Web design trends are closely related to technology as new innovations revolutionize the web design realm with interactive and immersive animations. Think about the websites that you interact with on a daily basis. Out of all those, how many are stuck in your head based on their user-friendly designs and appealing layouts? Probably a handful. Right? If you look back at web design, the industry has pretty much evolved for the better with new web design tools coming to life. Things move quickly for UI/UX agency & web designers, as new trends are born every year.
However, the thing with trends is that they come and go as the lifecycle of these trends seems to be short. Some stay around for a little longer and transform the web design, but many are doomed to fail. Today, we are going to discuss some of the web design trends that will stay longer than the rest.
10 Standout Web Design Trends for Designers to Take Inspiration
1. Adding Depth With Micro Animations
Small or micro animations are not a new web design trend. However, it hasn’t been utilized to its full potential. Micro animations are subtle movements of the objects on the web that add depth and bring websites to life. This trend is likely to pick up more traction going forward as it offers visitors a more interactive experience.
Micro animations enrich user interactions by emphasizing the important page areas. They grab focus instantly as users see something happening right after they visit a website. Small animations like showing navigation, hierarchy, and other things are clarified by this web design method.
2. Creative Experience while Scrolling
Through the proper use of scrolling, web design & development teams can convey an intricate story that captivates audiences. The creative experiences when users scroll through a website serve them engaging content on a silver platter. They are narrative visualizations that channel a specific message to visitors in an organized chronological order. Many renowned brands have adopted scrolling for creating creative experiences. And in 2022, these web design trends will get bigger and better by taking visitors on an immersive journey.
3. Interactive Web Design For Storytelling
This interactive web design trend is at the center of responsive web design in 2022. Interactive elements for telling stories create a hook for your narrative that engages viewers visually. The best practice when implementing such a design trend is to keep your motion focused on a small area.
Ensure that interactive elements emphasize the story and do not create distractions for users. Creating web designs using this trend is, however, time-consuming and expensive.
4. Bigger & Bolder Typography & Colors
Bigger and bolder typography & colors make the web design pop out even with a limited variety of elements for custom design. It’s the first part of the website that users will see primarily and has to make an impression or statement. The big & bold typography reduces the imagery elements to allow the message to come out as clear and impressionable as possible. The bold yet simple designs create a captivating impact on your users and provide them with an excellent, tasteful, and creative lettering style.
5. Modern & Minimalist Design
Modern & minimalistic web design is not only aesthetically pleasing but also offers a streamlined user experience. With no flashy distractions at all, minimalist designs help users take actions such as finding more information or booking an appointment.
Another advantage of minimalism is website owners can bring out the fun and humor to make their brand seem playful to users. This intentionally playful UX design can work well if this modern and minimalist web design trend is executed perfectly.
6. Clean & Neumorphic Web Design
Neumorphic is the latest UI design trend, which combines New & Skeuomorphism to create Neumorphism. Neumorphic web designs are popular because of their clean and subtle visual look. This clean design look should remain consistent throughout the design.
Also, it focuses on minimizing the visual clutter to allow users to concentrate on important content on the page. While this web design trend is arguably the most appealing one, if not handled properly, it can negatively affect the user experience.
7. Horizontal Scrolling Design
Many websites are experimenting with non-traditional scrolling to offer a unique and superior user experience. Horizontal or side-scrolling can lead to a surprising experience and interaction between texts and images for users.
This unconventional, however, disruptive web design trend is great when you want to grab users’ attention with a progressive scrolling experience. The thing to keep in mind while designing websites with this is to not force users to navigate through horizontal content.
8. Resurfacing of Retro Designs
The old and nostalgic designs that were characterized by bright colors, grainy texture, blurriness, and others are being revived again. The resurfacing of the retro designs from the 90s web 1.0 era often offers hilariously great results.
The designs during the advent of the internet followed no rules and showcased unnecessary gimmicks, graphics, and colors. Back then, web designing wasn’t even a profession — and the one that is emerging now adopts this trend to showcase unrestricted creativity through retro designs.
9. Embedding Videos for a More Interactive Homepage
One of the most utilized trends of web design includes using video on the homepage. Thanks to the faster internet speeds, bringing together multimedia such as videos, text, and other visuals offer a rich experience. Also, videos help users understand and give them a sneak peek into your brand and what it represents.
One thing to be cautious about is prioritizing simplicity by not combining video with audio. With too much going on at the same time, users can easily get overwhelmed.
10. Cartoon Characters Based Web Designs
Web design has evolved from just blocks of text and a few images to a piece of work that people can connect with on a more personal level. With cartoon characters in place, UI/UX designers can transform websites and give them a healthy dose of humanity.
Illustrated cartoon characters are one of the popular design trends gaining significant traction to create a memorable experience. Through them, websites can easily point users to a call to action button without coming across as too cheesy. Also, this illustration is great for page load time because of the clean design.
Web Design Trends – Wrapping Up
Now that we have explored web design trends that UI/UX designers must take inspiration from, you can start off to create functional and immersive web designs. The future moves quickly and new design trends will always pave the way for digital designers to create refined and refreshing designs.
These design trends are sure to delight users and even become staples for offering a good user experience. Now, the future is in your hands to take inspiration from and design a foray of websites that showcases not only the aesthetic but more elaborative aspects. We anticipate the coming year with more playfulness and creative revisioning.