New trends in design, user experience, and content keep popping up every year. As an industry, we are always trying to push the boundaries of what is possible with websites. What started as static pages filled with images has grown into complex user experiences that take advantage of new technologies and best practices.
Even so, there are new frontiers to explore. The web design trends listed here will continue to grow in popularity over the next few years. Which one will you adopt first?
Responsive Design Will Become Even More Important
Responsive design, the practice of creating a single website that looks good no matter what device you use to access it, has been around for years. It’s been instrumental in the rise of mobile-first design and has given us the best way to build websites that work for everyone.
Though responsive design has been around for a while, many designers still haven’t adopted it. This is likely to change in the near future as a result of two trends. First, is the increased adoption of distributed content management systems like Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify. These platforms come with a built-in responsive design. If your business uses one of these systems to publish your website, chances are your site isn’t responsive.
Second, is the rise of augmented reality and virtual reality. These platforms demand responsive design to ensure that the website looks good no matter what device a person is using to access it.
Virtual Reality Will Change How We Interact with Websites
VR and AR have been around for a while, but they still haven’t broken into the mainstream. For VR, this is because the hardware isn’t cheap enough for most people. For AR, the problem is that there just aren’t that many compelling use cases. When VR and AR do hit their stride, they will change the way we interact with websites. VR is different from AR in that it blocks you from the real world. This means that you won’t be able to click links and other things with your cursor.
AR, on the other hand, can be used to enhance the real world. It might be possible to use AR to click links, just like we do with our phones and tablets. This might lead to a new type of website design, one that’s focused around using links to navigate and consume content rather than clicking around with a mouse.
Dark UX Will Become the Norm
Dark UX has been around for some time, but it hasn’t yet become the norm. This is likely to change as design trends go in and out of fashion. In the same way that “Paleo” diets and ripped jeans have come and gone, so has the rising popularity of the dark design.
What’s different this time is that dark design is here to stay. Dark design isn’t just cool in a hipster kind of way. It actually makes a ton of sense from a usability perspective. Users have grown accustomed to the light design style that has dominated web design for years. The rise of dark UX is a response to this, as designers tweak the experience with more focus on usability.
Dark UX uses darker colors, fewer images, and a starker font selection, to create a more focused experience. Making the website darker helps to focus the user’s attention on what’s important. We need to make sure that the most critical content is easy to find and quick to consume, and dark UX does that.
AI-Powered Websites Are Coming
Artificial intelligence is all the rage these days, and it’s likely to play an essential role in web design in the near future. The biggest trend in AI right now is the rise of voice interfaces.
While this technology is still in its infancy, it has the potential to change how we interact with websites. Already, there are e-commerce websites that allow you to add items to your shopping cart by speaking. This is possible thanks to AI technology that can understand what you’re saying.
In the future, it’s likely that this will go much further. We might see AI integrated into the design of websites. This might take the form of AI bots built into the website’s backend. For example, a website for a local business might have an AI bot that’s designed to help you find information about the business. This might let you ask the bot questions like “What are the hours?” or “What are the coupons?”
Immersive Content Will Be Key
The rise of AR and VR technology will mean that we spend more time looking at immersive content. This trend will likely influence how websites are designed and what type of content they contain. Since immersive content is more focused than regular content, it makes sense that immersive websites would be more focused as well. What does this mean for website design?
It may be that the traditional page layout begins to fade away. This is especially true for e-commerce websites, where product pages have long been the focus of the page. This isn’t to say that all websites will look the same. Instead, each website will be designed to make the most of the immersive content that it contains.
Conclusion
The web design trends listed above are likely to become even more popular in the near future. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in the design world. New technologies emerge, and people adopt new design trends all the time. There will always be changes in how people use websites, and how designers design them.
What you can do is be aware of current trends and new technologies. This will help you stay ahead of the curve and implement new design trends long before they become mainstream. Keeping up with design trends isn’t easy, but it’s a necessary part of being a designer. Designing a website that looks dated and old-fashioned can do real damage to your brand. By keeping tabs on these trends, you’ll be able to keep your design looking fresh and modern.
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