Page Contents
Website design is a constantly evolving process. But, like most evolution, it’s so gradual that it can be hard to clearly see the changes. Alongside these slow transformations, there are distinct trends that web designers and developers follow and, like the fashion world’s seasonal styles, they can quickly look outdated.
However, it’s important to be aware of web trends even in the knowledge that they may only be fleeting. After all, using at least some of them can be vital if you want your business to present a contemporary or cutting-edge image.
Our top trends of 2023
Already some clear web design trends are emerging that we can expect to see in the coming year. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, it could be well worth incorporating at least some of them on your site.
Nostalgia is in
It seems ironic that one of the visions for the future of web design is to look backwards. But that’s what’s on the cards for many sites in the coming months. So expect to see them using many of the styles and design elements from the 1990s and early noughties. These will include the plainer sans-serif typefaces of the time, pixelated design elements and unique, customised cursor designs.
Add some bold, brash colours and plenty of knowingly retro-styled website design touches and you start to get the idea of exactly how we’ll be heading straight back to the future in 2023.
3D’s back as well
A few years ago it seemed like every big action movie that came out also had a 3D version showing alongside the 2D one. Although it fell out of fashion, the long-awaited Avatar sequel that hit the screens late in 2022 has given 3D a new lease of life. While you won’t need special glasses to see the 3D effects on websites, they’re certainly going to be appearing. Advances in technology have meant that creating images that appear to leap out of the screen has become far easier, and the visual impact this has is impressive.
Alongside this, claymation, or claymorphism, is also set to become big as a fun and friendly way to add visual interest to many sites.
Loading animations to make waiting for less of a chore
No doubt increasing broadband speeds have made many people less and less patient when it comes to visiting websites. So it’s easy to lose their attention if a page doesn’t load up straight away. Sometimes it’s inevitable that there will be a wait involved. To make it a little more tolerable there’s going to be increasing use of animations to entertain the visitor as the page loads. These have the added benefit of giving reassurance that something is actually happening and they will soon be seeing the page that they want to.
Lightweight websites to save time
Of course, the alternative to making visitors wait is to have a minimalist website that is free from data-heavy elements like media files and images that can take a long time to load. This has become even more important as an increasing number of people now access sites on their smartphones and other mobile devices. This has led to an approach in which “less is more” is very much the philosophy, and that’s going to mean sites that are light, lightning-fast to load and truly optimised for the user experience – and with no need for loading animations at all.
Voice-activation and accessibility
There’s been a lot of talk over the last few years about AI and how it’s going to transform all of our lives. While many of the more extreme predictions are yet to come true, they are starting to affect several areas. One of these is voice activation for websites. It’s something that people have become more accustomed to thanks to devices like Siri and Alexa, and now being able to use it to navigate around a site is just around the corner.
Related to this is a growing awareness of the need to make websites more accessible and inclusive generally.
Micro-interactions are set to become big
These are the small animations on websites that are a subtle way of giving feedback to users telling them that they’ve performed a definite action. At the moment, a typical example of this is when a link or button changes colour when the cursor passes over it. The signs are that these micro effects are set to expand. So, for example, the gradient background colour on a page could change as it scrolls down. Or there could be more dramatic visual effects that are triggered when a button is pressed.
It’s all about making interacting with a website a more involving experience – and some of these interactions are also set to be created just to add a little fun to browsing too.
Websites that can be customised
Certainly one of the biggest breakthroughs set to transform the online experience in 2023 is the rise of the customisable website. Up until now it’s very much been a case of visitors to a site having to settle for what the web developers have designed for them. But we’re soon to see sites where users can change the colour palette to suit their personal preferences and even rearrange the on-screen layout to one that they find easier to use. This is set to be something of a quantum leap forward which will leave other forms of personalisation far behind.
At Cefar we’re looking forward to introducing as many of these trends as are needed by the clients whose websites we design, create and manage. Our team will also be keeping a very close eye on any other emerging trends that appear over the year, ready to introduce them too.
So if you feel that 2023 is the year to refresh your site, or even to launch a new one entirely, come and speak to us first. We’ll show you just what we’ve done for other clients and talk about what you’d like us to do for you.
And you can be sure that it’s all going to be right on trend too.
Contact us
