Web Design Trends 2023
Web design is important for all marketers. Your website houses key information about your products and services that your users will look to when making purchase decisions. Staying up-to-date with web design trends is part of having a healthy website and can make all the difference in standing apart. Below are a few design trends that we believe will make big waves in 2023.
Colorful Gradients
Gradients, the transition from one color to another, give dimension to objects and realism to design. Gradients provide depth, texture richness and excitement to a logo, backgrounds, typography, icons, photos, and buttons. Using numerous colors at once brings to life traditional two or three brand colors. Gradients can also be used to quickly guide users eyes to particular points on a web page. The lighter edges of gradients are more appealing to the eye. Adding three or four colors to a gradient creates a fun contrast and vibrancy in the design. These gradients alone are captivating but adding an element of motion takes it a step further to create a whimsical element of delight.
https://haiku-haiku.netlify.app/
Layering
Layering is the art of stacking images, colors, shapes, animations, and other elements together to add texture and depth to a website. Layering takes individual design elements and puts them together to form a cohesive look. Each layer is important and contributes to the whole of the design. It brings together the brand, the purpose of a page, and the flow for user behavior. Often times, this cohesive look is well suited to tell a brand’s story as users move throughout the page. Layered scrolling, also known as parallax scrolling, can create hierarchy and structure of the information presented and creates a visually pleasing interaction for the user.
Overlapping Text and Images
Simple yet effective, overlapping text and images has become very popular. By breaking traditional design trends, this exciting look can evoke a sense of standing out, being bold, and doing something different. Text becomes louder and bolder when it competes with the images behind it. Overlapping page elements also minimizes space and allows for larger imagery and reduces scrolling.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/unique-overlap-of-text-on-top-of-images--501236633511736997/
Broken Grids
Broken grids help users quickly and efficiently digest information. They inject personality and originality into an otherwise standard design. A broken grid layout might mean changing up column widths or overlapping elements, adding animations, and beyond. Designers can engage users with a memorable experience and allow you to stand out from your competitors. Broken grids also do a great job of telling a cohesive story if the design is well thought out, causing users to follow along from point to point on the page.
https://dribbble.com/shots/6592091/attachments/6592091-Steklo-Sunglasses-Store?mode=media
Organic Shapes
Have you heard? Curves are in! Try using organic, rounded shapes instead of sharp, pointy edges. Organic shapes create a sense of playfulness and delight rather than structure and order. Done right, the information displayed remains unaffected but the brand’s identity of newness and innovation is reinforced. These fun curves create vertical rhythm, visual continuity, spatial separation, and brand cohesion. Messiness is all part of the fun and games.
Web Textures
Texture provides depth, and depth provides emphasis. Web texture is becoming integral to website design. By engaging our users’ tactile senses, we’re creating an immersive experience. Textures can be used to draw attention to a particular section of a website. It’s important to note that patterns, although similar, are not the same as texture. Patterns are repeated tileable elements whereas textures do not repeat consistently. Is a texture a pattern? Yes, but a pattern is not a texture. Playing with natural textures such as wood grains or honey combs for simple fonts allows users to envision products easily. Organic textures such as microorganisms or snake scales infuses tactile-ness and new life.
https://accidentallywesanderson.com/
Grid Lines
For those who appreciate structure and simplicity, grid lines are here to help. Adding a grid line between sections allows users to easily digest a section of information without being overwhelmed by the next section. These simple grid lines add an aesthetic of modernity. Not only are grid lines visually engaging, they also create a valuable sense of organization.
Gamified Design
Gamification, or applying game elements to other areas such as information or marketing websites, is all the rage. Gamification evokes human emotion. From small animated delighters to cute cartoony icons, this playful space makes the user experience more fun and relaxed, intriguing users to interact with the website more and more often.
Interactive Websites
Interactive websites are so highly demanded that it is almost expected in all new websites. Things like mobile friendliness, progress bars, tooltips, hovering, and slide-out menus are somewhat of the standards users are expecting to see on all websites. Interactive websites produce a powerful impression on users and intensifies brand awareness, identity, and engagement. Big, bold interactions could include gamification, immersive unrealistic 3D worlds, and interactive product displays. Small, simple interactions could include parallax scrolling, tooltips, and micro animations.
Interactive Product Display
Interactive product displays, or the ability to explore products and their features through interacting with visuals, is very effective. Users are engaged and wanting to learn more about the product. This memorable experience might even be the reason users choose you over your competitors. The right balance of things like rollover effects, fancy transitions, and playful animations should give the right amount of detail, imagery, and space.
https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/amazing-interaction-design/
Revival of Tooltips
A tooltip, or the message that appears when hovering over an icon, image, or hyperlink, are making a strong comeback especially to improve accessibility. With more intuitive interfaces, tooltips are able to help clarify purposes, explain next steps to users, and increase confidence. Sometimes it’s hard to conceptualize an idea in one small icon. Tooltips can provide more instructions, descriptions, and context for clarification that allow users to fully grasp the idea behind the icon better. They are very helpful for accessibility, especially for visually impaired users.
(Tooltip appears as “View Project” when user hovers over the image)
https://webflow.com/made-in-webflow/website/Mouse-Tooltip-Next-Project-Teaser
Status Pages
Status pages show a websites’ health to users. Status pages inform users of any potential issues that may affect the user experience and the current status of the website. These are very useful in websites that are relied on by users for important tasks to provide ease of mind and smooth use. Status pages also establish user trust through transparency and reliability. Users can be informed of any issues right away and establish confidence in using the website again in the future as users are told upfront of any issues and the progress made to resolve these issues. Similarly, for the website owners, they can be notified of issues that the website identifies and can get on top of resolving the issue at the source to minimize down time.
Status Badges
Status badges are similar to status pages but differ in that status badges are small graphics that display simple information about the status of a website. This useful tool provides clear and concise information on the status of the website at a glance. Status badges have similar benefits to the optimization and minimizing of downtime to that of status pages. The quick-to-read information can inform users when the website is busy and allow them to choose to come back at a less busy time to prevent frustration and inefficiencies.
Integrated Typography
Integrated typography is combined with other elements, especially the hero area. Its key feature is a masterpiece of flawlessly blended composition of typography and other elements to strengthen the brand and message. Integrated typography simultaneously breaks up traditional uniformity giving the website a sleek, modern feel. Using big, bold, regular font faces with old-style imagery creates a feeling of merging the now and the past into one. Typography with animation, typeface and dynamic effects, and unique, charismatic typefaces with the brand’s personality are just a few ways to experiment with integrated typography.
https://annapurnainteractive.com/en
Typographic Layouts
Typographic layouts are focused on typography that is bold, intricate, and impressive. Typographic layouts move the focal point away from imagery and other visuals to the typography. Powerful language and messaging to increase user engagement is its strong suit. Key traits include big, bold, and oversimplified typeface, massive and interactive animated typography, and clever words or phrases. To take it a step further, combine typographic layouts with tooltips, interaction, and gamification.
https://www.pollen.com.au/digital-business-design/
Inclusivity
Inclusivity is more than a trend; it’s become a critical component of web design. Inclusivity means to bring people together and remove bias and assumptions on age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, culture, or background. Having inclusive images, illustrations, icons and messaging can greatly increase your website’s inclusivity. Providing user personalization, such as choosing a darker or lighter version of the website, increases inclusivity. Accessibility and usability features also contribute to a more inclusive website.
https://www.mile6.com/blog/inclusive-design-website-accessibility/
In Summary
Try using one or two of these elements in your next web project. Whether you use prominent components or subtle features, these elements will increase the user experience and improve web traffic. This can lead to more engagement, more clicks, and an overall better outcome for your users and your business. Ready to modernize your website? Gravity Works can help!
