Every year, most digital marketing and web design companies come out with a Top Design Trends for the New Year post. Some are all the same, others have some different elements, and a few are way out in left field. The X(US) Hosting team poured through tons of articles on trends for 2022, as well as examined our own clients’ design preferences, to put together our list of 2022 Website Design Trends.
Will they all be popular? Maybe. Do we hope they have a big effect on the direction of website design? Absolutely.
One-Page Websites
More often than not, we’ve spoken with clients who are looking to uncomplicate their current websites. A great way to do this is to remove the confusion of tons of pages! This definitely does NOT work for every business, but there are plenty that can benefit from a one-page website design. For example, our client EverLife & Associates didn’t have the need to separate out services, an about section, and a contact form across multiple pages. In this case, it made the most sense to have a long scrolling single page.
This is a trend that has seen some traction in recent years, and we believe it’s only going to continue to become more popular in 2022.
Bold Typography
With Google’s Core Web Vitals update placing page speed at the top of the list of important website ranking elements, using too many images can cause issues with loading speed. Loading a giant hero image the first time a user enters your website is going to take a little time and every second counts.
There’s always been options to counteract this, of course, like compressing images and converting them to more web-friendly formats. However, using bold typography is another option that can help create a sense of branding without the long loading time. Fonts can make the end-user feel all sorts of things about your brand. For example:
This font looks polished and sleek, like a top fashion house in Paris would use it.
This font looks bold and impactful. This one is great for a construction company.
This font makes the end-user feel like they’re stuck in the early 2000’s.
Minimal Animations
Again, with page speed being the main focus of Core Web Vitals, keeping animations to a minimum will most likely be a common design trend for 2022. Animations can help make websites feel interactive, however too many moving pieces can easily make a page slow to load.
Moreover, tons of animations can make the end-user feel uneasy and unsure of where to direct their attention. This isn’t to say that animations are bad. When done well, animations can make a website feel alive and immersive.
Embedded Video
For years, digital marketers have been saying that video is the future of the internet. Just look at short-form video apps, like TikTok, or the explosive popularity of YouTube. Video is how end-users want to consume media.
Video can be used in a variety of ways within a website. You can share marketing videos on specific pages, or better yet, embed video into a hero image for a moving background. For example, we used this trend for our client VISCO Corporation, and we don’t think it’s going away anytime soon.
Gradient Color Schemes
Vibrant gradients have since taken the place of plain colored backgrounds all over the internet. In lieu of monochromatic colors, gradients allow for more intentional branding, are more eye-catching, and feel more colorful and playful to the end-user. Coolors is a great way to test out colors and create gradients to be used in social media posts, website backgrounds, and tons of other mediums.
X(US) Hosting uses gradients as headers throughout our own site, to help break up the white space and add an element of creativity.
Inclusion
While inclusion should never be a ‘trend’ in the sense that it is fashionable now and will go out of style, but an ongoing process of true equity, we’ve enjoyed seeing diversity within the web design community in a lot of creative ways and hope to see that continue. Inclusion being a ‘trend’ in our eyes means that it is becoming more widely seen as a necessary part of a business – and design.
There are a multitude of ways to promote diversity on your website. This can include using photos and illustrations to show many different individuals from different backgrounds and abilities. You can promote diversity by not asking for a person’s gender preference when filling out forms or having options that include many gender identities or write-in fields for those who want to write in their specific gender identity.
But even deeper than the creative elements, showcasing your team with professional headshots to share that you are an inclusive company in both your design and your hiring practices can go a long way in growing your business. Study after study has proven that diversity only increases productivity and results for organizations. By showing that you are both walking the walk and talking the talk, you’ll connect with more individuals and businesses in your area.
After all, the internet is for everyone; and if your brand is showing its inclusiveness online you’ll be much more likely to attract great talent and customers alike.
Our take on 2022 website design trends may be less flashy and more minimal than other website designers, but that’s because we believe this is the direction that websites will go in 2022. Here’s to a Happy New Year!
