Design Trends to Watch in 2021
18 Feburary 2021 . minute read
In this article, we will run through the top web design trends in 2021 that are expected to have the most impact.
The leading brands like Apple and Google are doing their best to connect with the customers authentically by implementing unique designs, graphics, animation patterns with bold fonts and vivid color palettes. You may also have noticed that the bright design comes together with minimalism and simplicity. And you are right! In 2021, a new mix of complex design trends and traditional tend to simplification are making waves.
Web design trends
There appear new trends every year. So it would be interesting to take a look at recent trends in web designing and web application design trends to help you add value to your business and stay ahead of the curve in 2021.
Graphics and photography
When your web designers add graphics to photographs, it helps unify design with brand personality, as well as showcase your creative flair. Also, this has seven times the heavier visual impact and conveys more brand features, and thus more interesting for users.
In the example above, the mix of a photograph and graphics made the visual content stand out. The color palettes’ background and shapes allow to attract users’ attention as well as to convey a deeper brand concept.
Animation
The use of animation makes traditional web design more vivid, easy to use, and appealing for users. Besides, it brings personality to websites and captures complex ideas.
From background animation to animated logos and liquid motion, animation has proven its staying power in web design and has become one of the most popular trends to catch your eye in the nearest future.
The animation below is simple yet effective. Lego-like moving stripes form the company’s logo making the website more interactive. These visual effects contribute to user satisfaction and longer website visits.
Logo Animation in After Effects Lego by MaxKravchenko
Dynamic video and animation background
Moving objects tend to be more attractive. Compared to text or still images, short videos are a more convenient way to provide more information, enabling the user to understand the characteristics of the web page or product quickly. True, it’s hard to ignore them. According to FoodBlogger.com statistics, there were 138% improvements in conversion after they switched to video background on their homepage.
Here is an excellent example of a dynamic background animation design created by Quan for Fireart Studio.
Minimalism and Simplicity
The “less is more” principle still rules in web design in 2021. However, the minimalism 2021 differs a lot from the bland minimalism of the early 2010s. It includes experimenting with colorful minimalism, instead of lots of white space or the combination of black text and white backgrounds. For example, Shopify used colorful minimalism and neutral color palettes which look great:
The page of the website has an appealing look and intuitive navigation. This simplicity and minimalism contributes to good UX and makes for higher page conversions.
3D design elements
Virtual Reality (VR) has a great impact on the design. When we add VR elements, it helps make the projects more real and tactical. These elements include illustrations with a more 3D look, moving lines, shapes, or items that users can reach out like in the next design example by Tran Mau Tri Tam:
VR/AR technologies add extra impact to 3D elements providing an update to flat design. The result is complex, visually attractive, and showing up everywhere. It’s no wonder that such designs gain tractions.
Dark mode
Designers like a dark mode for its super-modern look. The big brand names like Apple, Instagram, or Facebook offer dark mode alternatives in their platforms.
Facebook’s dark mode design
Dark mode web designs provide brands with the perfect opportunity to ignore traditions and explore unique, exciting elements. In addition, it reduces eye strain in low-light conditions.
Text only
If you want to make more text work for design projects, you need to use valuable text. A 2021 trend is to catch internet users’ attention by removing the typical background image in the hero section and replacing it with bold typography and unique font. Carefully selected fonts conveyed the message and built a powerful visual hierarchy. The bold font often comes together with the other design elements like combining large fonts with bright colors or data visualization.
Shystudios
Design for Mobile Comes First
The design of your mobile website is becoming even more important than the look of your website. What’s more, 50% of global website traffic comes from mobile. 62% of companies that created mobile platforms for their websites increased their sales. 72% of people want mobile-friendly websites.
Google is following the mobile-first trend, which is based on prioritizing content and links from mobile website pages. This initiative requires web designers to give priority to the mobile version of websites. Large and small companies don’t stand aside and are actively following this trend.
Since Google started highlighting mobile-responsive websites, mobile has become the first choice for responsive web design. The company has changed its algorithm to prioritize mobile-first indexing that contributes to a better online experience of mobile users.
Users don’t like websites that are hard to operate on mobile devices. With a 51.2% mobile share of global Internet traffic, responsive design will be trendy for years to come.
Face ID and under-screen Touch ID
With a buttonless screen trend, manufacturers started using facial recognition instead of pushing to unlock phones. In 2021, Apple is going to bring back under-display Touch ID fingerprint recognition together with Face ID to its iPhones.
Chatbots and Conversational Design
Excellent conversational design can seriously help convert visitors into customers as they get help right away without the need to search for the “Contact us” button.
The way a chatbot looks in your mobile user interface can vary, and it’s generally a matter of overall design. Also, the way visitors access information is changing — now they ask a question or make a demand. No more typing into Google. This requires web design to adjust to keep up with the prevalence of voice chatbots and virtual assistants. Thus, the voice-activated interface becomes an emerging in the foreseeable future.
Are new web design trends 2021 right for your next project?
Web design trends are always a hot topic for both designers and business owners worldwide as everything is constantly changing. We’ve just covered the top web design trends as well as mobile designing to help you focus on things that are going to make the web and mobile design world go round. We hope this overview will inspire you to create new appealing and exciting digital experiences.
Interested in working with Diginow? Drop us a line at hello@diginow.co.uk.
We are a Creative Web Design Agency based in London & Leicester, specialising in Bespoke Website Design, Web Development, Branding and Digital Marketing.