Even as most of the world has slowed down for the first half of 2020, the digital world has continued to evolve. We’ve put together a list of some of the dominant design trends we’re noticing thus far in 2020. While some of these have been around for a while, let’s talk about some of the most frequent web designs elements we’re seeing in 2020, and why they’re showing up
Big, Bold Typography
When it comes to digital content, attention spans are shrinking and competition is rapidly increasing. Short, punchy, efficient messaging is crucial to maximizing content delivery and brand retention. Stripe does this to great effect on their newly upgraded home page.
White Space, White Space, White Space
As the web continues to shift to more minimalist designs, the expansion of white space, or the area between text content and images, has grown as well. Top brands around the world are leveraging white space to force a user’s attention to their most effective sales copy.
When we’re talking about brands like Apple and Google, it’s important to recognize that design decisions like these are made using intensive conversion tracking and A/B testing, to ensure they are maximizing the value of their web traffic. Take a look at the similarity of the 2 uses of white space below, and see if you agree that these are a result of companies who’s A/B tests resulted in the same conclusion.
Out of the Box
Another trend that has been around for a few years but is continuing to grow is the evolution of websites outside of a traditional grid layout. Using geometric shapes that exceed the constraints of a ‘boxy’ layout common among websites built a few years prior.
Discord uses shapes to transition between content sections, giving the site a more interesting user-flow than just standard separators or content blocks.
A Return to Retro
Increasingly, brands are moving away from the traditional sans-serif font and clean lines that defined silicon-valley design philosophy for a decade, and transitioning into designs that incorporate more retro design styles.
By adding a serif font with a modern twist, Paper manages to convey a message of “a new take on an old idea” which aligns perfectly with their overall messaging and brand strategy.
Color Shift
As brands continue to differentiate themselves online, and in particular, as brands are built specifically for the web, we’re noticing an intentional effort by companies to adjust color palettes to be much more bold than was traditionally feasible.
Packwire uses extremely bold blues, yellows, and oranges to create a design story that is incredibly powerful and unique.
Animated Guidance
It’s no secret that animations have been useful to increase customer experience, but these strategies are continuously being pushed to their limits, even in ways that are relatively subtle. By focusing less on animation for animations sake, and more on guiding users to the content they want to see, a modern web design can take a lot of the guesswork out of the user journey, and create a branded experience that really stands out.
Check out the way Packwire integrates their core product offerings straight into their hero, and you don’t even realize it at first.
Feeling like your business’s website may be a little lacking?
First, take a breath.
Having a cutting edge website that pushes all design conventions and boundaries isn’t necessary for most businesses, and in some cases could even perform worse if your target audience is less technologically inclined.
That’s why working with a web design company that also offers brand design, content distribution, and lead generation services is critical. Integrating your website as an extension of your existing services rather than a completely separate entity is crucial.
At the end of the day, what’s most important is that your web presence:
- Represents the quality of the work you provide to your customers.
- Guides your target audience to the information they want.
- Converts interested visitors into paying customers.
If your site might not accomplish those 3 things, then give us a shout. We’d love to see how we can help your business maximize its online potential.