It has certainly been a different summer than we expected, but, nonetheless, designers and artists around the globe have made good use of their extra time spent indoors. From furniture apps to weather apps, creatives have taken the time to rethink how essential apps can work and look. Let’s explore our favorite mobile interaction designs we found this month.
1. Table Reservation – Party Number by Mauricio Bucardo
Many restaurants are rethinking the way they operate in light of COVID-19. Outdoor dining has become a safer alternative for diners and staff alike. Reservations have become increasingly important to keep track of capacity, as tables need to be further apart than usual. Bucardo came up with a new approach to online reservation booking. When a user taps the plus or minus buttons to change the number of people in their party, the illustration of people shifts and either has the folks at the table squish in to make room for another or space out when someone leaves the table. This is a fun way to visually represent the number of diners in your reservation in what had previously been a stuffy formality. We hope a unique microinteraction like this one comes to our reservation apps soon!
Source: Dribbble
2. Furniture App by Dannniel for Marcato Studio
It’s only natural to reconsider your home furnishings when you’re spending much more time than usual at home. This furniture app concept offers a design-friendly way to explore new options. We especially like the scroll function, as it works in two different ways. First, moving from one category of products to the other (for example, from carpets to lamps) requires the user to swipe left or right. Next, if the user wants to further explore items within a certain category, they can swipe up to see more options. One additional feature we enjoyed in this mobile interaction design was the act of tapping on a product. It helps the user visualize what the product would look like next to the couch they’ve already added to their cart.
Source: Dribbble
3. Weather App Visual Concept by Minh Pham
There are many weather apps to choose from, but not many of them make the experience exciting. Pham redesigns the typical weather experience and makes it a horizontal layout so that swiping to the left shows the user the weather forecast for the following day. What sticks out to us are the animations included in each weather report. Today the app shows a rainy forecast with rain falling from a smaller second set of clouds. Swiping left to see Monday’s weather shows a lightning storm, with a bolt of lightning flashing. And on Tuesday it will snow, animated by a snowflake slowly rotating in front of the clouds. These mobile interactions really bring some delight to the experience and make it clear that utility apps can be fun and useful.
Source: Dribbble
4. Mind Tree Animation Improvement by Mika
Checking in with how we feel is especially important during quarantine, since we have less in-person social interactions these days. Mind Tree has users check in about how they feel about their family, self development, and health. As each section pops up on the screen, there is a range of emoji emotions to choose from along the bottom of the screen. Tapping on an emotion makes one or more rain clouds appear and changes the color of the teardrop shape in the middle of the screen. This animation brings the mood check to life and helps users keep track of how they feel about key areas of their life.
Source: Dribbble
5. Sneakers Online Store App by Phenomenon Studio
Anyone who follows this series of the best mobile interaction designs knows that we love a good retail app! This app for sneakerheads has an interesting classification method: tapping on the logos shows users all the shoes it has to offer. So tapping on the Nike swoosh logo let’s the user scroll through and tap on the style that piques their interest. Swiping right and left on the product image that takes over the top half of the product screen shows more angles of the shoe. Next, tapping the shopping bag in the bottom right corner allows users to pick their size and add it to their cart. After paying, there is a final animation that is designed to get the customer excited for the arrival of their items. It features two disembodied shoes running along, with the message that their order will get to them soon.
Source: Dribbble
That’s all for August but be sure to check out last month’s edition, featuring the best mobile interaction designs of July 2020.
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