2021 is a new year and will bring a myriad of new web design trends that users of the web will get a chance to explore. Many web design trends that are expected in 2021 have been becoming more and more popular over the recent years, and some of the items in this article will be of no surprise to some. Nonetheless, the rapidly changing web environment allows for some more spontaneous design trends to find their fame, and the evolving capabilities of both web designers and search engines allows for more clever and detailed web components that can be incorporated into websites to engage visitors.
Take a look at some of the new web design trends that are exploding in popularity and have managed to secure a place in this article. The designers at kmo are looking forward to embracing these trends and relevant styles into our work to create stunning websites throughout the year.
Softer Colour Palette
The first trend of 2021 is the use of a softer colour palette. Designers are crafting websites that make use of softer and more muted colour palettes which are less demanding on the viewers eyes — yes, these softer colour palettes make user experience far more pleasant and the website less of an eyesore, literally. The pleasantness brought about by the re-innovated colours is perhaps what most web designers should aim to achieve in their own designs. It helps to maintain audience engagement and allows the website to convey information rather nicely. However, this design trend should not be taken aboard on every website.
Some sites are enhanced by the atmosphere that more intense colour schemes create, in fact, we would go as far as to say that some sites rely on the upbeat vibe produced by strong colours to be able to meaningfully convey content. So while softer colour palettes are becoming increasingly popular and are highly suited for a lot of websites, some web pages should avoid it at the discretion of the designer.
Parallax Animation
Animation has been the highlight of countless webpages over the past years, and the new design innovation, parallax animation, will ensure this is the case for years to come. Parallax animation is the utilisation of animation to replicate the parallax effect on a webpage; the parallax effect being objects in the foreground appearing to move faster than objects in the background. The evolved capabilities of web developers allows for parallax animation to be seamlessly incorporated as a design technique that is sure to impress visitors to a webpage that has it.
It is fancy and very engaging to users which helps to maintain web traffic, a true positive. On the flip side, it is very important that the animation does not distract the audience too much and hinder content delivery, as heavy visual effects often do. Parallax animation often works well with minimalist designs so that user attention can be maintained on the focus of the page while still appreciative of the animation.
Minimalism
On that note, minimalism is a long ongoing design trend, not limited to the web, that is widely regarded as highly modern and clean. Never out of fashion, this design styles always withstands the test of time. Regarding web pages, a minimalistic design results in a navigable site that is easy to use and has great user experience. The reduced content results in menu, headers, buttons, icons, banners, etc., clearly directing visitors to where the designer wants them to go on the site, which hopefully aligns with the parts of the website they want to visit.
Minimalistic sites have an attractive aesthetic that is appealing to visitors and often increases engagement. The only thing to watch with this is too not take away too much, making the site boring or appear to contain less than it really does. Cleverly using menus is a great way to incorporate minimalistic themes into a webpage while making visitors aware of the excellent content the site contains.
3D design
It has made an appearance again in 2021, and the next frontier of web graphics is simulating 3D objects on a flat screen. Creating an extra dimension for objects adds another element of complexity and depth to the webpage and opens doors to a whole lot of creativity. Of course, this additional depth is achieved by clever shading on the part of a graphic designer. Including 3D-like objects onto a webpage allows for designers to express a highly artistic vibe that is often uplifting and excites visitors. Granted, the rarity of 3D-graphics web pages results in the inclusion of such producing an artistic vibe anyway, as users are surprised to come by it.
Like other new and creative design trends, complex web graphics are very intriguing; as such it is vital that the use of them on a site doesn’t distract visitors from why they are on the site in the first place. For the time being, designers should often opt for less but better placed and better quality 3D graphics to ensure the effectiveness of both the webpage and graphic.
Creative fonts
As screen resolution improves as a result of improving technology or screens simply getting larger, creative fonts are becoming more commonplace. Web designers generally use these fonts for a pleasant aesthetic that invites visitors to read the text they decorate. This helps to direct users around a web page and improves user experience, similar to the use of softer colours. On the flip side, these fonts can be made more aggressive and prominent, which can contribute to setting an exiting atmosphere for the webpage that the designer wants the user to experience. Both of these uses of creative font tactically go hand in hand with a minimalistic approach to design that allows the fonts to shine to their full potential.
Search Engine Optimisation
Fancy design can be inspiring, but when it comes to designing websites, the importance of designing the page to be search engine friendly cannot be understated. Web designers and business owners are becoming increasingly aware of the impact search engine optimisation has on their interests and 2021 is certainly going to see more sites being built or rebuilt with SEO in mind. Interestingly, search engine optimisation is likely to evolve a lot as time progresses, as it has in the recent years. Think back to way back when design concepts such as animation were a struggle for search engines to interpret, now, search engines have become increasingly intelligent which lets designers have more freedom in what they choose to do with a web page. As time goes by and changes to how sites express content occurs, search engine optimisation will always be at the forefront of the minds of both designers and business owners alike, well into the foreseeable future of web design.
