Website designs are a critical component when it comes to engaging your online audience. The fact is, web design trends are continuously evolving. Many web designs fall out of favor within months.

Much of the world has gone online and is in a constant state of flux. Hence, it is imperative that web designers should keep up with the latest trends. Listed below are some of the web design trends that are going to be quite common in 2022.

Inclusivity

For inclusive web designing, you have to consider many additional aspects. Whether it is the target audience, the tone, the level of personalization you want to give you, or the language you want to associate with the brand, web designers will be considering all these things and more.

Gone are the days when everything was black and white. Nowadays, it is important to accommodate every one of every gender, beliefs, and experiences. If you find that your business’s website isn’t receiving enough traffic, you may perhaps need to update it and make it more inclusive. One example of this is the prevalence of images and other visuals that are not bound by the binary gender system.

Horizontal Scrolling

Vertical scrolling has perhaps been ingrained in our habits. However, a new and rather bold concept of horizontal scrolling is entering the mainstream market, which opens a lot of new ideas and opportunities.

Horizontal scrolling is perfect for catalogs, maps, portfolio websites, and others. Websites that allow you to discover new projects, visit different art galleries online, or even explore cities are more likely to feature horizontal scrolling.

Effective use of this technique can make a world of difference in the user experience. Consider SIRUP as an example. SIRUP is a website for listening to different songs and music in playlists. The web designer behind SIRUP has used horizontal scrolling to great effect. With attractive visuals and scrolling animation, users are sure to remain hooked on the website.

Nostalgia

Whether it was the COVID-19 pandemic or some other factor, people have started to increasingly toy around with the idea of nostalgia. Nostalgia immediately emanates a sense of familiarity, comfort, and a brief moment of escapism.

With the world being so fast-paced these days, nostalgic web designs allow users to slow their life down, if even for a moment. Using classic retro designs, blurred elements, soft lighting, filters, and retro fonts, web designers are trying to instill a nostalgic feel of the by-gone days in their websites.

One example of using nostalgic web design is Bravenewlit. Bravenewlit is an online magazine with heavy nostalgic aspects to it, like the curvy typeface and grainy images. The text also resembles a scanned photograph, having different footnotes on it. All this brings back fond memories for the users.

3D Elements

The concept of 3D isn’t a new one. However, incorporating them into web designing is indeed a brave idea that designers have been considering. Every user out there expresses their frustration with long text passages. No one wants to read them; most don’t even have the time for it.

However, web designers have been using 3D elements whenever they are working on a website, and the results so far have been more than satisfactory. Regardless of the electronic device people are using, the website’s 3D images should be compatible with different user interfaces, which will become an instant hit among the audience.

One advantage of using 3D elements, apart from the visual appeal, is its use in product websites. A 3D view of a product will help the user form their opinions more easily. 3D visualizations of products can actually become a make-or-break factor.

Get professional website design services that can help you with 3D animations and a lot more.

Micro Animations

Micro animations are starting to become a hot trend. Their origins possibly lie in their prevalence in social media apps like Instagram, where a small GIF often accompanies people’s stories. These animations are a clever way of expressing your thoughts and opinions about a particular topic without diverting the attention from it.

New websites are using these micro animations in the form of GIFs, stickers as attention grabbers. They are also used as a navigation system for the user to browse the website.

Minimalism

The concept of minimalism is fascinating enough as it is. It is an attempt to counter the overwhelming attack on our senses in practically all aspects of life, especially media.

When creating a website, web designers tend to give as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time. This has the adverse effect of making the site look crowded.

A minimalist website gives space and freedom both to the designer as well as the user. Statistics show that people prefer to see a website that gives specific and relevant information without going overboard in engaging them.

The prime examples of minimalist web designs are Dropbox, Amazon, and TED. Their website is simple, easy to use, and beautiful in a very subtle way.

Final Remarks

We have covered several web design trends that are most likely to gain traction in 2022. With the introduction of Metaverse and other revolutionary technologies, we are perhaps on the cusp of entering a whole new era where the line between what is real and what is virtual will blur. What we know for sure is that it is no longer a question of “if;” it is merely a matter of “when.”

Keeping all these considerations in mind, it is absolutely essential to stay on top of things and try to get a good head start. If our web designs are supposed to encapsulate our brands and products, it needs to do it in a way that the audience finds most attractive. There is literally not a single moment of stagnation that we can afford.