazing way to do a little deep dive into the topic. You can find all the information in the description box. Sign up, then you will get notified and get all the information that you need.

I'm also going to share some other resources for you. For example, the Google AI Principles for Ethical Guidelines on Building Trustworthy AI Products. There's an amazing resource that I can highly recommend to check out. Find this in the description box.

The next really big trend, and this is not, I mean, I don't really want to call this a trend because this is something that's going to continue in the next 10, 15 years. All of those trends that I'm going to talk about, it's not something that's only going to be relevant for the next year, but for everything that's ahead of us for the next decade, basically. So now some of those trends are still early, but it's super important for us to already dive deeper into that.

So trend number two is green design. Sustainability. Sustainability, I mean, it's a bit of a, like, not a buzzword, but you know, you hear it here and there and you don't really know what it means. And this will become very, very, very important. It already is very important. But also users are becoming more aware of their environmental impact and they expect the same from the products that they use.

So imagine that you're designing an app for a ride-sharing service. You add a feature that shows users how much carbon they are saving by carpooling. That sounds interesting, right? But if users find out your company isn't actually offsetting emissions or it doesn't care about sustainability, but feature really loses all its credibility. So some tips for designers. Think lightweight design.

Build websites and apps that consume less energy by optimizing images, for example, by reducing unnecessary animations and using efficient code. You can also consider a circular UX approach. How can users reuse or recycle within your product? Maybe you're also offering some kind of physical products.

that could be encouraging secondhand sales or refurbishing products. Or incorporate green nudges. Use behavioral design techniques to encourage sustainable actions like reminders to turn off notifications to save battery. Also want to share an amazing example is also a client that I work with, Google. They are working or they are, yeah, they have, I think like a super interesting example

It's called AMP, A-M-P, Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. And they are aiming to make websites load faster, particularly on mobile devices. And it not only enhances the user experience, but also reduces energy consumptions as pages load more quickly and more efficiently. So it's built a little bit different.

and thereby using also less data and less power. And by improving performance, AMP contributes to a more sustainable digital ecosystem, showing how thoughtful design choices can have a big impact on the environment. And you can also code your own websites with AMP components. I'm going to link everything in the show notes in case you want to check it out. Might be interesting, might be something that you would like to talk to your team about.

I also have an amazing resource for you if you want to dive a little bit deeper. One is SACS, Sustainable UX, that I'm going to link. And the second one is the Sustainable Web Design by Tom Greenwood for some insights on creating eco-friendly digital products. So two amazing resources. And trend number three, and I think this is such an important one and I can't talk enough about it,

It's continuous learning and upskilling. I'm talking a lot about upskilling because this is so important and we are at a time where we are seeing that our skills that we need, our soft and the hard skills are changing. And there is this huge trend, especially for designers, that as tech evolves, studies actually show that 40% of our skills will need to change by 2030. This means that if you're not learning, you're falling behind.

I got this number actually from the Future of Jobs report by the World Economic Forum. I'm also going to link it. And this is a fascinating read that outlines the upcoming shifts in the global job market. So super interesting. And we are seeing all these shifts already in the design job market right now.

So the types of job that will grow and the skills that will be in demand. I'm going to link it in the show notes so you can check it out yourself and dive deeper into the trends we are discussing today. And I think with like with everything, you can either embrace it and grow or you resist and also risk falling behind.

So imagine a designer who learned Figma years ago but hasn't kept up with its new AI features, with the new Figma updates. I mean, this designer is probably still doing things maybe manually sometimes while the peers are using AI to speed up workflows and impress clients. And the difference is night and day pretty much.

You need to be aware of what's going on there and focus on the right skills. So, three tips. First is invest in learning AI tools. Start small with tools like JetGPT with Midjourney.

If you don't want to take a course, there are a million free tutorials out there. Yes, it takes longer, but you want to maybe pretty much take the fast train. AF4Designers is there for you, where you learn everything. The second tip is build learning into your product experience. Think personalized learning path and adaptive interface that help users grow within your product.

So really think about how learning, not only your personal learning, but also learning for the users that you're working with can be an important part. And create a culture of learning for yourself. Encourage yourself on a maybe weekly basis to learn. Set time apart where you have time to explore, to learn, to read, maybe explore tools. I have this on a Friday evening.

It's the time where I'm exploring AI tools, where I'm learning, that I'm using for research or for my own research and for my own education. There are also platforms like LinkedIn Learning that are already doing this, where you can find amazing courses and learn. So continuous learning is super important and the faster you establish this into your process, the better for you.

And trend number four, and we are seeing this at the moment, it's automation in UX. Automation is coming for every single industry, including design. Users still want control, but automation is still there.

And we are seeing this in also the apps or in the design product that we are creating. Imagine an app that automatically categorizes your emails. Sounds helpful, but what if it makes mistakes? Users need the ability to override automation and make their own decisions.

So it's amazing if you automate things, but the user still needs to have control. So automation is great, but what is the sweet spot between automating things and keeping users full control of everything? A little bit like a self-driving car, right? Like it's not just driving somewhere.

without maybe the user isn't able to do something but the user also of the self-driving car or like the driver is always has the agency to basically turn the wheel and do changes to the route for example so some tips focus on transparency make sure that users understand what is automated also in the parts that you are creating use very clear language and explain the benefits

and then provide a way to take back control. Always give users the option to correct and to override automated actions. And what's always good is to have a fallback option, you know, when things are not working so well. I'm also going to link a super interesting article about the automation design patterns by Chris Arnussel for ideas on building user-friendly automation.

Let's move to another super interesting topic, which is designing for emerging markets. Emerging markets represent the next billion users. But to design effectively for them sometimes requires a deep understanding of local needs and constraints.

And these are also users with sometimes limited access to high-speed internet, lower-end devices and cultural differences that impact how they interact with digital products, the digital products that we are designing. So UX designers, I think we need to adapt our approach to make sure we are not just copying and pasting solutions that work in the West.

So let's break down why this matters. And I think this is a little bit of a controversial or a topic that you don't hear much about when it comes to trends. But imagine someone in maybe a rural area in India trying to use an app designed for a high speed, always connected environment. The app takes forever to load, drains their data and ends up being uninstalled because it's just not practical for their situation.

And I think that's a missed opportunity and one we can avoid by designing with empathy and local context in mind. So think about accessibility, a super important topic. This goes beyond disability. It includes creating low bandwidth solutions, offline modes, lightweight apps.

For instance, an app that can't function even when a user loses internet connection is more likely to be successful and markets with spotty connectivity. Okay, so now let's come to this episode's sponsor, Wix Studio. Web designers, let's talk about the C word, creative burnout.

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That's quick studio rec. And design for cultural nuances. Not every UX pattern works globally. Take into account language differences, reading directions and color symbolisms. Sometimes as simple as the color red can have vastly different meanings in different cultures.

I want to talk about two examples that I find pretty interesting. One of my favorite examples is Spotify Lite. It's a stripped down version of Spotify's main app built especially for users in emerging markets. It's small in size, uses less data and works even on older devices. And I think what's brilliant is that they didn't just water down the core concept, but they rethought the experience to suit the needs of a different audience.

And another great example is Google Tess, not Google Pay. It's a payment app designed for India and they recognize that most users there prefer voice and voice basically over English. And the app includes audio cues and supports regional languages, making it more accessible. So I think pretty, pretty interesting. I'm also going to link it.

And I'm going to link another amazing resource, which is the Worldwide UX website by Daniel Schuch for tips on designing for global audiences. So in case that's interesting for you, the worldwideux.com. Because the interesting thing is designing for emerging market isn't just like this nice to have, but it's essential for business growth and there are a lot of opportunities as well. Let's move to the next trend, which is emotional design.

In times of AI, emotions and empathy are so important. And when we think about this increasingly automated world, emotional design will become a key differentiator. People want products that resonate with them on a very deep level. So experiences that feel human, that feel warm and feel meaningful.

Imagine using a meditation app like Headspace. What makes you keep coming back? It's not the functionality, it's the calming animations, the soothing voice and the way it makes you feel cared for, pretty much. And that's emotional design at work. So some tips: Focus on storytelling. Don't just create interfaces, create narratives and also tell narratives when you present your design decisions to stakeholders.

How does your product fit into the user's story? Think about accessibility, inclusivity and how your design choices can impact users' emotions. So focus on empathy. And maybe even think about micro-interactions, like those small interactions or sounds that can convey emotions and create delight.

And this, I mean, this is not completely new, but sometimes we are so buried in Figma tasks and in certain, I don't know, Jira tasks that we need to do and that we need to design that stepping a little bit, you know, out of the frame and having a broader look helps us so much to create better experiences.

And one example that I love to talk about is MailChimp. I think they are so well with these little animations, with these fun arrow messages that make the user smile and turning a potentially stressful task into something enjoyable. I think MailChimp is doing such an amazing job with this.

And another resource that I can recommend is about emotional design, why we love or hate everyday things by Don Norman to dive a little bit deeper into the concept. I'm also going to link it in the show notes. Okay, almost at the end. Now we are going to talk about trend number seven, which is health and well-being products.

With the rising focus on mental health and well-being, users are seeking products that help them manage stress, improve productivity and maintain balance. When we think about the pandemic's impact, people became more aware of their mental health and apps like Calm or Headspace

saw this surge in usage because they help users feel more in control. So what are some tips for designers? First of all, reduce mental load. Simplify interfaces. Users shouldn't feel overwhelmed by too many choices or notifications. This is not trendy at all. No notifications unless the user wants it.

And try to be simple. Make it very clear what the user wants. AI is a huge help for that personalized experience. Incorporate well-being factors and features. Maybe adding reminders to take breaks or features that promote mindfulness. Or create calming experiences. Use colors, typography and micro coffee to create a sense of calm.

There are also a lot of apps around health and wellness. And one that I find particularly interesting is the Panasonic's AI-powered wellness coach, which was unveiled at the CES 2025, so maybe last week, pretty much last week, powered by Antropix Cloud AI, so large language models. And it's taking digital health to the next level, at least this is what they are telling us.

Because this AI-driven code provides personalized wellness recommendations helping users to manage stress and maintain a healthy lifestyle through conversational interactions. So we're already seeing how AI is changing the app and the mobile market. I think that's fascinating. It's a great example of how AI can enhance user experience by making digital services feel more human and more supportive.

Now we are going to move to trend number eight, which is value-driven design. In our last episode, we talked about the big challenges that designers are having and one is definitely the whole growth trend and business trend and like, yeah, a lot of growth methodologies that are used.

And we are seeing that users are becoming more selective about where they spend their time and money. And with rising costs of living and the economic crisis that we are going through, people want products that deliver clear value.

So let's say we're designing a fitness app. Instead of overwhelming users with features, focus on what really matters. Maybe the tracking process, maybe personalized plans, maybe quick wins. And the user wants to see results and feel like they're really getting something worthwhile. So really think about the user and not so much about growth, not so much about money, which is not super easy.

But this is, I think, something for us as designers also to talk about also with our team and to keep the user still in the center. So making sure to solve real problems.

Don't add features for the sake of it or explain why it's not a good idea. Show clear return on investments. Highlight the benefits of using certain features and making it better for the user. Be really transparent, especially when it comes to costs. Be upfront about it.

And one example that I want to share there is actually in Miro. I think Miro is an amazing tool. I'm a huge fan. I'm using it personally pretty much on a daily base for my client workshops, doing a lot of workshops for companies around how to use AI, how to integrate AI, how to actually speed up the whole workflow and processes.

So I'm doing a lot of remote workshops and I love Miroq for it. And one feature that I just recently heard of was the cancellation policy.

because usually when you cancel a product you need to pay until the end of the month right like if you have a monthly payment plan but notion they um sorry myro they're doing a little bit differently they say you can either cancel until the end of your payment cycle which is maybe next month so you continue paying for the month and then it's cancelled

Or you cancel right now, today, in that moment, and you get all the money back that you basically are not using anymore.

And I have never seen that somewhere. And I think this is absolutely fascinating that Miro is doing that. Because they actually, they also could say, no, I mean, you know, you forgot to cancel. You need to pay for the whole month. No, they're saying, if you want to cancel at any time, no problem. We will give you the money back. Awesome. So people, if they cancel, they might be coming back because it's an amazing tool and they feel really valued. And I think this is

This is the difference of this growth mindset where you try to get more money out of the user, but where you really give the user an amazing feeling, even if they leave your product. And I think this is something that should actually stick with us. So there you have it. It's the UX trends for 2025. These trends can go really far and it's up to us as designers to steer them in the right direction.

Remember, trends are only valuable if you apply them thoughtfully and adapt them in your unique context. So the future of UX is all about human-centered innovation, about emotional connections and about delivering real value. And this is also something that we need to talk about and this is where we need to focus on.

If you want to do something great for you this year, upskill yourself, learn, educate and also reskill. Build new skills this year. This is the year where we really need to learn, where we need to dive into different topics and maybe also redefine our role a little bit.

So if you enjoyed this episode, I already mentioned it's episode 100. So please write me a review or rate the episode. I know that most people don't usually do that, but this would be such an amazing present for me. So thank you so much for the support.

Don't forget to share your thoughts on social media. I would love to hear your take on these trends, what you think. And I can only say until next time, keep designing the future and hear you in the future.