10 unique web design trends for 2022

Top 10 Web Trends 2022: This year is the user-centric approach where simplicity turns into something unique and compelling.

To create a visually appealing website design, businesses should strive to keep a watchful eye on modern trends and stand out from their competition. 

For your inspiration, we’ve compiled ten brilliant examples ranging from bold fonts and dark modes to 3D animations and unrealistic characters that will blow your mind.

Ten fabulous web design trends in 2022 to inspire you

Dark mode: take care of users’ eyes

Being a big trend in 2021, dark themes continue to be even more popular in 2022. Offering a completely different look, dark UI options bring additional benefits to users as it is more comfortable to visit a website in a dark mode in low light conditions. 

Often people don’t think about it when looking at their smartphones in bed. But it can be an advantage to attract more customers to your website.

Take the world-famous tech giants who have already embraced the dark mode feature. 

Apple even offers to set a scheduled time for users to switch to dark mode automatically. Google, Instagram, Facebook, Gmail, Slack, Itunes, Amazon, Wikipedia, etc., and this list goes on and on. Here are some of the reasons businesses use dark mode:

• It is pleasant in the eyes of the users.
• It looks modern and stylish.
• Low battery consumption.
• It increases the contrast ratio.
• Items on the dark background seem more visible.

The dark theme has gained incredible popularity on smartphones. And with almost half of search queries today coming from mobile devices, websites should follow the dark mode trend.

First of all, it creates a unique space for the user. Thanks to the minimized color scheme of the dark mode of the phone and apps. Also, remember that a person in a dark environment who opens a bright and contrasting site may experience some discomfort.

And people use their smartphones to search cafes for dinner or order movie tickets, browse tourist markets to book vacation travel, and more. Therefore, the dark theme becomes more than necessary and falls within the standards users are accustomed to. And we believe this modern trend will lead to more black and white themes in 2022.

3D webdesign make outlines

3D elements in website design are nothing new, but today they are becoming more and more popular by attracting users and decreasing bounce rates on websites. 

Additionally, with the rise of VR / AR technologies, hyper-visual 3D elements impact and add extra beauty and effect. 

Influenced by a combination of photographs and illustrative images and animation, 3D designs stand a massive chance of winning over competitors in hyper-competitive markets. 

3D elements have always been used to attract attention. They stand out very well from the general background of the site, giving the necessary volume. In addition, it creates a unique style of the site that visitors remember clearly. It applies to both fonts with 3D effects and simple site design elements. 

Additionally, this effect can be applied to the site’s color scheme. It is achieved through subtle shading, which gives roundness to those familiar flat icons. It looks very fresh and immediately attracts. The secret is effortless. The two neighbouring colours stand out through the shadows and depths of objects.

In addition, a good solution would be to implement a 3D effect of button actions or pop notifications or windows. However, when implementing 3D graphics, it should be remembered that the site should be optimized for such a solution.

To implement 3D graphics, your website needs to be fast loading, efficient and optimized. Otherwise, you risk losing your visitors due to lack of response and slow loading, which will affect your website traffic.

Wow, effect with unusual and futuristic color combinations.

While previous years’ simple, minimalist web designs seem casual and boring to users, the colorful and innovative web designs saturated with bright combinations are likely to grab their attention! 

If you want to stay up to date and stand out from the crowd, you need to be ready for some experimental activities on your website design, for example, neon light shades, intense colors combined with mysterious accents. All of these out-of-the-box approaches will create a modern and vibrant feel for your user. 

A good example is a degraded fashion. This new web design trend has just been popping up in the world lately.

And it is developing more and more. Color transitions are more realistic than ever. It looks like the colors can be affected. The gradient is used everywhere. It can add depth, as a light background, or easily add texture to an illustration.

The macOS Big Sur wallpaper is an excellent example of a “live” gradient background. This approach to color on websites can refresh the design.

Keep it fun: UX writing and microcopy. 

Microcopy cannot be underestimated as it plays a significant role in the user experience. So what is it? Microcopies are short sentences to inform the user of what to do, addressing their concerns through which you communicate with your visitor clearly and movingly. The Adobe team describes four cornerstones of UX microcopy writing: brevity, context, action, and authenticity. 

And in this case, it is the job of the UX writer to fix all the issues for your users and remove what may cause them to abandon the user path.

In general, the development of modern web design using microscopy can be characterized as follows:

• Make the user journey simple;
• Anticipate user needs;
• Conduct a dialogue with the user;
• Create a relationship of understanding between the user and the product.

Change your communication style by providing informal text on websites or apps, avoiding standard phrases and clichés. 

Regular, less formalized dialogues will bring your consumers closer together, and sometimes a dash of humor is an excellent recommendation to take the boredom away from your audience.

Surreal product photos blow users’ minds.

This unconventional web design technique will help you take a step forward and make your visitors stay on the website longer. Subsequently, the average duration of the sessions will be improved, which may impact the improvement of the conversion rate.

Surrealism can be approached through abstract forms. However, even understandable and straightforward geometric images in the right combination can create a demanding background. 

However, you can also use more complex images. The main thing is to create the right combination of shapes and colors so that the website looks expressive and lively, even in the absence of familiar images.

However, if you can’t stand the idea of ​​geometric shapes, there is another rather exciting solution: irrelevant illustrations. Now it’s ubiquitous through images of people with large limbs or in unusual colours.

This is what will immediately differentiate your website from others. Irrelevant illustrations are an excellent alternative to standard photographs. They add the author’s style to both the site as a whole and each page separately.

If you are working on an e-commerce platform or an online store, this UX / UI trend is sure to grab users’ attention. Forget the classic and trivial product images is a thing of the past.

Graphics + Photography = Your Brand Uniqueness

Overlay graphics on images/photos if you want to create the individual flavour of your website. Mixing photos and graphics are an excellent way to maintain your branding image. This collage-like approach can:

• Personalize the images and add extra personality to your brand.
• Personalize your images, whether they are more informal, or on the contrary, more technical or serious. 
• Make your website design more thorough and engaging.

For example, you can add retro-style graphics or geometric shapes to your product photos to make them more vivid and creative. Select graphic elements that perfectly highlight your goal and highlight your idea.

And as has already been said about fonts, it is worth dwelling on in more detail. In 2022 there is a trend towards a return to vintage fonts from the 70s and 80s. It is not just a return to vintage but complementing these fonts with bright colors and more pronounced lines. Designers have rethought their approach to typefaces.

Now, with a recognizable vintage style, they use vibrant colors from warm, infectious palettes to conflicting colors that can’t be ignored.

Voice user interface optimizes experiences.

The way we search for information has changed, and 2021 was the year of the use of virtual assistants and voice chatbots in UI / UX design processes. It hasn’t fully taken off yet; however, this trend is gaining momentum. 2022 is expected to be the year when more and more websites will incorporate voice searches into their design strategies to stay ahead of their competition and adapt to user demands. Yes, companies like  Apple and  Google have already implemented this trend.

Instead of typing traditional text queries into the search line, consumers will get faster and more efficient solutions. 

In addition to voice search, the voice user interface (VUI) is also developing rapidly.

But remember that this is mainly an internal interface. VUI is more about context and data synthesis. The familiar Shazam and Google Translator are notable examples of this type of design.

In these applications, voice or music is recognized, allowing search or translation. It greatly simplifies the interaction with the product for the end-user. And that’s why designers are trying to keep up with the latest trends in user experience and increasingly provide users with a voice interface.

Surprise your users with animations and animated graphics

The movements in web design will certainly plunge the emotions of your users. Motion graphics and animations are great solutions to captivate your website visitors. As a result, the static user interface becomes dynamic with a live touch. Below we offer several brilliant examples to woo you. But first, let’s take a look at the top reasons this trend is so impactful and powerful:

• It is a creative way to make your website distinctive and memorable.
• It adds aesthetics to your brand.
• Thanks to graphic animations, users become more connected with you.
• The user experience gains “new feelings”; it is very intuitive and practical.
• It eliminates negative UX and speeds up customer loyalty.

In addition, the animation can be entirely 3D. Implementing such a solution will give the user an effect of presence and a feeling of infinity.

Additionally, in this vein, users may be interested in interactive content. The 3D elements with which the site user will be able to interact will make it possible to stand out perfectly.

There are many ways to implement this approach. But it all comes down to the fact that an interactive element must appeal to the user and increase the time spent on the page.

Bold fonts emphasize

Although not a new trend, it still captivates users and is an excellent technique to showcase the particular product or feature by implementing bold fonts for headings. 

Bold fonts help improve usability and visual sense. The point is that users tend to pay attention to the first few lines of the website, so it is a good idea to make headings bold. 

And a great use case for bold is headlines and short messages. This approach aims to reach an audience quickly. These more prominent titles are usually combined with a much smaller copy of the subtext, similar to a minimalist approach, but both are bold.

And it is imperative to use neutral fonts, which emphasize titles, quickly turning into an excellent substitute for images.

And here are some tips from the Osmova team for using large, bold typography:

• Use one of the popular fonts, which is sure to grab attention. But remember that the text should be as readable as possible.
• Choose a simple, unpretentious background. The user’s attention should be focused specifically on the text.
• It’s essential to make all text responsive and ensure the text size is as good on large as on small screens.
• Keep your message short to avoid overwhelming users.

Interactive storytelling enhances meanings.

We have already mentioned many different user-triggered trends; however, some new trends will dominate in 2022. Among them, interactive storytelling is suitable for B2B brands that want to use the power of digital innovation to tell stories. Stories.

If you want to emphasize and highlight important points on your website while keeping user interest, narrative and animated stories change perspective and bring your potential customer closer to your product. 

What should you do? Make your story engaging and immersive using experiences, movements, zooms in and out, and more. The most telling example at the time of this writing is the product presentation at Apple. Remember that this technique takes time, so if you are looking for web designers to suit your needs, we at Osmova are here to help.

How to create a modern web design?

What secrets and tips can help you create a professional and modern site? Such questions would require pages and pages of an in-depth analysis as many factors contribute to the success of a web project. However, if we had to define a starting point, I would talk about five essential points, five actions through which a website takes shape.

Define and study the objective

Before embarking on creating a website, it is necessary to define the objectives that this tool will help you achieve to think carefully about the visual hierarchy that will make up your content. The web is vast, and wandering around aimlessly can waste many resources, money, and patience.

The analysis of the environment which surrounds it allows us to understand the scope of a Web project. The online market offers excellent opportunities, but the competition is fierce. For this reason, it is necessary to know the competitors, study them, and learn from them. First, go through competitors’ websites and write down what you think works and what could be improved. Then, connect with the target audience you want to reach to create a website designed specifically for your typical customer.

choose your style but listen to the trend

Now, graphics solutions are developing very quickly, and within a year, the site may already require a graphics restyling. To avoid a mad rush for the latest trend, you need to choose your unique style to prevent a mad chase of the latest trend. However, pursuing fashion can be helpful, especially in terms of usability, by offering graphic elements that users are familiar with; for example, think of the hamburger icon in the menus of mobile devices.

Once the distinctive characteristics have been defined, the style of the menu, buttons, and links must remain the same. The user navigates by sight, and leaving these elements unchanged promotes safety by limiting any feeling of loss. In addition, what may seem linear and evident to us may not be to those on the other side of the screen!

Colour gamut and text

An infinite palette of shades can lead to decision paralysis or, on the contrary, push us to a great frenzy of colours. However, the website’s design does not have to appear chaotic, so it must dose the visual stimuli. Pick two or three primary colours and play with them.

In addition, web pages should be designed in such a way that they are easy to read. For example, black text on a white background is a choice that makes life easier for the reader and the designer. Also, text formatting plays a vital role because it makes it easier to read. Then break it down into short paragraphs and use headlines that help the user identify the topic they are interested in.

The navigation menu

The navigation menu of a site is a very delicate design element on which the success or failure of a web project can depend, just like the slider. In principle, it is not possible to develop dogmatic laws for the navigation menu, so a little common sense is needed. Instead, use simple words that uniquely and unambiguously identify the landing page and navigate between the primary and secondary menus.

Test

Let your work be affected, and analyze all critical issues. Usability testing can improve a site’s fortunes, eliminating essential issues that affect efficiency and, therefore, the entire project’s value.

Tips for working with design trends

Keeping abreast of trends in the creative world is essential for design and marketing professionals.

Always stay up to date, whatever your plans.

As a designer or professional marketer, you must find ways to stay on top of current trends whether or not you’re working on a project. These are great ways to catch trends as other designers are passively creating them. That way, you’ll be ready to use them when needed.

Grasp the basics, don’t use the whole trend

When using a design trend in your work, you mustn’t duplicate it exactly. Instead, you can use some minor aspects that make up the trend to build your creation.

Critically assess trends

If something is trendy, that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. When something hits the tipping point, the trend becomes oversaturated, and the market responds by reversing it. So let’s go back to the first tip we gave: try to follow brands and designers that match your specific interests, don’t follow all the fads you see around.

Ready for the ten hottest web trends in 2022?

So, as you can see now, 2022 will bring us an abundance of surreal and futuristic designs complemented by media and animation to enhance the customer experience. Many other web trends such as brutalism, flat design, illustration, or new technologies such as artificial intelligence for web design.

Without a doubt, these trends require high page speed and solid UX. So if you are looking for web designers to help you build a modern and up-to-date website/app, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will give you an enormous breath of fresh air in your new products.