10 Web Design Trends To Incorporate To Your Website In 2022

A website is the digital version of your brand. It is often where you’ll have your customer’s first impression of your brand or business.

This is why you need to make sure that your website reflects your brand's professionalism and quality. However, in this fast-paced world, websites and design trends are always changing.

Web designs that were once modern and cool may now be seen as a cliche or overused. Surely you don’t want your website to be called outdated and lose conversion. By knowing the latest trends, you can make a few tweaks in order to keep your website looking new and innovative.

In this article, expert web designers from Mws.dev, a reputable and established web design and digital marketing company in Idaho Falls, Idaho, share some of the top web design trends you should incorporate into your site in 2022.

1. Comforting Aesthetics

The current pandemic has forever changed our lives. Lockdowns and strict health and safety protocols were implemented. People were forced to stay at home for a very long time to minimize the transmission of the virus and keep families safe.

Although COVID-19 is still here, the decreasing number of cases has resulted in more relaxed restrictions. Now, people are figuring out how to live in the new normal.

Like how businesses are restructuring their office spaces to entice employees back to face-to-face work, websites are also modifying their design to give visitors a space where they can feel comfortable and safe to reduce their anxiety.

In 2022, you can expect to see more websites integrating imagery that evokes home décor aesthetics as well as themes that are outdoor and nature-inspired. Integrating natural, organic shapes can help make your website feel fresh and alive. Combining spacious and welcoming designs can give your visitor a sense of order and safety.

In addition, this design trend can also give your visitors a piece of the outside world even when they’re just staying at home.

2. Lots Of White Spaces

White space, also known as mindful web design, continues to dominate web design trends. As the name implies, these are the blank spaces around your website that allows readers to breathe while browsing your website.

As mentioned in the previous website design trend, the current situation of the world has made people go back to a smaller and quieter world - the comfort of their own homes. However, due to the negative news going around the internet, the web can still be a stressful place.

That said, web designers are making it less stressful by maximizing white space, providing them a sense of calmness, and allowing readers to rest their eyes as they navigate the website and read the content.

Minimalistic designs paired with the generous use of white space are pleasing to the eyes. This can help improve readability, relaying information quickly with more impact.

When adapting this web design, make sure to break your paragraphs into considerable pieces. This prevents the reader from being overwhelmed with the long strings of letters and busy graphics.

However, white spaces don’t literally mean using a white theme for your website. Your web page can be of any color you want and as long as it has an adequate amount of empty spaces, you’ll be able to attract more visitors.

3. Simple, One-Page Websites

One page-websites embodies the old saying ‘less is more.’ For some websites, the less content it has, the more visitors it has. Today, there’s an increase in one-page websites, employing simple scroll navigation and ditching complex menus and navigation.

This type of web design evokes the feeling of reading a flyer or a poster digitally. Information is in a single place and users don’t have to go through multiple pages to find what they’re looking for.

Of course, a one-page website is not suitable for every business. But if your business has a narrower subject matter, this web design is a great option to try.

4. Eye-Catching Parallax Animation

Animation designs will always have a place in web designing. However, in 2022, web animations are expected to become even more complex and eye-catching. Today, web designers are separating page elements into background and foreground components to create the parallax effect.

This optical illusion occurs when objects near your view seem to move faster than those from afar. In real life, it’s like glancing at passing scenery on a road trip. When adapted to your website, the parallax effect can create a surreal user experience.

5. Serif Typography and Large Texts

Offering a distinctively modern vibe, serif fonts are one of the most popular web design trends of 2022. In the world of typography, serif typefaces are those which add a tip at the edge of a letter’s shape. You will see this with fonts such as Garamond, Times New Roman, and Georgia. These typefaces bring a classic mood into your content design.

Also, because of the influence of the minimalist trend, other than serifs, brands are coming up with one-word or short slogans. They make these slogans stand out by using bigger and oversized texts with bold colors. These oversized words add a graphic element to your website design.

6. Neomorphism

Neomorphism has been introduced to web designs a few years back. Up to this day, it continues to be an on-trend modern web design. Moving away from the popular flat web design, neomorphism has a realistic UI design that primarily focuses on shadows.

In a neomorphic design, elements will look like they’re extruding from the background as if they are floating. Think of it as an embossed or debossed design on paper.

Shadows and subtle gradients can be combined to create a trendy and eye-catching look. Using these web design trends can provide a fresh and soft look to your website for the next years to come.

7. Real People In Images

Motivated by history, culture, and society, beauty ideals continue to change. The new standard of beauty has reached into web design. Displaying real people in your images is a hot web design trend for 2022.

More brands are pushing inclusivity and embracing real-life images that speak to diverse races, backgrounds, and ages. Websites are now including images of individuals from all walks of life— diverse skin tones, all body types, the elderly, the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and many more.

By using images of real people that are similar to your visitors, customers, or their families and friends, brands become more relatable. Adding this design trend to your website can be a smart branding decision since it resonates with everyone and helps make your visitors envision themselves using your products.

8. Original, Hand-Drawn Elements

Aside from the previous web design trend, original, hand-drawn elements can also create a unique feel to your website.

Hand-drawn elements may seem childish; however, they can make an emotional connection with your visitors. With original, hand-drawn elements and images, you can customize the illustrations to tell a specific story. With that said, you can make them more personal and relatable to your clients.

You may ask a professional graphic designer or illustrator to draw your illustrations and imagery so that you can produce a more professional and appealing design for your website.

9. Unique Cursors

Cursors are one of the most overlooked elements in web designing. In general, cursors are often left in their raw, traditional appearance — the boring white and slightly tilted arrow.

That said, it doesn’t take too much time to customize your cursor. You can create a unique pointer experience for your visitors, increasing interactivity and engagement in your website. You may design a cursor that complements your branding. For instance, if your brand is eco-friendly, you can design your cursor to look like a leaf. You may also bring it to life by using pointer animations such as a hover effect.

10. The Rise Of Dark Mode

Called by many names— low light UX, night mode, dark mode—this theme offers a darker, low-contrast version of your website.

While white space and minimalism ensure easy reading and less cluttered designs, dark mode makes it easier for people who are sensitive to bright lights to read and browse your website, especially at night time. It helps reduce eye strain and fatigue, especially if you spend a lot of time staring at screens. Additionally, dark mode helps save battery power. In fact, a study revealed that switching to dark mode even at 100% brightness can save an average of 39 – 47 percent battery power.

Major companies like Google and Facebook now offer a dark mode version for both their apps and website and it’s expected to set the trend for more years to come. So, it only makes sense to start creating a dark version of your website right away.

Take Away

Being up-to-date with the latest web design trends is essential to ensure the success of your website. So, what are you waiting for? You may start incorporating the necessary web design trends on your website with the above suggestions to give your brand a modern, sophisticated look in 2022.