When it comes to design, keeping up with current trends is essential for staying relevant. Whether it’s in apparel, furniture, or web design, keeping up with trends helps you to stay ahead or to keep up with your competition.
So, if you’ve been thinking about refreshing your website, or simply are wanting to maintain your competitive edge, it’s important to understand the trends that you can expect in 2022. Technology changes fast, so finding this on your own can be tricky.
Not to worry, we’re here to help! We’ve gazed into the crystal balls, consulted the cards, and done the hard work for you to predict the web design trends that you can expect to see in 2022!
The need for speed is greater than ever before. In today’s digital world of fast loading feeds and next day delivery, people have grown very intolerant of slow websites. Today, around 53% of websites are likely to be abandoned if they take longer than 3 seconds to load.
If people are abandoning your website in 3 seconds, they aren’t reading your content, seeing your paid ads, or purchasing your products. This all harms your bottom line and has a large impact on the future performance of your business.
There are a number of tools that you can use to analyse your page and help you to find what is slowing your website down.
Have you visited a website, and returned later to see that the content has changed? Or perhaps after a certain YouTube rabbit-hole, you’ve noticed that your suggested videos have changed?
This is the effect of personalisation. The worst kept secret in the world is that companies are monitoring our browsing history and locations in an attempt to present more targeted content to us. In short, personalised content increases conversion, which is important for business.
It doesn’t have to be predatory though. For example, featuring ‘recently viewed’ products, or saved and recommended articles is a great way to keep users coming back and spending on your website.
Personalisation also shows that you care. The internet is oversaturated with websites offering almost anything, so consumers want to spend their time and money with websites that they feel care for them. Creating personalised experiences is a great way to create this feeling.
Chatbots are becoming more popular on websites with both businesses and consumers. From a customer perspective, they provide fast and efficient answers to problems and questions.
From a business perspective, they create a better user experience and help to increase the efficiency of processes and save money at the same time.
As A.I. technology continues to advance, so will the capabilities of chatbots. So, if haven’t done so already, 2022 may be the year to add a chatbot to your website!
On the topic of A.I. capabilities, let’s talk about voice. Thanks to voice assistants like Siri and Hey Google, voice search is becoming a bigger part of how we interact with technology.
This means that to stay ahead, you need to be prepared for voice search. A great place to start is your content. For years, SEO and keywords have ruled the roost and dictated how we write out content. Voice search queries don’t work the same way, because we often don’t speak exactly how we type.
So, in 2022, make sure that your content has been optimised for both SEO and voice search so people can find you no matter how they search for information.
It’s easy to label concepts like inclusivity and accessibility as simple trends. In actual fact, it’s incredibly important for both society and your business. After all, the more people that use your site, the more business that you’ll be able to generate.
When looking at your web design in 2022, consider how those with disabilities would experience your site. Elements like strong colour contrasts, text to speech functions, alt tags, and focus indicators can all help to make your site more accessible to more people.
What’s a great way to boost the engagement of your website? Adding interactive features!
These could be simple things like calculators (great for financial, health, or learning websites), polls to have some fin with your users, or surveys so you can understand your audience better.
In most cases, the best solution to a problem is the simplest one. In 2022, we predict that a lot of businesses will take a similar approach to their web design in the form of one-page websites.
Single-page websites help to minimise your workload, improve your efficiency, and simply for your message. They are easier to navigate and can create a more streamlined user experience.
These websites are most effective with simpler ideas, so if you have a large or complex business, you may need a larger website.
Nostalgia is the flavour of the month in films, TV, and fashion. In 2022, we predict that it will be a big trend in web design too!
Think bold typography, art deco design, abstract images, and bold colours. If you want to add some nostalgic design to your website, make sure that you do it in a way that still fits with your brand!
So, put your crystal ball and wash your teacup, because you know the web design trends that you can expect in 2022. Which trends will you incorporate into your website?
