Your website design will be the #1 factor influencing a visitor’s first impression. Think of it as the curb appeal aspect, which can greatly improve sales volume. People tend to judge a website by its design because we are visual beings.
Because of this, it is more important now than ever to ensure you have a modern-looking website. Otherwise, you may be hurting your marketing strategy. But, what are the trending web designs in 2020?
The following list will cover the top 10 web design methods.
Full-Page Headers
In 2020, using a full page header is one of the most common trends. It allows for header variations, but the more common approaches are to use these for call-to-action (CTA) content with a button to click. To enhance the look and draw attention, these CTA usually have images nearby.
These are generally positioned in the top left corner, which is where visitors tend to look first. Such as Discord has done with their CTA targeting players to try their app.
On the left, they have their CTA content, buttons, and an image placed to the right. They labeled buttons to be clear for users to see and know where they are taken. The rest of the site uses a smooth scrolling design that leads into the next section. This helps keep the focus on the important areas, giving the user information quickly and making it fun and entertaining at the same time.
White Space
Minimalism is becoming popular again, which means making use of white space to enhance the visual design of your website. This is similar to how printed magazines layout their pages.
When used properly, the white space will help your visitors navigate the website easier, directing them in the direction that you want them to go. The key is to have a smooth flow between elements that create a visual hierarchy without any specific area drawing more attention than the rest.
White space helps prevent web designs from appearing cluttered. A cluttered layout is not only hard to read, but it also makes finding what the visitor wants a challenge. If it’s too hard to find information, users will leave your website.
White space is easier on the eyes. When the space between elements is laid out, it gives the eyes time to rest. When the white space is lacking, it causes the eyes to combine various elements too. This will make your website appear differently just by how our eyes naturally see things.
Creating a hierarchy with white space allows visitors to easily locate the important information on your pages. For example, Myles Nguyen’s website design uses the white space to create interaction within a minimalist layout.
It directs your focus straight to the important areas, without straining the eyes. The white space was used to increase usability and the user’s experience.
Dynamic Scrolling
With dynamic scrolling, you can create user interaction while giving your website a modern look. There are various ways that you can have dynamic scrolling effects. For instance, you can give it a complex 3D appearance, with various foreground and background speeds.
The following example of Crypton uses a fun, dynamic scrolling effect to increase visual focus. It uses both dynamic scrolling and a background video that starts playing as the user scrolls. Also, you’re able to trigger various things to occur while scrolling, such as animations or images.
Interactive Cursors
One of the latest trends includes unique cursors that enhance the user’s experience. This can be a simple change of shape or color to a rather complex animated cursor that is triggered by various actions. These changes help give your visitors a fun way to experience your website, but it should fit your theme.
The following example of Paolo Fornasier’s website shows a fun image changing cursor. When you hover over links, the image changes. When you move around the page, it changes.
Just because the cursor makes things fun, many first-time users tend to play with it just to see what changes occur. This increases his on-page times too. Although, that can happen with a simple cursor change too.
Grid Design
Grids are still a trend in 2020 because they help create balance. An asymmetric layout just looks good, so chances are it will continue being popular among web designers.
The following example of a portfolio for Jingqi Fan’s can show just how a well-balanced layout can really make the overall website come to life. It helps ensure the website looks modern, engaging, and all while using white space to highlight important areas.
CSS Grid Layout or just Grid, allows web designers to ensure a balance is created while allowing for complex layouts that are also responsive. Although, it may be some time before Grid is compatible with all device interfaces.
Custom Illustrations
In the past, grabbing a simple stock image would have been plenty to make your website look modern. However, in 2020 a simple stock image is not likely to cut it. Many designs are starting to use custom illustrations to really stand out.
Take, for instance, Alice Lee, a well-known illustrator who creates amazing illustrations for large brands, from The Washington Post, Macy’s, even Airbnb. From her work, custom illustrations have become a trend.
Thanks to the constantly growing capabilities of coding, 2D image design is no longer the limit. By including a 3D appearance to your website, you add a whole new experience for the user. Some ways of creating a 3D look include switching colors slowly with gradient shades, mimicking designs with layers, and 3D cursors allow visitors to interact.
Trending Colors of 2020
The color of websites has been a trending area for many years. Recently, each year has had a new favorite color of choice, from yellow in 2018 to blue in 2019. According to WGSN, mint was the predicted color of choice in 2020.
However, Venngage expects the color pallets of 2020 to be less vibrant compared to previous years. Although gradients continue being popular among designers. Gradients allow for a larger depth in color and variations, helping reach a larger audience.
Web designers will need to know about color psychology to successfully create new color palettes for websites. Having a color palette that corresponds with your business colors is also important. But, there are some smaller color trends too.
Common colors for CTAs include warm, bold colors, such as orange, red, and green. Backgrounds and information tend to use softer cool colors, such as grey, teal, or blues. Anton and Irene is a good example of using these color palette methods.
UX/UI
In 2020, the User Interface design is more important than ever. The user experience has to be positive, or you will lose potential customers. This includes using white space to reduce clutter, catching attention with multimedia, and having a layout that is scannable with SEO friendly content. However, a fast page load is just as significant.
Some of the best UX designs focused on combining creativity and functionality. Getting creative with the white space can enhance the look of a website and make it feel more unique and authentic. There are some areas of the user interface that has become common to expect, including the following:
- Image captions
- Asymmetric motion layouts
- Video transcriptions / captions
- Voice-enabled interfaces
- No distracting elements
By creating a design that is easily navigated and read, while being visually appealing, you can greatly increase the UX/UI. Keep in mind, most people are browsing the internet on smartphones, so an infinity scroll layout is a nice smooth experience. Such as the mobile design for Chobani, which uses a clean, modern design with the scroll.
Engaging Stories
Content and illustrations that help create a story is another trending aspect of modern website designs. This can work with advertising campaigns as well. The storyline should be relevant and interesting to your target audience, creating user engagement.
Take the web design of the British Council, it uses white space to create a balance between elements, while the elements create a storyline. This makes it easy and fun to navigate the website.
Typography – Bold Fonts
Fonts were popular in 2019, and have continued being popular throughout 2020. Designers have made use of both serif and san-serif fonts, while other vintage fonts are becoming popular again too.
Fonts are a common tactic to help create branding, with many fonts being associated with a particular brand or vice versa. Many landing pages, even brand names, are starting to incorporate bold fonts, making it the focal point of the on-screen text.
There are many examples of bold font being used to increase the focus to a certain piece of text while looking professional. For example, ThemesKingdom makes use of bold typography to direct focus to highlighted aspects of their web designs.
