Bento Grids are here

What are Bento grids?

Bento Grids (slides) are a design trend that is already playing a significant role this year, and it is definitely my favorite design trend of the year. It’s a piece of information architecture art connected with delightful visuals.

They have been with us on Apple Keynotes since 2020, but now, they have started to inspire designers outside of Apple too.

You may notice already lots of designers using Bento grids for their products or features. This new pattern is far more attractive for presentations than boring lists of features.

Benefits of Bento Grids

This design pattern is used to create cohesive layouts and allows users to easily scan the most important highlights. Here are some benefits of using Bento grids:

👉 Information Organization

Bento grids excel at organizing complex information. They provide a structured framework where data or content can be neatly arranged in a tabular format. This organization helps users quickly locate specific information and understand the relationships between different data points.

👉 Concise Presentation

Bento grids enable designers to present a large amount of information in a concise and condensed manner. By utilizing rows and columns, they allow for the efficient use of space, making it easier for users to scan and digest information without feeling overwhelmed.

👉 Visual Clarity

Bento grids contribute to visual clarity by providing a structured and organized presentation. With consistent alignment and spacing, grids create a clean and visually appealing layout. This enhances readability and comprehension, making it easier for users to absorb the information presented.

👉 Simplified Decision-Making

By condensing complex information into a Bento grid, designers can assist users in making informed decisions more efficiently. The clear and concise presentation of data allows users to evaluate options, compare alternatives, and assess the pros and cons of different choices in a simplified manner.

👉 Improved UX

Incorporating Bento grids in design can significantly enhance the user experience. Users can quickly locate the information they need, understand it easily, and make well-informed decisions. The visual organization and logical structure of Bento grids contribute to a user-friendly interface and reduce cognitive load.

With all this laid out, I’m certain you can also find ways to utilize this new trend in your designs. Clients and users will appreciate it.

P.S. here are some resources on bento examples:

Scaling Design as a Craft 📈

Designers and product folk like to think of themselves as craftspeople, but the reality is that "craft at scale" is mutually exclusive with the kind of rapid and unending growth that's the baseline expectation for traditional startups and public tech companies.

There's some truth to the idea that moving from making 100 sandwiches a day to 100,000 requires a fundamental shift in tools and processes that inevitably leads to quality loss. Meanwhile, an indie dev can ship the same software to 100 or 100,000 people without doing anything different.

If you're a designer at a large tech company, you can't and won't overcome this. Apple, one of the few companies that have been able to deliver craft at scale for a long time, achieved this because Steve Jobs was a true believer.

He did more than just espouse belief; he hired, fired, inspired, and persuaded his way to an organization designed to deliver. In order for craft at scale to even be a possibility, it must come from the very top.

Craft is the product of high-quality ingredients, approaches, and processes. It is also well-considered, beneficial, opinionated, and has perspective. If you are driven by craft, you are best suited to smaller, slower waters.

Clickworthy Hyperlinks 🌐

The DESK Magazine - a quality design blog/newsletter

Andrea Mata - I like this portfolio design

Framer Overrides - unlock new superpowers with effortless copy & paste code overrides for Framer

Principles of Good Design - 10 design principles by Dieter Rams

Fontjoy - simply generate font pairs using AI

Hot on Social ✨

@luka_krcmar

2023 #Design #Trends Pt.3 - Summary Grids #uxdesign #uidesign #ui #ux

Find Your Next Position 💼

With AI, VR, and Web3, times are exciting and rapidly changing with tons of opportunities. Want to hop on that train? Here are a few sites where you can find remote or not-remote worldwide positions in various industries.

Thanks for reading, see you in two weeks 👋

In the meantime, let’s connect on the social media platform of your choice…🧩