Website design trends are no exception to the fast-paced evolution of technology. Because of this, it is important that your revisit your website design every couple of years to ensure that you don’t need to add things or do a total redesign.
Website features and design components that were once cutting-edge and unique have become uninteresting, overdone, and clichéd in recent years. When visitors come to your site, the last thing you want is for them to leave because it is outdated or does not follow fundamental web standards. This could indicate that you need to consider a website overhaul. Check out what we have to say here for more information on website makeover.
Fortunately, our web design team stays on top of all the newest website design and development trends in order to produce highly functional, user-friendly websites that perform well and look great. We’d like to discuss some of the most recent developments, digital technology trends, standards, and forecasts for the year 2022.
Thirty Website Design Trends and Standards for 2022, as well as Predictions for the Following Year
There are some features of web design that will never go out of style – user-friendly navigation, data security, and quick load times should all be standard on your website. However, by using some of these cutting-edge website features and characteristics, you can maintain your site on the cutting edge of design and search engine optimization.
1. Vibrant Color
Colors that are bold, vibrant, and saturated make your brand stand out among the bland neutrals that many companies have chosen in recent years. Adding a little pop of color is encouraged these days in website design.
2. Page Speed and Website Load Time Are King
Ultra-fast load times are one of the most significant web design criteria. For years, fast loading speeds have been an important 
aspect of UX (user experience) and SEO, and they remain a key concern for websites that want to rank high and convert better.
According to studies, over half of internet browsers expect a website to load quickly. As soon as they click on the link, they expect an almost instant download, as instant as only a couple of seconds. Your visitors will most likely depart if your site takes more than three seconds to load, and they are unlikely to return!
The effectiveness of a website has a direct impact on a company’s bottom line. An example of this is Pinterest, which cut perceived wait times by 40%, resulting in a 15% boost in search engine traffic and sign-ups.
When looking for investment properties, you may have heard the phrase “location, location, location” from your real estate brokers. “Conversion, conversion, conversions,” we say at The SEO Chick. We utilize website loading speeds as a standard statistic to ensure a positive user experience.
3. Optimized Content Loading for a Better User Experience (UX)
Be sure that you are careful how many third-party apps and features you cram into your website as this can create a poor user experience or UX. Fortunately, there are a variety of approaches to creating smart websites that only download the content that you view and require.
Infinite scrolling and lazy loading are not new concepts. For years, the main social networks have used this, particularly
when it comes to endless scroll. Long (one) page websites benefit from this strategy as well.
Lazy Load ensures that your web browser (such as Google Chrome, Safari, or Firefox) only downloads the content you see on the screen, rather than wasting server resources and TIME on offscreen content that may or may not be seen.
Outperforming and outranking your competition is what it is about in this market Because of this your designers need to think of features to improve the user’s experience for all visitors to your website, which can help boost your conversion rate and rating.
Many internet users never make it all the way to the bottom of a page. So what’s the point of loading that stuff and lengthening the time it takes for the site to load? Loading the material as users scroll down the page and get closer to it is a better strategy.
4. Content that is tailored to your geolocation and browsing history
Perhaps you’ve viewed a website and then returned to find that the material has changed a few hours or days later. When you first open it on your phone or in a different browser, you see the same material that you viewed the first time you visited the website.
It’s no secret that most smart websites keep track of our surfing 
habits. This is where dynamic content becomes very important. Which is content that is based on past user behavior or what we know about a user. Not cookie-cutter stuff that caters to everyone.
Users who return to your website for the second or third time may benefit from personalized content.
This is something you’ll notice every time you use Google as a search engine. Users in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who are searching for a nearby restaurant will get different results than users in other cities. You might notice this when you are traveling. Local businesses will pop up wherever your location is to better serve what you are looking for.
A good directory website will also recognize your preferred cuisine. If you’ve already reviewed or saved Italian eateries, it might make sense to prioritize them in your search results.
More Examples of How Geolocation works
Another example is when you first visit your bank’s website and need to enter your username and mark your browser as “trusted.” When you return, the bank will recognize whether you are a personal or business customer. As a result, depending on your client status, they will market their residential or business offerings.
For e-commerce website operators, personalized content is definitely more vital. Increased conversions can be achieved by displaying recently seen, saved, or loved products for online customers. Returning clients should be reminded of the contents of their abandoned carts in order to maintain a greater conversion rate.
5. Forms that Speak to Vistors
One of the most crucial aspects of a marketing website is the online lead generation form. We want to learn a lot about the people who visit our website, but we can’t ask too many
questions at once. On landing pages, we use progressive/dynamic contact forms that display fields based on the lead’s path.
We don’t want to clutter a form with too many fields, but we can always change the form fields based on the information we already have about our leads. At the first conversion, we might ask for the name, company, and email address, and then at the second conversion, we might ask for the phone number, title, company size, and company revenue fields. These are only some simple examples.
6. Chatbots Take on Human-Like Qualities
Chatbots ar something else that we need to consider in this day and age. They answer simple customer service queries and “personal shopping” as artificial intelligence and machine learning become more powerful. Because of this, we expect them to become more of the norm moving forward.
For example, if a consumer comes to your website looking for phone help and the chatbot notices that a free phone upgrade is available, the customer will be notified. The chatbot can inform them of the upgrading. This can provide a great customer experience while also saving the company money on customer service costs connected with speaking with a live person.
7. Voice-Activated Interface (Voice-Activated Interface)
We no longer type into Google to obtain information; instead, we pose a query or make a demand. As a result, web design is evolving to accommodate the growing popularity of virtual assistance and voice chatbots.
We will be to see an increase in the number of websites that offer voice search as an alternative to regular text search. This is because there are more and more devices that are offering this feature. As the millennial generation grows up, this trend will continue.
8. Static and Interactive 3D Content
3D features that visitors can interact with have become more common as online technology has progressed and site designers have sought to differentiate themselves from the usual homepage..
The end result can be stunning.
9. Frosted Glass Effects
IF you have ever seen a frosted glass, this is the same look that the “frosted glass effects” offer to a website. It allows you to still see the colors and such but will have a haze over it. This has become a popular option for those putting things in the background and blurring out things that are not of interest to the visitor.
10. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality experiences on websites will continue to grow in popularity in the coming years. Consider services like Airbnb, which allow you to visit a rental before making a reservation. Or the ability of IKEA’s furniture site to display how a sofa might look in your room.
Virtual reality (VR) can be a great tool for a website to offer helpful, meaningful content to site visitors in a way that aids their purchasing decisions.
11. Micro-interactions
Micro-interactions are little animations that provide visitors with unobtrusive input on a website. When a user hovers their mouse over a link, we’re all used to watching it change colors. With the emphasis on micro-interactions, that same experience may be given extra attention in order to stand out a little more. For example, depending on the link the mouse is hovering over, the mouse trajectory could transform into a different image.
12. Micro Animation
Micro animations are little animations, as you would have gathered from the name. In this example, though, tiny does not imply insignificance. These micro animations are highly useful in helping direct those visiting where they should go next. Micro animation also offers a whimsical aspect to your website, to be frank, they are just cool to see and look at.
Micro animations have been popular for a few years, but in 2022, it will be all about naturally using them. We’ll be thinking about how objects move if they’re on a curve or wheel instead of a flat plane, as our UI/production designer explained.
Micro animations are one of the most recent web design trends for e-commerce sites, and they’re being used to improve user experience and give shoppers a taste of their items. Micro animations are already being used by this yoga clothing store to show customers how their clothes fit and move on to actual people.
13. Natural Forms
In 2022 organic shapes have taken over where the geometric shapes have left off from the early 2000s. Anything that isn’t
made up of straight lines isn’t as popular as those that emulate a more natural horizon. Consider the uneven and twisting shapes found in nature, such as hills and the borders of a lake or river.
Fluid forms are an excellent method to divide areas of a website without using sharp lines or angles. They’re also fantastic for use in the backgrounds like Android does on their homepage with circles behind things.
14. Minimalism or Flat Design
Minimalism, also known as “flat design,” is not a new online design trend. Even yet, it’s usually connected with a lot of white space (think Apple.) People will start experimenting with colorful minimalism in 2022, we predict. To be minimalist, it doesn’t have to be all white.
15. Use Color to Evoke Specific Feelings
Along with bright color, we believe that thoughtful use of color to generate specific moods will be important in 2022. The study of how colors affect human behavior, or better known as Color psychology has been around for centuries, and marketers have been using it to help sell for almost as long.
While how we interpret colors has a lot to do with our perceptions, colors are associated with some general moods. Green, for example, is often associated with nature and natural products, whilst red is associated with vigor and passion.
In 2022, we believe web designers will place a greater emphasis on using color to express the mood(s) and feelings(s) that a site is intended to generate.
16. Mobile Navigation with Thumbs
Responsive design is no longer an option. On mobile devices, your site should perform properly and be simple to navigate. However, in 2022, web design will continue to be focused on producing thumb-friendly web pages.
What does it mean to be “thumb-friendly”?
We’re discussing how we utilize our cellphones. Look at how you’re holding your phone right now if you’re reading this on it. Your fingers are most likely curled around the back of your phone (or around a phone hold), allowing your thumb to do all of the heavy lifting. You most likely resemble this.
Most of us use our smartphones in this manner, which is why thumb-friendly navigation is vital. Putting the navigation bar, menu, and even contact buttons in the center of the screen (where your thumb can reach them) makes your site more user-friendly and enhances your UX tenfold.
17. Video Intelligence
For a long time, video has been marketed as a must-have for websites. People enjoy watching videos! Videos are fun to watch! It’s the most powerful web marketing tool available!
While video is fantastic, it must be carefully considered. Smart video is all about video with a purpose and meaning. Gone are the days when you could merely put a YouTube video on your website for the sake of having one. A single well-planned, high-quality video is preferable to a dozen hastily made ones.
18. Material Design
You can find a great example of material design illustrated in the shadows on the Google Calendar and Gmail Icons for your phone. It’s subtle, but it helps to make the icons appear three-dimensional. In 2022, we anticipate seeing a lot more material design!
Material design is a design language that Google first presented in 2014. The aesthetic of traditional web design is flat. Color and shadows are used in material design to replicate the physical world and its textures in their icons.
19. Using Graphical Elements to Blend Photos
Overlapping graphics on photographs in your social media feed may have caught your attention. A standard image is given a new degree of inventiveness and fun with this combining approach.
Websites are also catching on to the trend. Using photos and graphics together can help to enhance your company’s branding and keep visitors interested in the content on your website.
20. Colors and typography with a vintage feel
It’s true that as we get older, we tend to look back to a simpler and better time. It doesn’t just create a throwback on the website when you tap into an audience’s nostalgia; it also combines vintage components with a new style. For an ultra-trendy look, combine vintage-inspired typefaces and colors with current artwork.
21. Bold Fonts
Bold typeface is on-trend, as evidenced by a number of websites for major organizations. The viewer is immediately aware of the message, not necessarily the imagery when using big, bold fonts. The use of bold typefaces and neutral colors draws attention to the headlines, which gradually become their own “picture.”
22. Data Visualization
It’s difficult to provide information in an entertaining manner. However, the effort is worthwhile since data visualization takes into consideration the fact that humans are visual beings while still conveying the message you want to convey. Data visualization generates graphics from your data that entice your reader to learn more about your company. Infographics and graphs are two of the most used ways to visualize data.
23. Dark Mode
Web designs in dark mode serve a variety of purposes. On the practical side, they help to reduce eye strain, which is a growing worry as we spend more time staring at screens. On the aesthetic front, dark mode gives your website an ultra-modern look while also allowing you to highlight other design aspects by dimming the items around it.
24. White Space
The purpose of white space is to allow material to breathe rather than to push as much information as possible onto the screen. Visitors to your website will have a more pleasant experience, the material will stand out more, and readability will improve.
The word “white space” simply refers to the distance between items. It doesn’t have to be white as long as there’s no one else in the room. It’s also called “negative space” because of this.
25. Illustrations
Using the same stock photos that everyone else does makes your website look generic. You need to invest in some custom stock images that will stand out and grab the attention of visitors. Be sure that you invest in proper images to ensure that you have a custom look that your visitors will not have seen in other places. This can even be done by using stock photos and changing them up a bit.
Custom graphics may help your website stand out and feel new to visitors. Because you’ll be designing illustrations from scratch, they’ll be more accurate representations of your company and branding, as well as complement the page’s content.
26. Homepage Hero
Grab your visitors’ attention with a billboard-like graphic as soon as they land on your homepage. That’s what a homepage Hero does.
These large billboard like hero portions as a chance to create a wonderful story. Just keep in mind that image cropping will vary depending on browser dimensions. You should choose an image that will fit the bill.
27. Hero Images with Only Text
To promote sales, newspapers always place their most eye-catching, crucial material “above the fold.” The “hero section” is the website version of this, and it appears at the top of a page. The removal of the standard background image in the hero section and replacement with eye-catching typography is a recent trend to attract the attention of internet users who are bombarded by multiple websites every day. A strong, distinctive typeface can be just what you need to grab a user’s attention quickly.
28. Gradients
Gradients have been a popular trend for a long time, ranging from subtle color overlays to eye-catching backdrops.
They can be utilized to provide depth to an illustration, serve as a dramatic background, or softly add texture. It’s becoming more common with larger, stronger typography.
This is a trend that will last. We’re looking forward to seeing how it’s used on websites evolves.
29. Availability and Accessibility
Inclusivity and accessibility are more than a fad, but the online design must increasingly consider the requirements of individuals with impairments. Having a site that all visitors can navigate and interact with is more than just part of offering exceptional customer service and an excellent experience. It can help you increase conversions, improve your SEO, and reach a larger audience.
Among the elements that increase accessibility are:
- Making a dramatic color contrast between the text and the background adding focus indications, such as the rectangular outline that appears around links when keyboard navigation is used;
- Instead of low-context placeholder text, use labels and instructions with form fields.
- Using picture alt tags that are both functional and SEO-friendly
30. Involvement
Including interactive elements on your website is a fantastic way to provide value to visitors, encourage them to connect with it, and learn more about them.
Assume you’re a real estate agent who has a mortgage calculator on your website. You’re providing value to your visitors while also learning more about them thanks to the information you’ve entered into your calculator.
The following are some examples of interactive marketing:
- Quizzes and other forms of assessment
- Polls and questionnaires
- Calculators
- Contests
Website Development Standards and Current Web Design Trends
There are a few prominent trends from recent years that will continue to be significant in the future.
1. A mobile-first approach
We already stated that responsive/mobile-friendly web design is no longer an option. Your website should be built with mobile users in mind. In 2015, mobile searches surpassed desktop searches for the first time. Since the start of the year, mobile traffic has accounted for roughly half of all global online traffic. Since 2018, Google has favored mobile-friendly sites over non-mobile-friendly ones. Yes, mobile-first design is another SEO blip on the radar.
2. SSL Certificates
SSL certificates are becoming more of a normal security feature for websites, rather than a fad. The certificate for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is placed on your web server. It has two functions: it authenticates the website’s identity, ensures that users aren’t on a fake site, and encrypts the data being sent.
This ensures that your website and its users have a private “dialogue.” If you don’t already have an SSL certificate for your website, getting one in 2022 should be a top priority, especially if you run an e-commerce site!
In three words, the most recent web design trends and standards for 2022 are: Quick, simple, and eye-catching
We anticipate a flood of clean, bright, eye-catching websites that combine animation and video to enhance the user experience in 2022. And with a thumb-friendly design, our thumbs should have a break!
The design of your website can have a favorable impact on your brand and revenue. Contact our team immediately if you want a modern, user-friendly (and thumb-friendly!) website. We would be happy to discuss what types of design elements you would like to see on your next website.