Website Design Trends: Shaping the Future of Web Experience in 2024

Modern website design trends are more about aesthetics and presentation thanks to the evolving tech capabilities of smart devices!

As Forbes says, The popularity of websites is at a peak in the current digital age with over a billion websites existing in the world. Websites are being used by businesses, content creators, artists, marketers, and other such user groups to reach out to a massive audience base. 

The ability of websites to deliver scalability, flexibility, and performance is the reason why they are often preferred over alternatives like mobile apps. 

Now, with time, as websites are expanding their coverage, new website design trends are emerging. To cater to the competitiveness and keep businesses afloat, these trends are turning out to be very dynamic in nature. 

Several factors such as evolving tech specifications, market demands, increasing digital transformation, etc., are shaping these latest website design trends. So it becomes necessary to stay in the loop with these evolutions. 

This blog fills that gap so you do not miss out on any website design tips that could help you secure good digital traffic and conversions.

What are experts’ opinions on evolving web design trends?

1. Pat Johnson is the Creative Director at Outpatient App. Winner of 10 AAF awards, he has also been a part of Salesforce as a Visual & Interaction Designer. Additionally, Pat has a well-established web designing career and a list of freebies for other designers to use. Pat believes a website should be simple to use but should have amazing quality visuals as well. As per him, new trends are more about responsiveness and depth in websites.

Here’s what he says:

“A website design needs to be clean and simple so it’s easy for the user to quickly find what they want. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use large photos & graphics (I encourage that) — you have to be bold to stand out.”

“It just needs to be done in a tasteful, uncluttered manner — use whitespace, good typography, and be subtle with rounded corners and drop-shadows. The “fold” is a thing of the past — long, responsive websites are the new trend.”

                                                                                                                                                            - Pat Johnson
 

2. An expert web designer from Sydney, -Adham Dannaway’s work has been featured in Smashing Magazine, Web Designer Magazine, and Abduzeedo. Adham is also the author of Practical UI, a popular book drafted to guide designers. Adham believes that a website should fulfill its purpose with as little effort as possible. He believes that a well-designed website reduces efforts in exploring it and finding functionalities. 

Here’s his input:

“Firstly, I don’t really think there is such a thing as a perfectly designed website, let’s instead strive for a “well designed” website. In my opinion, the most important quality of a well-designed website is that it fulfills its purpose or function.

“For example, if the goal of a website is to sell soccer balls then first and foremost it should allow people to buy soccer balls easily with as little friction as possible. Sure it would be nice if the website looked great too, but it needs to function well first. Most websites or applications are built to solve a certain problem.

“If the website fails to solve the problem at hand then it doesn’t really matter how beautiful the design is. Make sure the site fulfills its purpose first. Test it out on a bunch of people, get feedback, and iterate from there. You might not get it right the first time, but if you persevere you’ll get it right in the end.”

                                                                                                                                          - Adham Dannaway
 

3. DarkDesigns Studio has a work history of 10+ years in which the company managed to deliver 400+ products. Throughout its work, it has collected enough data from clients and actual markets that can give some core insights into 2023 website design trends.

Here’s what the DarkDesigns Studio has to share:

“Many of our current clients prefer strong typographic layouts in web design. The idea is that when bold fonts are used as primary elements in designs, they capture the viewer’s attention quickly to make them stay on the page.”

                                                                                                                                       - DarkDesigns Studio

 

4. Justin Hamra, the art Director at Vista, is a creative maestro with a core experience in designing and directing experiences for users. He believes that motions put life into the website experience. And now that the internet is faster than ever, it is time to leverage the speed and deploy moving user experiences.

Here are his words of wisdom for designers:

“Movement is king: parallax and motion are bringing webpages to life. As the internet gets faster, sites get more dynamic.”

                                                                                                                                                       - Justin Hamra
 

5. Moran’s career has been focused on optimizing the experience of users for more than a decade. She has been actively involved in producing written content and directing the visual experience. She believes that post-COVID, there has been a revolution in expressing emotions in current website design trends. The industry is focusing on using available resources to their maximum potential.

In her words:

“Digital maximalism is a trend that has evolved and intensified since Covid… all those intense, bottled-up emotions are rushing to the surface in the shape of maximalism and anti-design.”

                                                                                                                                               - Moran Kadussi
 

What are some viral website design trends in 2023?

There will be over 5 billion internet users around the world in 2023. These numbers show the massive landscape that is influencing the continuous launch of websites around the world. With these many users, the competitiveness is massive which is influencing website builders to come up with innovative trends to stay in the lead.

We will discuss these market-shaping web design trends in this blog. If your plan is to join this rapidly growing race by building a new website from the ground up or by upgrading the already existing one, you might want to consider going through each of the further mentioned website design trends.

1. Explorable 3D components

There was a time when websites were kept simple and lightweight so the slow speed of the internet would not impact the loading time. With faster internet speeds like 5G getting more accessible and common to use, websites have the freedom to go fully creative.

The latest web design trends like 3D are offering a more engaging experience. 3D is useful for walkthrough animations, explanatory videos, product reveals, creative ads, and more. Some brands that have adopted 3D as a part of their website user experience trends are-

• Chirpley.ai

 

Chirpley is a bridge between brands and micro-influencers. The brand uses artificial intelligence to connect both parties with each other. As for its web design strategy, you will find a creative user interface enriched with 3D birds. These birds represent the brand identity of Chirpley and maintain the creativity of the UI as well. 

• Kamaboko Portfolio
   

Kamaboko perfectly blends minimalism and 3D to offer an engaging web experience. The more you scroll, the more 3D components get added to the website. Kamaboko is a personal work portfolio of a design professional. The website is in Japanese language and showcases the expertise of the website owner through the work portfolio. 

• Admire Amaze

Admire Amaze is a unique e-commerce experience. The website design includes a bee that hovers through the forest the more you scroll. As the bee explores the jungle, it comes across hidden treasures that showcase the product catalog of the brand. 

To create a memorable impression of the website, Admire Amaze has the best UI strategy followed. Admire Amaze can be used as a great inspiration for e-commerce web design companies trying to keep up with the trends of website design.

2. Increased usage of AI in web designing
 

 

Artificial intelligence is one of the most popular technologies used by web design experts currently. The tech is helping designers design faster, optimize their designs with predictive analytics, personalize the user experience, and more. As a HubSpot report suggests, 93% of web designers are using AI tools.

• Amazon
  
  
   

One of the largest e-commerce brands out there, Amazon has been using machine learning and artificial intelligence to personalize the user experience for a while. Amazon tracks user behavior and displays product recommendations accordingly.
 

• Spotify
  
  

Spotify is another major name with personalization enabled in its user interface. The platform keeps track of the music that the user is listening to. It curates playlists and music recommendations according to the users’ tastes and changes icons on the UI individually for each user.

3. Nostalgia

The evolving world of websites is looking back to the 80s and 90s with some nostalgia. To be specific, nostalgia refers to the website experience that is constantly the same throughout the decades. 

These kinds of websites take you through the time when the internet was much simpler. On top of that, nostalgia websites are often composed using the least amount of resources. This gives them a performance boost.

Here are some top websites that are keeping nostalgia alive as one of the leading current website design trends!
 

• Craiglist

The website has the simplest user interface that might take you back to the 90s or early 20s. The website operates and enlists everything from activities to software for sale. You can use Craiglist in many corners of the world including the USA, the UK, France, and more.

• Spacejam
  
  
   

The original Space Jam website has not ditched the retro touch from its user interface. The black background with stars and retro icons includes several features that represent the entire Space Jam franchise. Its neat UI design is fun to explore and offers amazing performance even on slow networks.

4. Minimalism

84.6% of web designers prefer a clean website that is easier to navigate and has simple aesthetics. Minimalism can be counted among modern web design trends that are best for all sizes of businesses. Minimalistic UI is also more scalable making websites suitable for several screen sizes. 

• Eiktyrne Whisky
  
  

The website features a Norwegian single malt whisky at the center of the website UI making it the center of attention. The black background with white fonts pops up the text quite well making it easier to read. This web design inspiration can be great for small businesses as well as cheaper to build.

• We Ain’t Plastic
  
  

Another great example of the use of minimalism by web design companies is We Ain’t Plastic. The website is a personal portfolio of a Creative Technologist and user Experience Engineer based in Berlin- Roland. It features his work, achievements, and contact information along with some other details.

As for the UI, the website features everything in mostly three colors- White, Grey, and Black. Additionally, its easy-to-find menu options make it easier to find web design services by Roland.

5. Voice Search Feature

Voice search has made a place for itself among the latest website design trends thanks to its ability to ease down the user experience. The feature was first introduced by Google in 2011 which has now expanded to several popular brands. 

Voice search is also transforming the latest website design trends that were focused on SEO. Now SEO requirements are being optimized on the basis of voice SEOs as well.

Including Voice Search is becoming critical for modern websites to meet the rising scale of competition. According to a Statista report, it is estimated that by 2024 there will be over 8.4 digital voice assistants. Voice searches are often found in search engines and chatbots at the moment.

6. Motion UI

The current website design trends promote the increased usage of graphical elements that move. Motion UI supports animations, videos, transitions, and other such website elements that move and offer an enriched graphical experience. 

This website style is enabled by using a Sass library. The library includes scalable UI components, animations, and other graphic elements.

• Kinetic typography
  
  

These motion graphics are dominating 2023 website design trends to highlight important sections of websites. Kinetic typography refers to moving texts that are often integrated into websites in the form of animations. The UI style is best if you want to grab and hold the attention of the user on a specific portion of the website.

• Apple
  
  

Apple uses motions to highlight features of its products. The website includes a moving UI where each part of the website reacts once the cursor is hovered over. Apple has also managed to offer the best aesthetics in terms of color combinations, fonts, and graphics making its website one of the leaders in new UX design trends as well.

7. Gamification

Gamification is a practice designers have adopted for their apps and websites to make the user experience more entertaining. The website design idea is also used to increase the user session time. Gamification includes multiple actions that users can take on a UI to generate results. There can be a full-fledged game as well to entertain the user. 

Gamification is going to make the market more competitive. As a Gamification by MarketsAndMarkets report suggests, the Gamification market between 2020 to 2025 is rising at a CAGR of 27.4%. 

• The Avenging Llama
  
  

The Avenging Llama is a funny example of gamification on a website. The website includes llamas that you can use to send someone a spitting llama visual. This website displays how some latest web application design trends can still attract a great number of visitors despite not actually offering a real product.

• Duolingo
  
  

One of the most famous language learning platforms, Duolingo is utilizing the best potential of gamification. The platform displays how gamification can be used to teach languages.

You can use it on your browser or on an app to learn languages. Additionally, Duolingo uses AI to personalize the user experience. The more you learn, the better it understands you and curates learning materials accordingly. 
 

8. Pastel Colors

Pastel Colors in the website UI are expected to dominate modern web design trends in 2023. Websites using pastel colors look easier to look at while offering a minimalistic vibe in parallel. Pastel color websites are easier to explore as well. For a Soft, Calm, and Warm touch to your website, there are several ways to use this style.

• Alto Pharmacy
  
  
   

Alto uses a pastel aesthetic on its website. The website features several calming colors in its UI and focuses on customer and employee interaction. The color choice of Alto for its website makes it pleasing to look at and it is very easy to find functions to perform any actions on its interface.
 

• Gentle Guide
  
  
   

Gentle Guide is popular among mental health platforms. The website uses an orange-themed pastel aesthetic in its background with black fonts making texts clearly visible. 

The website is designed to offer a calming and stress-free environment. Gentle Guide’s website can be taken as a sample to understand how business requirements and the latest web design trends can smoothly be blended for an enhanced user experience.

9. Microinteractions

New trends in UI/UX designs are cleverly being used to improve the quality of user interactions with websites. Microinteractions are among these UI/UX trends as well. 

As an example, if you have ever explored websites where hovering the cursor would automatically open up new options, you have experienced micro interactions. 

Another example of microinteractions is that some websites reveal new texts, animations, etc. the more you scroll. These kinds of inputs require the least amount of input from the website user.

• Anna Jona
  
  
   

Anna Jona is a combination cafe from Reykjavík, Iceland that comes with a bar and a cinema. The cafe has a beautiful website that leverages micro-interactions very cleverly. 

You reveal more website components like graphics, texts, menus, and more as you scroll down through the website. Hovering the cursor above the page with movie posters reveals each poster better.

• The World Wildlife Fund
  
  

WWF also uses new UX design trends like micro-interactions wisely. The website has several categories of micro-interactions. As you scroll down, the website reveals more content, animation, graphics, texts, etc. Additionally, hovering over some menu options reveals more drop-down menus. 

10. Parallax zooms

Our next trend nomination is from the list of website design ideas that are way more creative than what we discussed above. Parallax zoom is an effect that you feel the more you scroll on a website. 

In this effect, the foreground is given a faster speed than the background of the website. It feels as if you are traveling through the UI the more you scroll on the website.

• Mental Canvas
  
  
   

This business offers creative drawing services. It can create websites that support parallax zoom-based scrolling. Mental Canvas can be hired to create graphics for apps, websites, and other requirements.

• The Story of Goonies
  
  
   

Inspired by the franchise called “The Goonies”, this website leverages the parallax zoom scrolling effect to take users through the website content. The web design inspiration uncovers more features as you scroll. The Goonies can be a great inspiration for businesses involved in media or literature.
 

11. Scalable UI

Mobile-friendly UI designs have been in fashion for some time, especially now that there are billions of smartphone users around the world. Here we take those website design trends in 2023 into consideration which motivate designers to design scalable websites. 

Scalable websites can adjust according to the size of screens websites are being used on without interrupting the user experience. In 2023 when more and more apps are being released, websites can maintain their domination in the market by being as scalable as possible.
 

12. Brutalist website designs

Brutalist designs have defied standards of designing websites in the past and will keep defying future trends in web design. These websites are known for experimenting with the user interface. The brutalist style of designing a website is done to create memorable experiences. 

The goal is to set up a unique identity. It could be a deep dive into nostalgia or a splash of colors in the background. But it’s always something catchy!

• Bigsound Buzz
  
  

The website features popular musicians from social media platforms. The old-school aesthetics of webpages complement the combination of purple and pink colors quite well. For anyone who is a fan of retro touch and is interested in offering an eye-catching experience, Bigsound Buzz is a website to learn from.

• Yale School of Art
  
  

The website of Yale Univer of Art combines fonts with images to create a website that surely experiments with cliched standards. Their website offers easy-to-find options but in a very simplistic yet unique style. The website looks like a page where you would drag and drop screenshots of other pages. There are animations in the UI as well.
 

13. Augmented Reality

Augmented reality technology is transforming how users interact with the digital world. AR is being used in websites and apps of several industries. The technology scans the user's surroundings using GPS and a camera then blends 3D objects into it.

People are using augmented reality for virtual tryouts, educational purposes, entertainment, and gaming. Pokemon GO is the best example of AR that transformed the mobile gaming industry.

• Saatchi Art
  
  
   

This virtual art catalog uses AR in its feature called View in My Room. The feature uses smartphone cameras to scan the room and display 3D representations of paintings. 
 

• The Silly Bunny
  
  This website represents a storybook for kids. The website includes a 3D bunny that you can take on adventures. The smartphone camera can be used to scan the environment and integrate a 3D bunny into the same. The Silly Bunny is a fun and interactive experience.

14. Text-only websites
 

 

As the name suggests, these websites only focus on publishing texts on their UI. There are several popular platforms out there that have text-only website versions. CNN, Radio Canada, etc can be counted among them.

Text-only websites use the very least amount of graphics or no graphics at all. This strategy can be critical in optimizing the loading speed as well by minimizing the resources of websites. 

15. Grid Lines

Some website designers have adopted Grid Lines from several new trends in UI/UX design. Grid Lines are useful for adding order to a website's interface. These lines help segregate the UI cleanly and make it easier for more information to be added to a single webpage. Using Grid Lines gives a more organized look to the website as well making it easier for visitors to navigate.

16. Animated Illustrations

Websites are displaying more reliability on illustrations. Designers are finding illustrations the best way to express complex ideas and information. These illustrations can be static or animated and it is easier to design and deploy them. 

Illustrations are being used in several ways. Some websites are using them to reveal hidden menus and others, to add more elements.

• Squad Easy
  
  
   

The Squad Easy website has a 3D illustrated dog that follows the cursor as you move it on the webpage. The dog head also gets dizzy if you start moving the cursor too fast making it more fun to use. 

Wrapping up

Websites are always evolving as the needs of the target audience evolve. However, one thing that remains constant about websites is that it is faster and easier to access them compared to mobile apps. And that is certainly why websites are probably going to remain in fashion for decades to come. 

But with tech advancements and emerging trends, websites will keep facing tougher and tougher competition. That is where keeping the latest website design trends will come in handy. As for the current market, the above web design trends for 2023 are dominating it. 

So, if your plan is to keep your website competitive and cater to the requirements of modern consumers, you can refer to the above list and optimize the website experience for the better.