The worldwide web is now 32 years old. It’s gone from a dark and lonely fringe area full of pixelated boxed graphics and poor design to a bona fide world-within-the-world, and now we count on it as a crucial part of our everyday existence.
This means every business needs a web presence, and since almost every business has one, it’s important to keep up with the pack in an increasingly competitive marketplace. To that end, we’ll take a look at some of the top web design trends you can expect in 2022 – so you can make sure you’re on top of them.
1. Colorful Minimalism
Minimalist designs have been garnering more and more favor with web designers who understand marketing psychology. Minimalism allows a website to focus on one message, creating a strong brand identity and giving the user less to choose from and get overwhelmed by. For some, this means plenty of whitespace, but more and more, expect to see designers utilize big, bright, bold colors to stand out from the crowd.
2. Lightning Load Times
The best way to lose a viewer before they buy is a slow loading page, and despite technology improvements, some websites continue to push browser resources too far with tons of images and video. Minimalism comes to the rescue here again. Using more standard HTML and CSS with quick-loading images to create vibrant looks has become more popular in the last year, and should continue into 2022.
3. Even More Personalized Content
By now every user knows there’s data out there about them, and it’s not just Google and Facebook ads that can take advantage of that. Websites in 2022 and beyond stand to gain from taking advantage of user history, habits, location, and other available user data to serve up a customized experience, right from the jump.
4. Big Fonts and Buttons
In the early days of web design, big fonts were out – mostly because they looked cheap. Back then, the only real way to look sophisticated was with a small, sleek font. Then smartphones came onto the scene and small fonts became liabilities. Now, modern font tech and CSS make it possible to make a message super-readable, big, bold, and in your face – without sacrificing style and class. Similarly, buttons are getting bigger and splashier, both for better mobile compatibility for pushing with thumbs and to really get the message across – HEY! We want you to click this right NOW!
5. Strategic Video
Marketers know that video is king when it comes to connecting with and engaging an audience. Designers work with marketers to make websites that connect. Looped video hero sections are already popular but expect to see more representatives saying a friendly hello right on the front page to make a human connection early.
Video may be the engagement king, but it’s also the top dog among resource hogs. While some companies will try to make a connection with video right away, some designers who used video on front pages before are returning to the aforementioned minimalist aesthetic, opting to keep resource use at a minimum to improve load time and declutter sites. So, expect some sites to lose the hero video - especially looped videos with no audio – in favor of a simpler design that pops.
The web has always been a creative wonderland, pulling together many disciplines from visual design to psychology to wordcraft. Each year has brought new technological breakthroughs and a new understanding of what works for convincing website viewers to engage the way you hope. 2022 will be no different. It’ll be exciting to see what happens.