UI or user interface patterns solve common challenges designers face when creating interfaces for mobile or web applications. They save time and effort, promoting usability, consistency, and accessibility.
This article explains UI patterns — we'll uncover some common patterns designers use to create satisfying user experiences (UX) and provide sources where you can find them.
Table of Contents
What Are UI Patterns?
UI design patterns are like ready-to-use building blocks that designers rely on to solve common UI design challenges. These reusable components can be applied to different UIs, but designers must customize them to fit the unique requirements and characteristics of the interface they are working on. Customization ensures that the pattern seamlessly integrates with the overall UX and aligns with the project's goals.
Like UX patterns, designers can use UI patterns as tried-and-tested solutions to create effective, user-friendly interfaces. Instead of reinventing the wheel with every new design, they can draw from a collection of established patterns that have proven successful in similar situations.
Ten Commonly Used UI Design Patterns
- Primary Action
- Forgiving Format
- Steps Left
- Progressive Disclosure
- Breadcrumbs
- Lazy Registration
- Subscription Plans
- Hover Controls
- Leaderboard
- Dark Patterns
Some of the frequently used UI design patterns that are proven effective for the creation of intuitive and user-friendly UI are the following:
1. Primary Action
This UI pattern allows you to create prominent and easily distinguishable buttons that guide users to take the most important actions within an interface. These actions are typically the main tasks or goals that users need to accomplish — for example, “send,” “sign in,” or “subscribe.”
Users can quickly locate primary action buttons if they are visually highlighted through colors, size, or placement. They take the next step within the digital platform without frustration and cognitive load, having a more intuitive and efficient UX.
2. Forgiving Format
The forgiving format allows users to input data in various forms without strict restrictions. It accommodates different user preferences and makes the data entry process more flexible and user-friendly.
For example, it can get a phone number with or without dashes, recognize variations in date formats (MM/DD/YY instead of DD/MM/YY), or understand different interpretations of addresses. It is handy for eCommerce websites where users enter their home addresses.
By implementing a forgiving format, designers reduce the risk of frustrating input errors or rejection. This UI pattern is valuable to your UX strategy since it enhances the UX by adapting to the user's input style, facilitating data entry, and improving overall usability.
3. Steps Left
Including steps left UI design pattern visually communicates users' position in a multi-step process and shows the remaining steps to complete it. By displaying the steps left, users gain a sense of control, understanding how much more they need to accomplish. This pattern helps manage user expectations, reduces uncertainty, and increases motivation to complete the task.
Steps left can be implemented using progress indicators, numerical counters, or visual cues such as checkmarks or progress bars. It is often used in onboarding processes, checkout flows, form submissions, or any scenario where users must navigate multiple stages or steps.
4. Progressive Disclosure
Progressive disclosure gradually reveals information or options based on the user's context and needs. Instead of overwhelming users with all available information upfront, this pattern presents content or features progressively, one step at a time.
The purpose of progressive disclosure is to manage complexity and reduce user cognitive load. It allows users to focus on the task at a time and prevents information overload.
Designers can implement this UI design pattern using expandable sections or "show more" buttons. It is common in complex forms, long articles, or settings menus where the content can be organized into logical and manageable sections.
5. Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs act as a visual trail of clickable links, typically displayed horizontally or vertically near the top of the page. They serve as a navigational aid, showing the path users have taken to reach their current location from a home page. Breadcrumbs also offer a convenient way for users to backtrack or navigate directly to higher-level pages.
For example, a breadcrumb trail for a product page might appear as "Home > Electronics > Smartphones > Product Name." Users can quickly jump to higher-level categories or pages without starting the navigation from scratch by clicking on any breadcrumb links.
Breadcrumbs are particularly useful for large websites or apps with complex structures, eCommerce platforms, blogs, or content-heavy sites. Including them in your UX design process will provide clear navigation, reduce user confusion and disorientation, and enable efficient site exploration.
6. Lazy Registration
A lazy registration pattern allows users to explore and interact with a website or app without immediately requiring them to create an account or complete a registration process. Instead, users can experience the platform's features and content before registering or signing up. By delaying the registration, users can get a sense of what the website or app offers and decide whether to commit to creating an account.
Lazy registration can provide unrestricted access to certain features, content previews, or limited-time trial periods. This pattern benefits both users and the platform. Users can evaluate the platform and decide if it aligns with their needs before committing personal information. For the platform, lazy registration helps increase user engagement, reduce abandonment rates, and potentially convert more users into registered members.
7. Subscription Plans
This UI design pattern gives users different options for joining a service or accessing content at various rates or levels. The subscription plans typically display a menu or list of available plans, features, pricing, and duration. Each plan offers different access levels, benefits, or restrictions, allowing users to compare them and select the best option.
By implementing this UI pattern, designers provide transparency and allow users to make informed decisions about their next steps. Streaming services, membership-based websites, and other subscription-based models often use this pattern to offer users choices based on their needs, preferences, or budget.
When designing subscription plans, present the information clearly and highlight differences between programs. Straightforward offers help users understand the options and choose the best value for their needs.
8. Hover Controls
Hover controls reveal additional information or functionality when users hover their cursor over a specific element. Instead of displaying all the information upfront, this pattern reduces clutter on the main interface by providing details only when the user interacts with the element. It enhances and streamlines UX.
You can implement this pattern through tooltips, pop-ups, or dynamic previews. It is commonly used in image galleries, navigation menus, or data visualization, where additional information or interactions can enrich the UX.
9. Leaderboard
This UI pattern is commonly used in games and social media platforms. It displays rankings of top players based on specific criteria, such as success in a game (points, levels, etc.). Leaderboards can vary from simple lists to more complex visual representations with more user details (images or avatars, names, badges, etc.).
Leaderboard patterns in UI increase user engagement and create a sense of motivation and competition. Users can compare their results, which encourages them to keep progressing.
10. Dark Patterns
Dark patterns are a manipulative way to influence user behavior. They trick users into performing specific actions (spending more time on the site, purchasing, giving away personal information) they may not have intended or desired. This UI pattern design can take many forms, like misdirections, forced continuity, hidden costs, trick questions, or sneak into the basket.
Dark patterns are unethical and prioritize business goals over user needs and interests. They can lead to a negative UX and damage a website's reputation.
Five Popular UI Pattern Libraries
The following websites are some of the best UI pattern libraries where you can find previously mentioned design components for your next UI.
1. Material Design
Developed by Google, Material Design is an open-source design system that provides design guidelines, system updates, news, resources, and UI design patterns that follow accessible, modern, and visually appealing design trends. UI patterns, which can be applied to various platforms, are classified according to their purpose: action, containment, communication, navigation, selection, and text input.
2. Material-UI
Material-UI is a comprehensive UI pattern library for React components that follow the Material Design Guidelines by Google. It provides over 40 pre-built UI patterns and building blocks that can be easily customized and integrated into web applications to create accessible and user-friendly UI. Bonus — it’s free!
3. Carbon Design System
Carbon Design System is an open-source UI library created by IBM. It provides a comprehensive set of reusable components, patterns, and guidelines that adhere to IBM's design principles. Carbon has a “vibrant community of contributors” open to questions and ideas.
4. Fluent UI
Formerly known as Office UI Fabric, Fluent UI is a UI library by Microsoft. It offers a collection of components and design patterns that align with Microsoft's Fluent Design System. It caters to various web and mobile platforms (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and cross-platform) and provides a consistent and modern UX.
5. Ant Design
Ant Design is a popular UI library offering well-designed components and patterns for building enterprise-level applications. It follows a minimalist and modern design language and provides extensive documentation and examples for easy implementation.
UI Patterns: Final Thoughts
UI patterns facilitate the creation of intuitive and user-friendly UI. They are reusable solutions to common design problems developed in years of research and best practices. Incorporating them into your designs can save time, enhance usability, and improve the overall UX.
However, UI patterns should not be blindly followed. Each design project has unique requirements, and customization is often necessary to adapt patterns to the specific context and user needs. User research and testing should always precede design decisions to ensure the best results. If you need help designing UI or are in doubt about UI patterns implementation, contact top UI/UX design agencies.
UI Patterns FAQs
1. Why are UI design patterns important?
UI design patterns are important because they solve common problems in UI design, saving time, enhancing usability, and improving overall UX.
2. What are dark UI design patterns?
Dark UI design patterns, also known as dark patterns, refer to manipulative and deceptive techniques used in UI design to guide or trick users into taking specific actions they may not have intended. These patterns influence user behavior, often for the website's benefit.
Common forms of dark UI design patterns are
- Misdirections
- Hidden costs
- Forced continuity
- Sneak into basket
- Disguised ads
3. How to use UI design patterns?
To effectively use UI design patterns, consider the following tips:
- Understand the specific design challenge and context of using UI design patterns.
- Explore existing UI design pattern libraries, resources, and case studies to understand different patterns and their application better.
- Adapt and customize the pattern to the context of your project.
- Conduct user research to ensure the chosen UI patterns align with user expectations and provide a positive UX.
- Use patterns consistently across the UI.
- Continuously refine and improve the patterns based on user feedback and observations.
