Top Web Design Trends in 2020-2021
Mindful consideration will be needed for selecting web design elements for a website in 2020-2021. Competition for being digitally available is going to splurge-up. There are many factors which will lead to this trend in upcoming times, such as:
Social distancing mechanism due to covid19
Beginning of 5G network architecture, and
Improved and efficient functioning of AI, ML & allied technologies
Beating the growing competition and attracting more users while maintaining a high retention rate will be the top priorities of brands. However, good web design can do wonders. Web design bridges the gap between a business and a customer.
Therefore, we’ve spoken to some professional web designers who are doing real-world web designing work. We have collected insights of the grounded views of how they think things will progress, and how businesses should have a ready-to-go strategy for adaptable future needs.
Let’s view top 7 web design trends we found to be important in 2020 and beyond.
1. Incorporate Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
We are in the age of hyper-personalization. That is why artificial intelligence with machine learning has acquired the first place on the list. The ultimate goal of a website is to hold a user on the page/website as long as possible. By using AI and ML, companies are developing web pages with insights like browsing history, location and personal preferences of users that a visitor readily shares on social media or e-commerce websites. Such insights are enabling businesses to build highly customized and personalized landing pages that serve exactly a user’s wants.
2. Designing for customer journey
In one research, Google found that consumer journeys can involve anywhere between 20 and 500+ touchpoints. In today’s time, businesses have an omnichannel presence. Therefore, a user may find your brand online or see you in ads, look up to ratings or reviews, visit the website or even decide to buy from you at a brick-and-mortar shop.
These are varied customer touchpoints. Brands will have to design better user and better customer experiences for every contact point. It will be appreciated in 2020 to deliver customers with value every time they come into contact with a brand.
3. Vlogs
Video has become one of the top marketing elements. A business will not be able to ignore the importance of videos for brand building in 2020 and beyond. According to a study by Facebook, 73% of video content has a positive effect on users. Hence, when it comes to preparing a web design layout, a designer must take care that it focuses on the video content more instead of other content formats.
4. Voice-Capable Interfaces
The grand popularity of Amazon Alexa and Google Home is an excellent example of the adoption of voice search features among users. In 2019, we saw integrated voice-capable interfaces in several apps, such as Spotify. Even Google Search is now supported by the voice-search interface and has already become popular among users. Moreover, webmasters and other analytical tools have also developed efficiency to track voice-search results. Henceforth, it is a matter of time voice-search will take over as the primary input/control option for the masses.
5. Scalable Vector Graphics
For several years, multimedia content such as GIF, PNG and video formats have increased engagement and retain visitors on web pages. But multimedia content has been somewhat anti-mobile. Multimedia content lead to latency, especially on mobile devices. Brands have needed solutions for it as web users have primarily turned into mobile users.
Here comes SVG - Scalable Vector Graphics. SVG is not pixels but a vector image based on a xml markup language. The advantage of developing a web design with the SVG approach is that when designers build icons, logos, and other illustrations, these design elements look highly optimized irrespective of screen resolutions. Moreover, designers can save them as super small file sizes and can easily edit and modify whenever needed. SVG can be a significant contributor to sites and apps scalability aspects.
6. CSS Grids
Smartphone users outnumbered desktop users back in 2017. Since then, developers focused on building a mobile-only or web-only site. It has thrown out an extra burden on designers. They have to build sites in a way that first it has to detect a user’s device and then a site re-directed to a version of one website that suits their device size. CSS grid formats now have simplified this processes and have emerged as one of the most critical responsive design trends.
The beauty of a CSS Grid is that it lets developers present a high-quality experience to visitors irrespective of the size, type and nature of the device used to visit the website. CSS Grid provides a layout system to organize content into rows and columns. The grid structure offers more freedom to create creative layouts and helps brands enhance visual presentation.
In 2020, CSS Grid is the best responsive design trend to capitalize on web design.
7. Asymmetric Layouts
The home page of most websites is grid-based and this style has stayed for so long. To attract and retain a user on a landing page, it is crucial to evoke feelings of modernism, movement, energy and vitality. Asymmetrical layout, however, offers enthusiasm through providing a more visual variety.
Broken-grid structures, though, are appealing due to their perceived uniqueness and dogged assertiveness. Still, brands are required to build a strategy before implementing Asymmetric Layouts. Asymmetric layouts could lead to content stiffness. Visitors may find content chaotic and unreadable. Whereas a well-thought plan could help achieve a balance for a more personalized design that keeps users engaged and happy.
Must-Have Web Design Trends
The aforementioned web design trends are essential to incorporate into practice from 2020. Besides them, several other trends will stay forever. These web design trends were significant yesterday and will be valued with emerging new trends, such as:
It should be SEO friendly
It should be in synchronization to the social media platform
It should be compatible to gifs, illustrations & animation
The website must load instantly
Design should be easy to be tracked
Bright colours and gradients must be incorporated
To Sum Up
Although trends and technologies are changing fast and so does the customer’s expectations and demands. Still, stuffing everything on a single plate ideally is not a good practice. Therefore, adopt the design trends which help you meet customer’s present requirements.