Technology advancements are driving web design trends of 2024, and it’s as important as ever to constantly keep up with consumer expectations. Some hyped up trends that were popular a couple years ago may now seem outdated and overused, so getting ahead of the curve and surprising customers in 2024 can portray your brand image in the best way possible.
There are so many trends we anticipate gaining popularity in 2024, from vibrant gradients and 3D graphics, to interactive storytelling and AI influenced interfaces. It’s important to keep up with web design trends, but talk to a website design agency like us to ensure you choose design elements that are appropriate for your brand image.
Let’s explore some of our predictions for the most exciting trends of 2024, and what makes them stand out and worth featuring in your own website.
Micro Interactions and Animation
In 2024, the best website designs will feature user-focused, organic micro interactions. Small, nuanced interactions can guide users through your website, and enchant users with subtle feedback.
Popular micro interactions include links changing colour or texture when hovered over, or a graphic popup when adding items to a cart. A fantastic, unexpected touch is to add an animated cursor, encouraging users to explore and spend more time on your website. Gamification can create an energising feel to your website and increase engagement.
These user centric design features can delight users and create a deeper and memorable connection to your brand. Never underestimate the impact of small touches in web design.
Retro Nostalgia
Just as fashion goes in loop cycles, as does web design. Retro and Y2K are coming back in full force.
Retro colour palettes of the 90’s, oversized text, static noise in images, scrapbook animations, and vintage pixelated images are all design techniques that generate enjoyment, simplicity and optimism, and remind consumers of the best bits of the past. Consumers react to nostalgic elements positively and using them encourages users to associate your brand with those comforting and familiar sentiments.
In 2024, we’ll see designers go one step further from just retro, to retro-futurism, a fusion of retro styles with modern design staples. Think geometric shapes and old textures, whilst using 3D interactive storytelling. Combinations like this can catch a customer’s attention, and keep them guessing long enough to engage.
Kinetic & Dynamic Typography
2024 design will elevate content beyond just being words on a page. 2024 websites will use kinetic typography to create visual hierarchy by focussing on how words are placed and how they interact with each other and other design elements. Moving type can define your website’s personality and simplify user engagement.
Web designers may also use kinetic and bold typography to replace the traditional image in the hero section. This can be a fantastic choice in bold simplicity and lends itself to companies that have a strong message they want to portray or suit a minimalist style.
Whilst kinetic typography can be a fantastic tool in creating an impression and captivating your audience, care needs to be taken on where it features, as too much of it, or unintentional use throughout your content can be disorientating.
Handmade Illustrations
Consumers are craving brands with personality. Handmade illustrations and doodles allow businesses to explore a unique identity and break the brand and user barrier to create authenticity and inject personality into the brand.
Custom illustrations from branding experts can add character to a brand, and we expect to see unconventional patterns, mascot doodles and whimsical fonts all replacing mundane stock graphics. Playful, custom illustrations can be very versatile and are a fantastic way to connect with customers, and will dominate web designs in 2024.
UX Spotlight
A collective aim in 2024 for website designers is to steer away from cluttered interfaces, to something that simply promotes user engagement. UX (User Experience) centred designs focus on site structure, improving how a user navigates your website, to boost lead generation and conversions.
With the modern attention span of consumers constantly decreasing, gaining and keeping people hooked is essential. These design choices can be well-structured navigation bars, continuous home screen content, dark mode to reduce glare and intuitive layouts.
The key is to create versatile designs that suit any user, considering factors like thumb reach, typography and image scaling, and buffering times.
Thinking Ahead with a Web Design Agency
Whether your website adopts retro-futurism or focuses on a dynamic oversized font for your hero, choosing to incorporate some of these trends we’ve explored here will have the results you’re hoping for from your website strategy.
Choose a web designer who is always pushing boundaries and thinking ahead to provide your target audience with a memorable and lasting impression of your brand. Whether you’re looking to create a whole new website, or tweak your current site, Rebus Design can help you achieve the best visual impact and user experience.