Knock Knock: The Future Is Here! Website Design Trends for 2021

It feels almost impossible that 2020 is finally nearing the end, but the times are finally changing. As the world breathes a collective sigh of relief, we can look to the future.

But technology and its design didn’t halt during 2020 as everything else did. Websites continued to evolve to best serve their customers. Whether you feel like your website is outdated or just needs a facelift to keep up to date with the latest website design trends, you’re in the right place.

Dark Theme

For a long time now, the empty space on websites has been white. But for 2021, we’re going dark. If you’re keeping an eye on the major brands, you’ll have already noticed this.

Leading tech companies like Apple, Sony, and Netflix are already using dark themes. Much like with white space, dark space makes elements more visible and elegant looking.

However, dark themes have the additional benefit of increasing the contrast ratio. They also put less stress on the eyes, which is key when working from home.

It’s not just in website design that this trend is taking over. The vast majority of social media giants — including Instagram, Reddit, and WhatsApp — have all added dark themes as options. Our point being, expect this to be one of the biggest website design trends trend for 2021.

Parallax Animation

Animation on websites has been a solid trend for a few years now, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. There’s been rising popularity in parallax animations in particular. If you’re not sure what we’re on about, there’s a great example available here.

Parallax animations are clever little things. They’re created by separating the page elements into the foreground and background. This creates an optical illusion for the viewer when objects in the foreground seem like they move faster than objects further away.

We see this every day when driving, but it’s very impactful when used in static spaces like websites. It transforms the static into the immersive, engaging viewers with a beautiful sleek design. It’s one of our personal favourites and definitely one to keep an eye on for 2021.

Flexible Vector Graphics

We’d hope you already know the importance of an image-led website. Websites that lead with stunning aesthetics tend to engage their audience far better than those that don’t.

But there’s always been a struggle to balance beautiful imagery with page load times. Especially for mobile users, page load times can be a real issue for otherwise beautiful graphics. Google won’t rank you well — no matter how beautiful your website is — if it takes too long to load.

The balance has been difficult to strike. PNG and GIF image formats lose quality when they’re resized. Leave them too large, and your page load times drop.

Fortunately, vector illustration is set to fix this. SVG, or scalable vector graphics, allows designers to scale images to fit the screen — all while maintaining the same quality as the original graphic.

Abstract Is Back

The benefits of the above three website design trends are that they allow graphic designers to go a little wilder with their ideas. Neon, geometric abstract art is back for 2021.

We don’t mean clothes straight out of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, sadly. Rather, abstract art arrangements are being added to illustrations and stock photos. They exude creativity and freedom.

Unsurprisingly, Adobe has one of the best examples of this we’ve seen, but it looks so good we’d be amazed if it didn’t crop up more throughout 2021.

Accessibility

Less than 10% of all websites are accessible. It’s a shockingly low figure that doesn’t reflect a society actively moving toward accessibility for all. This means when you’re designing or updating your website, you need to keep accessibility in mind.

Most of this will focus on the content on the website and changing it into different formats so that it can be accessed by anyone. This includes adding sound recordings, transcripts and subtitles. It could also include increasing font sizes or changing difficult-to-read fonts.

This isn’t about just being socially aware; it’s beneficial to businesses, too. Without making your website accessible, you’re alienating differently-abled customers immediately.

Data-Driven

In a world of misinformation, users are relying more and more on data to inform their decisions. Thanks to endless advances in analytics, there’s a wealth of data at your fingertips… so brag about it!

By this, we mean website designers should be incorporating data into their designs: First, by using analytical data to inform them of their design choices initially, but later on, to inform the user.

Don’t pull some vague fact out of midair. Find a statistic you love and can prove, and shout about it in all the relevant places on your website.

Voice Search

It seems like everyone has a Google Nest or Amazon Alexa in their homes these days. Because of this, voice search is on the rise. Many apps, like Spotify, have already jumped on this new website design trend, though Google is still leading the charge.

There are analytical tools capable of tracking voice search results now. This should be a big hint that your website needs to be optimised for voice search because it’s coming whether you like it or not.

We might not see voice search take over as the primary search means in 2021, but being prepared will put you ahead of the competition.

Keep up With These Website Design Trends

Keep up to date with the top website design trends in 2021 with a website update or total redesign. YZ Designs is a leading website design company, and we’d love to help you bring your site to life. Get in touch today for a free quote.

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