From all the things fashion taught us, one of the most important sayings to remember is: looking good – feeling fine! Trends come and go, but visual appeal, comfort, and functionality are factors we cannot seem to forget.
Just like in fashion, web design trends have their hottest moments, and some of them even make their comebacks after a while. Trends in UX design emerge in cycles, inspired by new technologies, current events, and human needs.
Like it or not, first impressions do matter. When entering your website, visitors base their opinions on your business after just a few seconds. And is there a worse way to lose a member of your audience than by having a design that turns them away?
Luckily, trends also serve as a “cheat sheet“. After all, there is a reason why they are being called trends. So, if you are planning to redesign your outdated website, or if you’re preparing yourself to start from scratch, here are six top development trends that can help you create an amazing virtual experience for your users.
KEY ELEMENTS OF EVERY WEB DESIGN TREND
Even though looking good is important, the crucial factor in good UX design is functionality.
Before we dive into the hottest web design trends of 2022, let’s circle back and go through the most important elements of a functional website design:
- Balanced and consistent layout
- Fonts that fit the overall tone of the website
- Complementary color selection
- Well-implemented graphics
- Properly incorporated text spacing
- Relevant, easily understandable, and optimized content
Just by themselves, or in a harmonic combination, these 6 elements can create a strong immersive experience that sticks with your users and creates a need to explore your services even further.
In that sense, let’s see what kind of trends will be walking down the red carpet of 2022, ready to stun us all!
1. MINIMALISM
Sometimes, less is more. And ever since minimalism started to gain attraction in the art world during the late 1950s, it seems like it will never go out of style.
A minimalistic approach to web design helps people focus on important elements of your webpage. It creates a spacious, inviting atmosphere that can even be mysterious, at the same time creating a need to find out more. Also, it’s anxiety-reducing and as such is great for quick and easy navigation.
A great aspect of minimalistic UX design is that it loads much faster and is easily accessible through different devices. The main advantages of this web design trend are clarity and great page performance.
Another good thing about a minimalistic approach to design is that it can be implemented in different industries – from luxurious brands in the fashion and beauty industry, all the way to businesses focused on sustainability and the environment.
2. LINEARITY AND ABSTRACT FORMS
Thick lines, thin lines, curves, and swirls – whatever way, clean lines bring sophistication to your brand.
In recent years, we are experiencing great domination of geometric, clean linework, often associated with high-tech companies, real estate agencies, and architecture studios. It comes to no surprise that linework is so present in web design – being extremely simple, it creates a great, even a calming visual impact on the viewer.
And by connecting two lines, some amazing shapes can be built. One of the most popular web design trends today is so-called “blobs” – abstract, eye-catching, monochromatic (or in a form of colorful gradients) abstract shapes are all over the Internet.
Why is that so? By choosing these shapes, brands are able to convey different types of messages, while at the same time staying neutral with their visual content. In combination with serif fonts and meaningful text, these blobs can function by themselves, with no need for another graphic element.
3. INTERACTIVITY
Even though web design plays a crucial role in your website’s functionality, interactivity brings a special flare to the user experience. By putting an interactive element on your home page, you can showcase the true values of your business in no time, without users searching for them.
A great way to engage your website visitors is through micro-interactions and micro-animations. Not only do they interact visually, but they also help with decreasing bounce rates and connecting to the words you work by.
An example of micro-interactions would be animations which are triggered by hovering over them with the cursor, or by scrolling through a particular part of the page. They make the UX more lively and give a palpable feeling.
This web design trend can be very useful for explaining complex ideas and/or processes in a simple, yet effective way.
4. SINGLE-PAGE WEBSITES
Single-page websites have become one of the most popular web design trends. The reason behind that is conversion rates on this kind of website are over 37%!
What single-pagers bring are simple linear navigation, seamless transitions from one segment to another, which makes no confusion for users in sense of where to click on. That being said, these kinds of websites are more likely to keep users engaged and therefore give them no reason to quickly leave the website unsatisfied.
5. DARK MODE
With the main social media giants transitioning to dark themes and layouts, it was just a matter of time when brands and businesses will start implementing this kind of design.
Some of the greatest aspects of a dark layout are:
- More dominant accent colors due to high contrast
- Ability to perceive content in full force even in low brightness settings
- Visually soothing content, less exhausting for the eyes
- Lower energy consumption for both laptop and mobile devices
Pro-tip: When implementing your dark theme, leave the layout choice to your website users. Create a simple toggle button in the header of the same front-end, and you’re ready to go!
6. MOBILE-FIRST DESIGN
Offering full accessibility over smartphone devices helps brands provide a seamless user experience to everyone, on their mobile phones, anywhere in the world.
In 2019, Google announced mobile-first indexing will become the default for website ranking. And that decision is more than understandable since around 4.32 billion people access the internet via mobile devices (Statista).
When there are so many users connecting to the web via smartphones, you shouldn’t neglect to optimize your site for them. So, keep the thumbs in mind when creating your new design strategy. Not only does your website need a good scrolling experience, but its content should also be easy to read, and shouldn’t need any pinching or zooming involved.
CONCLUSION
Web design is an unpredictable field and as such is very exciting. Some web design trends blow up unexpectedly, while others take us back to essential, beloved experiences. Either way, the best ones are those who work for you and your brand or services.
Here at DSO, we consider web design to be a great influence on our digital lives and are ready to help you create the best online presentation of your business. Hence, if in doubt about your design, go ahead and contact us – we would be glad to make your journey easier!