Top Web Design Trends For 2021
You just have a few seconds to capture your visitors’ attention? Is your website copy good enough to hook them? Is your design captivating enough to keep visitors on your site?
The design and the combination of words are among a few things that are crucial to your website. Without them, you increase the likelihood of people leaving your website. That increases bounce rate which is considered poison for SEO.
I’ll talk about words some other day. Today, my focus is design. Specifically, the web design trends you should keep an eye on in 2021.
Ready? Let’s get to the list.
Web Design Trends
This year, we see a mixture of many visual design trends and underlying design as a whole. Hopefully, the trends I’m going to mention here will inspire you to create a stunning experience for your audience.
Retro Fonts
It’s a common thing in the design field. We often see old things come back again with a twist. It’s good to have that nostalgic feeling.
In the past years, designers have gone back to the old school fonts but failed miserably. This time, they have succeeded because they came back with a unique touch.
It’s not the same old types. We are seeing a lot of customization as well. Designers are combining their creativity. Along with this uniqueness, we are experiencing a lot of artistry on the web.
Take a look at this Spotify’s carnival page. This merging of new and old fonts is breathtaking. There’s also plenty of experimentation going on in there. Instead of a static bold type, you see flashy graphics when you hover over these fonts. All the flashes are very sensory and bring the fun part out of you, which is something a carnival should do.
3D Visuals
3d designs have improved a lot because of higher resolution screens. This is why we are seeing them make their way into web design. Now they don’t distract users. If used correctly, they help in a great overall user experience.
Sennep does a great job at this. It uses 3D elements throughout its website. You’ll feel like every design element is balanced and not coming at you too strong. You should get inspired by their design if your goal is to make bigger impressions using 3D.
Yaya is also one of the brands that love 3D. Check out their homepage.
Gaussian Blur
This technique is used to add soft focus to images and gradients. We have seen its uses in design for a long time, but recently, it has made its way to web designs.
A great example would be Moment House’s about us page. The site doesn’t use an image right away. Instead, it shows a pleasing gaussian blur that blends with the image as you scroll down. A soothing experience I should say.
Monograph Communications also uses this technique. It combines the blending of red, purple, and blue and gives a great contrast.
Geometric Grids
Some people see grids as simple design elements. Simplicity is better than complexity. Plus, these grids also give you plenty of flexibility.
You can use grids in many ways in your design. Mostly, they are gaining popularity in structuring a layout.
Look at the Hudson Gavin and Martin website. It uses this technique creatively. It combines the content and navigation use grids. You get a unique experience. You can see everything from content to buttons separately. Through good navigation and choice of blocks, the website keeps visitor’s attention.
As I said, there’s a margin of flexibility in the grids. So you don’t have to be uniform in your design. Flowmingo is a good example of asymmetrical use of grids.
And if you want to stay on the lighter side, check out Skin Labs.
Multimedia Experiences
Multimedia combines visuals, text, video, and audio and gives a breathtaking experience. They are everywhere on the web now. One reason is that we have unprecedented fast internet now.
This makes using multimedia an obvious choice for 2021. You want to:
- Keep things simple. For example, go with the old-school combination of motion and audio. Don’t create an overwhelming experience because some people have cognitive disorders.
- Make your content accessible. For this, use different media formats.
- If you use any type of video or audio, use subtitles. Some of your visitors might be non-native English speakers.
- Use alt text for images as it can help with SEO.
- Include a play button for users to play and pause the content. Autoplaying content can be annoying.
Multimedia should be used effectively. Use the following examples to get inspired.
Nicolas Errera’s site offers playback controls for its users. As I said, not giving these options can be annoying. So look at this website and see how it gives a good user experience.
Black Yearbook is another example of great usage of multimedia. The website shows what it’s like to be an African American student attending predominantly white schools. Videos are placed thoughtfully. The cinematography feels like the trailer of a movie. The whole experience makes you intrigued about the book and the movement behind it.
Final Words on Web Design Trends For 2021
There you have it. This was the list of my top 5 web design trends in 2021. Here’s a recap:
- Retro Fonts with a mix of creativity.
- Usage of 3D visuals.
- Gaussian blur to add soft focus to images and gradients.
- Geometric grids are used both symmetrically and asymmetrically.
- Use of different multimedia.
Do you agree with the list? Do you think that there’s another design trend that’s prevailing in 2021?
Please let me know in the comments below.
