Website design is ever-changing, driven by trends, technological advancements and consumer preferences.
While a seamless user experience, a clear path to purchase and high-quality visual components will always be championed, there are a number of developments expected to become prominent over the new year that will change the face of good website design, digital marketing how consumers interact with brands online and how we consume content.
Here are some of our predictions for website design in the coming year.
1. Bold Typography
Bold, simple fonts have gained popularity due to their readability and prominence, particularly with the release of iOS 13 last year making it an integral part of iOS apps. Not only do these create contrast, they direct the reader’s eye, provide a modern aesthetic and create a hierarchy of messaging on web pages when used with additional fonts.
As the website design space continues to become more visually saturated, brands will continue to utilise typography to achieve balance between the more visually stimulating elements of websites, or to create a point of difference with competitors.
2. Gradients 2.0
In recent years, minimalism lead product design, with fewer visual properties and a focus on function and form over embellishments. In recent years though, a gradual shift away from this trend to more experimental visual styles was initiated, with gradients becoming a prominent design trend. By adding depth to flat layouts, they are becoming more popular and used in place of flat colours to spark visual interest. Grammarly are a notable example of a brand who utilise gradients across their website design to incorporate branded colours and add an artistic flair.
A versatile tool, gradients can be used across various applications, including backgrounds and image filters, adding dimension to any user interface. We expect to see this trend continue as the shift away from minimalism progresses before an eventual pushback.
3. Shapes
Geometric shapes are valuable, helping designers create more engaging compositions, or breaks/dividers between key sections to create distinction. These can be paired well with gradients, mentioned above, to add visual novelty and communicate a specific tone - for example, soft geometric shapes like curves can help to imply movement, while sharper lines or more complex patterns can inspire a modern, or futuristic feel. We expect this trend to continue, particularly with natural shapes as designers strive to add human elements and simplicity to the interfaces of technology that are growing ever more complex.
4. Emotive Design
This point leads into another emerging trend - emotive design. With wearable apps, the emergence of AI and home devices, websites and web products are no longer information hubs but always-on digital tools that shape our daily lives. To gain preference web design needs to be geared towards engendering an emotional response in users. This has initiated a shift away from neutral design to the creation of experiences and responsive website design with user-satisfaction in mind - incorporating human elements, humour or animated micro-interactions to prolong engagement.
5. Design Systems
With speed, quality and efficiency becoming even more essential in modern product design, business owners and design teams need to be nimble, responsive and able to implement and execute changes and developments quickly across multiple platforms. Designs systems are the answer to this and while not a design trend are a growing necessity for brands to achieve consistency across digital touchpoints, whether owned by a small business or large enterprise.
For global corporations like Uber, in-depth design systems are crucial for maintaining the brand’s integrity, ensuring it is well represented in all instances.
https://brand.uber.com/
We create cohesive design systems for our clients and find them essential for brand effectiveness and ensuring our partners can have great website designs, extensive control of their brands in future, with a better informed team and universal adherence to established standards.
These are just a few of the expected trends in website design but ones we expect to gain increasing prominence. FOr designers, it’s essential to stay on top of these as the design landscape progresses, changes and adapts with time. It’s also important to continue experimenting and pushing boundaries, not just following these trends, but shaping them through a wide understanding of partner’s brands, businesses and audiences.
