Everything is moving to the internet. Even cafés, restaurants and even celebrities around the world are creating their own websites to gain popularity, engage their audience and create a deeper connection with their fans or viewers on a more emotional level. After all, the biggest trend of this decade is “relatability” and adding more “humanizing qualities” to brands and websites of upper-class public figures. But 2020 comes with a twist; humanizing qualities with more intense visual stimulation.
Check out these 5 web design trends of 2020 to see what your competition is doing to attract more traffic to their websites.
1. Blending Realism with Graphics
Sports brands like Nike and Adidas like to dabble in web design that involves photography and overlapping graphics. Eye-catching, on-point visual stimulation and doesn’t interfere with the readability of content, it’s a versatile way to showcase your brand personality no matter what it may be; add squiggly lines or round geometrics to your images for a more playful look or meticulous illustrations to imply formality and sophistication. This allows your brand to stand out and the unique personal spin on photography and graphic design makes it memorable to your viewers.
2. Bending Typography Rules
Forget all you know about the formal rules of typography; company websites are twisting, spinning, inverting every word written on their website. Adding color various color gradients, using various font sizes, combining more than 4 typefaces on the same page and so many other rule-breaking techniques that would make a traditional typographer’s eyes burn.
One website that isn’t holding back on the inverted typography style is the Makers & Dreamers website. Surprisingly enough, the different typefaces and alignments doesn’t decrease the readability of its content and instead, provides a visually stimulating experience that’ll make users want to stick around their website longer.
3. Streamline Navigation
Trends in website navigation have been steadily evolving over the last few years, more specifically, ever since the introduction of Apple’s website. Their simple navigation design that attracts millions of users on a daily basis prompted companies to adopt the same web design strategy.
In 2020, however, streamlining website navigation will become a necessity rather than an option. An infinite number of companies such as Tesla, Gucci, Sony, and others have recently taken on this sleek, fast, and effective way for one to explore their websites.
4. Switch to “Dark Mode”
Ever since Apple decided to add a “dark mode” option to their apps like Apple Music, many others such as Spotify have followed suit. Websites with a dark aesthetic paired with bright elements have become so popular because of how the dark background complements the almost-neon accent colors on their web page, which creates a beautifully dynamic design.
5. Artistic Illustrations
We’re not talking about your typical graphics, but icons and shapes that look hand drawn. It’s one of those things that are “so imperfect, they’re perfect”. Remember the “humanizing qualities” we talked about earlier? The messy-looking illustrations and shapes depicts “imperfection” and “authenticity”, all very human-like qualities. It adds a nice emotional touch to your brand and connect with your viewers on a personal level. Check out some of the pages on Mailchimp’s website to see an example of these whimsical drawings. No wonder Absurd.design which is featured in the Digital Design Library is one of the most popular.
The takeaway of this article, however, is this very important point: make sure the design you choose matches the personality of your brand. Use the right graphics and style in order to ensure that your website is giving off the right impression.
