Though web design is an ever-changing, ever-evolving beast, there are of course trends that companies piggyback off to increase customer retention and drive sales, whether that’s the introduction of chatbots, the use of calls to action above the fold or the growth of illustrations.
It’s impossible to know exactly what 2020 will bring, but below, we’ve put together seven trends that you should be aware of. Implement some (or all!) of these and you’ll build a cutting-edge site that will boost brand awareness and take your business to new heights…
Whether you like it or not, voice is here to stay.
55% of households will own a smart speaker device by 2022, and 61% of 25 to 64-year-olds say they’ll use their voice devices more in the future.
Integrating voice into your web design is a great way to increase engagement.
The meteoric growth of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant means that many consumers now prefer to use their voice over typing, especially when it comes to searching.
Take advantage of this by leveraging the power of voice, offering a voice search option on your website.
The best part is that voice input and control elements (whether a button or a microphone) take up very little space on your site, particularly useful when designing for smartphones, and offer masses of content and interactivity.
You don’t need to record responses, either, with tools like Google Cloud’s Speech-to-Text API easily integrated into websites in no time.
AI is already having a major impact on the world of web design, with tools to automate processes and speed up the creation of new websites and frameworks.
As these tools become more sophisticated, developers will be able to take advantage of them to improve turnaround times, lower costs, and allow for more freedom to innovate and build truly unique and creative interfaces.
The manpower required to build the foundations of a new website can be automated, and developers can turn their attention towards improving user experience.
Artificial intelligence will also have an impact on “contextual” technology, allowing you to build a website that’s more “human”.
With the right tools, your website will be able to interpret user behaviour and deliver personalised, tailored experiences.
If you know that your visitor lands on your website every Friday and buys a box of wine, for example, you can welcome them back with a unique splash page with your latest offer.
If you sell phone cases, your website could automatically display cases suitable for the users’ phone and preferences.
Finally, AI will impact customer service on your website, and though controversial, the ongoing implementation and evolution of chatbots.
Though many chatbots still lack the emotional intelligence of a human customer support staff, they’re becoming more sophisticated and can be used to reduce wait times, improve customer satisfaction, and help you save money.
Like a tweet on Twitter and the heart icon comes to life.
Conduct a voice search on Google and the microphone will vibrate as you speak.
These tiny design elements aren’t just there to look good – they’re microinteractions, and help brands build deeper relationships with users.
Several years ago, the popular trend amongst web designers was to ‘flatten’ everything, to streamline and work from templates rather than building websites and apps from scratch.
Nowadays, the reverse is true, and companies are looking for ways to inject more life and personality into their web experiences.
Microinteractions are the perfect design instrument.
Whether visitors upload a file, log in, or pull down on your site to refresh a feed, microinteractions like loading bars, clapping hands, and spinning circles are great ways to give instant feedback so users know your site works in the ways they’d expect it to.
If you hover over a Call to Action and nothing happens, you might think the button is broken.
Hover over and the colour changes, and you get that instant feedback and a direction – “click this and something good will happen”. Small design elements can have a huge impact!
Say goodbye to the grid.
Web designers are turning their backs on ordered, grid-based website templates and looking towards asymmetrical structures instead.
Not only are asymmetrical designs more individual and allow you to place content and design elements wherever you like, but they add a sense of fun and enthusiasm and encourages consumers to keep scrolling to see what else will happen.
Though such designs are increasingly popular amongst SaaS businesses, you should exercise some caution before going all-out and ditching the grid, especially if you have a lot of content on your website.
Unordered content or unorthodox design templates may be fun at first, but they can have a major impact on readability and user experience. Keep it user-focused at all times.
Businesses have been experimenting with typography to tell their stories and sell products for hundreds of years, but in 2020, we expect bold typeface design to make a comeback.
Indeed, as website design becomes more sophisticated and templates more attractive, it’s becoming harder and harder to build a website that’s truly one-of-a-kind.
Graphics can be used to add value, but bold fonts are a great way to differentiate, allowing brands to put their own stamp on traditional design elements and encourage a second look.
Organisations are even investing in custom fonts, with more devices and operating systems supporting them. Last year, the BBC announced it was rolling out its own custom font.
Though a font can cost anywhere from £1,000 and £100,000, it will become part of your brand identity and can be used for decades to come, especially if you opt for a variable font, a single, dynamic font that changes appearance depending on its weighting.
With more consumers accessing websites from smartphones over desktop computers and Google introducing mobile-first indexing, making sure your website looks as good as it can on smartphones and tablets will no doubt have been your priority over the past few years.
But with so many consumers favouring rich multimedia content over blocks of text, finding ways to add this without slowing down loading times or limiting the value or appeal of your desktop website can be tough, which is why scalable vectors will be a big trend in 2020.
Such image files can scale to the size of your screen, holding onto the quality of the original graphics. SVGs are already used by many web designers, but as small businesses look to add more multimedia content and improve the quality of existing files like logos and blog post images, you can be sure that SVGs will grow in popularity, improving user experience.
In our increasingly globalised times, standing out from the crowd seems almost impossible.
One way companies are trying their luck is by adopting bold, bright colours and experimenting with new palettes to immerse visitors, capture attention and increase brand awareness.
If someone says red and yellow, you’ll likely think McDonald’s. Find a colour and reclaim it.
Opting for a bright, out-there colour may seem unusual and perhaps look garish on its own, but when properly incorporated into your design language and used sparingly, it can help to build an eccentric personality for your brand and help you better speak to your target market.
Don’t be afraid of mixing and matching colours.
Though gradients are beginning to fall out of fashion, colour blocks are growing in popularity.
Coloro has put together key colours for next year which may be of use: Mellow Yellow, Cantaloupe, Cassis, Purist Blue, and Neo-Mint.
Are you looking to make changes to your website in 2020? We’re proud to be Dundee web design experts, developing websites with cutting-edge design, innovative functionality and high performance across search engines. Call us on 01382 690 080 to find out more.
