Website design trends to expect in 2022
Websites have gone from purely informational centres to works of art in their own right, and each year there are new trends that indicate the design styles that are set to be most popular for the coming 12 months. At LVE THT HQ we make an effort to keep up to date with the trends of the industry, and we’ve collated our top picks for website design trends to expect in 2022, right here in this article.
INCLUSIVITY
Inclusivity is being prioritised by an increasing number of companies and industries nowadays, which is a fantastic thing, and it’s set to become a more conscious consideration for website design this year as well. For someone with a disability or for someone who is neurodiverse, websites can be challenging things. Landing pages can be a minefield to navigate, but small changes can be made to make them more accessible and inclusive.
Ensuring that the contrast of colours doesn’t impair the readability of text, adding alt-text to images and graphic elements, employing easy-to-understand copywriting, and maintaining the same user experience across all devices are just a handful of ways to ensure that your website is inclusive to as many visitors as possible. These might be small modifications for some, but for those that need them, they’re invaluable.
LOOKING TO THE PAST
With the last two years feeling like the world has stood still, more and more people have been looking to the past as an escape, and this nostalgia is set to be a big trend in website design this year.
Classically filtered images, retro typography, pastel colours, and more will be seen covering landing pages everywhere. There is a huge variety of visual styles that nostalgic websites may adopt, with the design elements being chosen carefully and specifically to emulate the decade or era in question.
SCROLLYTELLING
Scrollytelling, or narrative visualisation, is a design style that uses a sequence of visual elements to tell a story. These elements can include animations, evolving typography, changing colours, and more, all tied together with seamless, smooth transitions. The aim of these visual effects is to captivate and engage site visitors.
This trend is expected to pop up across websites increasingly over the next 12 months, and we can see why. It’s as visually interesting and exciting as it is innovative and modern. Apple’s AirPods Pro microsite is a great example of scrollytelling at its finest. We have even showcase this on our own website.
INTERACTIVITY
Interactive websites are gaining popularity, and they’re set to be a firm favourite for 2022. The addition of interactivity serves two primary purposes – to show a company’s inventive capabilities, and to hold a visitor’s attention.
The inclusion of clickable features and graphics that can be manipulated by a site visitor help to push the user experience beyond the usual scrolling; they encourage a more meaningful engagement with a site. Visitors are likely to have a more immersive interaction with a site, leading to a more memorable experience than with one that lacks interactivity.
MULTI-LAYERED CONTENT
It can be tricky getting the balance right with multi-layered content, but once you find the formula that works, it can be remarkable. It’s a great way to fit more content – from images to typography to graphic elements – onto a page while still saving space for important components such as informational text. Plus, it’s visually striking. These are a handful of the reasons it’s earned a place as one of this year’s web design trends.
Multi-layered content acts as a sort of gallery wall on a website, inviting visitors to stop and engage with a landing page. The layers provide enough mystery and intrigue to invite discussion and examination, and when they’re balanced correctly, they do so without being cluttered or chaotic. In order to achieve a truly unified design with this trend, make sure to have a common thread of cohesion – think complementary colour palettes, similar shapes, or overlapping themes – running through the content.
Following trends can be exciting, but ultimately your website needs to reflect your business. It’s a good idea to be aware of what trends are ‘in’ when designing your website, but be mindful of what trends overlap with your company vision and mission, rather than simply opting for what’s most popular in the moment. And finally, be creative and have fun with it!
If you’re looking for help with creating a website in 2022, we’d love to hear from you! Follow this link to start a conversation today.
