What is important if you want to impress with your website design? The right colours, cleverly used animations or structured navigation? It is above all a combination of all these elements.
Ideally, your website should not only convince visually but also functionally. Therefore, with the following web design trends for 2022, you should make sure that many elements interact if you want to keep your visitors or customers on your website for as long as possible.
#1 Rely on tried-and-tested navigation
Many users show a now determined and learned user behaviour. So most people know that the navigation or the menu of many websites can be found at the top right. If you stick to this orientation, this has a positive effect on user behaviour and the user only has to muster little cognitive capacity.
The hamburger menu in particular stands out here as a symbol for deeper interactions with the website. This often hides the individual subcategories of a webshop or other subpages, which should only be actively visible when the user so wishes. Fixed navigation also offers website visitors a simplified user experience.
Because this “fixed menu” allows the user to jump from page to page at any time without having to scroll up and down long websites. It is therefore particularly important when you design long pages where you do not reach the end of the page within a few scrolls.
#2 Color design as an important basis
While in the past supposedly safe colours were often used in order to able to address the widest possible spectrum of visitors, they will be brighter in 2022. But in addition to bright colours, many also use more muted colours to create beautiful contrasts. Striking shades also emphasize strong colour contrasts and ensure the desired attention.
The courage to set oneself apart from competitors and rivals through the choice of colours and to generate a recognition value increases. This method addresses the user offensively and at the same time leaves enough space for content and user guidance. But keep in mind: The colour scheme must absolutely match the content and the message.
#3 Don’t neglect typography
A broader field of individual and tailor-made typography is definitely one of the web design trends of 2022. Because the impact of typography can hardly be overestimated. Choosing the right font can arouse emotions and give the website the right character.
It can be seen that, in addition to the above-mentioned colour scheme, the fonts used and sometimes also the font sizes are becoming bolder. But the same applies here: The font on your website must harmonize with all other elements and the content.
#4 Use animations
Many browsers are now not only able to display animations, on the contrary, one expects moving elements. For this reason, it has developed in recent years that smaller and larger animations are built into new web projects. And even in 2022, animations will still be in trend, because they appeal to the user through movements much more than static images.
They help to keep the user’s attention and also enable targeted guidance through the website. As one of the web design trends of 2022, we will also see the increasingly frequent use of animations.
#5 Modern asymmetry in layout
Symmetry has long been one of the important factors when creating a new website. Uniformity should always bring about harmony and offer the user a successful experience. However, if you look at the web design trends for 2022, you will find that the exact opposite is still en vogue.
Asymmetry is now mainstream. Because by deliberately breaking the symmetry, new and appealing designs can be developed in an interesting way. The focus when creating asymmetrical designs is by no means on the chaotic presentation. The balance of the design elements is particularly important here in order to remain harmonious even in asymmetry.
#6 Use illustrations and organic shapes
Away from boring and overused stock photos and towards really authentic illustrations specially made for the website. For the presentation of content, individuality is becoming more and more important. Illustrations are of course particularly suitable for this.
The drawings and illustrations do not always have to be infantile or playful. Modern and minimalist illustrations with organic shapes are also becoming increasingly popular. It is advisable to think about how illustrations and individual infographics can help you to replace ordinary stock photos and generate significant added value and recognition for the customer.
#7 Convince your own pictures and videos
As already mentioned, stock photos, which can be found on numerous different websites, have often been used in the past. But this trend is declining more and more, especially with professionally oriented projects. An integral part of the web design trends 2022 is individuality. Rely on high-quality image material – preferably your own.
And not only image material in the form of photos liven up your website, but also videos. The moving image draws attention and provides website visitors with a welcome distraction. Because some prefer to watch a video to find out more than reading through long texts.
Google also rewards audiovisual content and shows it more often in the search results. And that’s exactly why videos on websites have now become the standard and should therefore not be missing from the web design trends 2022.
The loosening up of static elements through the use of scrolling effects is being observed more and more frequently. This offers the user a visual change when browsing the website and thus maintains attention.
Parallax effects, which are used more and more frequently, can be used as an example. With parallax scrolling, the foreground and background are scrolled at different speeds. This creates the impression of depth or three-dimensionality. While this is not a novel design component, the use of such scrolling effects will continue to grow.
#9 Minimalism: Less is more
The so-called minimal design is becoming increasingly popular. It is limited to the essentials: the message, the content, the user guidance and the clarity. By doing without many visual design elements, the user’s attention is completely reduced to the content.
The minimalist design not only runs like a red thread through the web design with a small number of visual stimuli. The choice of different fonts is also limited. This creates a uniform appearance and again puts the message in the foreground.
Choosing the right fonts is particularly important for websites with a minimal design. Because where the lack of stimulus is in the foreground, meaningful and characteristic fonts are required.
These give the minimal design its independent and special effect. The particular advantage here is a most simple and clear user experience. The thought behind this is potentially higher conversion rates.
#10 Adapt your web design to mobile devices too
More and more websites are primarily designed for mobile devices or are at least designed in such a way that they also look good on smartphone screens and all information is visible. No wonder, since mobile devices are now used more for surfing than desktops.
Mobile devices are now extremely interesting for obtaining information – general queries that go beyond the current weather can also be carried out more and more easily via voice search. More and more purchases are made via smartphones. Therefore, you should start making your website mobile-friendly right away, if you haven’t already done so.
#11 Micro-interactions as a motivational kick
Micro-interactions are an important part of the user experience and accompany the user with small animations or haptic effects. This could be a short vibration of the smartphone, for example, if the user rates an image as good on a platform.
A small movement effect when clicking on buttons is also conceivable. Such small details may sound insignificant at first, but they can add immense value to the user experience, especially when older people interact with the website via a smartphone, as it is not always clear to them whether the interaction was successful.
Web design trends 2022: The Conclusion
The web design trends 2022 show in which direction design is increasingly developing and which elements your website absolutely needs to keep up with the competition. However, more important than jumping on every design trend is the unique touch you give to your web design. Because that’s the only way you can set yourself apart from your competitors.
However, the targeted use of current web design trends can help you to increase the attractiveness of your website for users, achieve longer stays and increase interactions on the homepage. Picking up on a trend can therefore be beneficial. However, always remember the authenticity of the website.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about web design trends
A modern website 2022 should have the following criteria: clear navigation, a pleasant colour scheme, a contemporary layout, convincing images and videos as well as scrolling effects and micro-interactions.
The user experience is elementary for the creation of a website. Because if the users don’t find their way around and are overwhelmed, they will quickly leave the website again. Therefore, you should always keep the benefit of the user in mind.
no more important than jumping on every design trend is the unique touch you give to your web design. Because that’s the only way you can set yourself apart from your competitors.