So, it’s officially getting chilly! And the new winter collection is out! What brand, you ask? Doesn’t matter! The thing is, with each new season comes a completely new style collection! And then the crowd follows it!

Well, much like the fashionistas, the digital world too has its pageant and collection release every few months! Yes, we are talking about the website design trends that get its updates and provide a completely different outlook to your site, adding on to its appeal, perking up the conversion rates, and offer the deadly combination of convenience and aesthetics!

So, right now, considering we are cutting it so close to 2021, and the ‘little’ drop in business during the initial months of 2020 (all thanks to COVID-19), you might want to check up on the predicted web design trends for 2021.

Honing the Web Design Trends in 2021

After all the pandemic daily-soap of a drama leading to us being quarantined, innovation is going to be the keyword for 2021, amalgamated with technological advances. For 2020, 2021, and the years beyond it, each business, irrespective of its genre of trade is leaning heavily towards customer-centrism.  

Considering all the competition that has emerged over the e-Commerce platforms, due to offline shops getting their wildcard entry on to the online platforms, enterprises need all the leverage that they can get. One such superior leverage would be the use of website design trends.

This would lead to the prevention of outdated looks on sites, ignorance of any critical web standards, etc. Since the Google algorithm keeps getting updated over the years and adhering to each update is pivotal to staying a step ahead with the SERP, updating the web design as per the trend is crucial. 

So, if you are, (rhetorical, we know), looking to gain the Rank Zero or the featured snippet for your brand, keep your clients hooked, and enjoy the client loyalty - these web design trends are yours to swear by!

The Top 3 Trends in Website Design

The digital realm holds Heraclitus’s “change is the only constant” theory to the heart! Any web design company offering website design and development services can never get too comfortable with any web design, considering that these trends are subjected to evolving trends. 

The Holy Trinity of Web Design Trends for 2021 illustration 1

Such trends cater to the varying client and SEO requirements and 

  1. Ensure the retention of clients over honed website aesthetics, 
  2. Offer enhanced customer experience in web design
  3. Boost ROI, and improve SERP.

The top 3 trends that will create waves in 2021 has been listed below.

#1 Personalized Content

Let’s start with some statistics. Out of 10 virtual shoppers, 6 believe that they click away in case the web page stands irrelevant for them. An estimated 91% of the website users lean towards sites that offer tailored content to boost their experience. 

In the era that hails ‘personalization’, offering viewers relevant content via web designs is a mandate - as is believed by the top web design New York agencies. Subsequently, websites track the links clicked by the users and their locations to provide dynamic content when the user visits a 2nd or 3rd time. This trend has turned out to be an asset in turning the clicks into conversions. 

Such content holds value especially when it comes torevamping the e-commerce shopping experience. Thus, as per the leading companies offering web design services, the most important ways to implement customized content are -

  1. Make signup flows more intuitive
  2. Delight high-value users
  3. Give users personalized recommendations
  4. Welcome returning visitors
  5. Integrate tailored content

#2 Thumb-Friendly Mobile Navigation

Navigation is always considered as the basis of an online project. Seeing how the virtual market is the only option for all businesses irrespective of the genre of their trade and the size of the enterprise, it is crucial to offer your viewers and users thumb-friendly mobile navigation or mobile web design that resonates with convenience. 

Among the other trends in the navigation aspect that are gaining popularity in the digital realm are -

  1. Experimental Navigation
  2. Endless Scrolling
  3. More White Space
  4. Animated Particle Background

An estimated 52% of the website traffic is fetched over mobile devices. Also, mobile-friendly websites have caught the attention of the Google algorithm in the ranking sector. Hence, the ranking in the search engines has largely favored the mobile-friendly sites. 

However, when any web design agency says thumb-friendly mobile navigation, it is not just the designs that are made mobile-responsive. With mobile navigation, the leverages include: higher rating on search engines, more leads or boost conversions, optimized performance of the websites.

As any responsive web design company experts suggests, you will need to go for -

  1. Utilization of images that look good on the mobile screen
  2. A minimalist approach to your design
  3. Switch to enhanced quality of content
  4. More straightforward mobile web design online navigation and layout

#3 Micro Interactions

Micro-interactions in the website designing comprises 4 stages that build-up to the design -

Stage 1: Triggers - Initiating micro-interactions that can be of 2 types - user-initiated and system-initiated. 

Stage 2: Rules - Determining what happens post-triggering the micro-interaction.

Stage 3: Feedback - Listing anything that a user feels, sees, or hears during micro-interactions. 

Stage 4: Loops and modes - To determine the rules of the micro-interactions in case the conditions change. 

The best example of micro-interaction is the Facebook Like button. The main aim of the micro-interactions is to help the clients get involved in the product developed by companies. With the micro-interactions in place, the interface is imbibed with dynamics. 

While these three website design trends truly are the tips of the iceberg, 2021 is looking at a long queue of such trends. In 2021, as the digital world enjoys the enhanced impact of some other 2020’s best trends, some other new trends are surely on the rise. Here is checking out some such new trends for 2021 that are sure to make a mark as foretold by the pioneers in web designing. 

A Few Other Trend-Predictions For 2021

In 2021, the digital realm will be looking forward to a boost in website traffic owing to an increased online presence from every business. To have leverage over the competitors, businesses need to be looking out for any possible differentiator like the latest website design trends that will establish their uniqueness and beckon the potential and existing clients’ interest. 

For such leverage, you will need to be looking into some such other trends that are predicted to create quite a sound in 2021. Here are some such web design trends for 2021:

  1. Mixing Photography with graphics
  2. Realistic Textures
  3. Dark mode
  4. Wild color combinations
  5. Abstract data visualization
  6. Floating elements
  7. 3D elements
  8. Voice user interface (VUI)
  9. Hand-drawn elements
  10. Ecommerce product presentation

Conclusion

As the globe gets more comfortable in their virtual worlds, more and more companies will be forced to set up their business empire online. Under such circumstances, adhering to the web design trends, putting up an aesthetically pleasing site that caters to the attention of both the users and the SEO algorithm - seems like your best way forward! So, start on with your endeavors at the earliest!

About the author: Pratip Biswas is the founder and CEO of Unified Infotech, a New York-based web design company that has been featured in Deloitte Fast 500.