web design trends

The best thing about human psychology is – it evolves. The song that you once loved doesn’t excite you anymore. The movie that you hated 5 years ago is now your favorite movie. People’s perspectives on aesthetics change too. As a result, the web design that was popular yesterday becomes outdated today. Interestingly, many designs once perceived as outdated become popular again!

In this article, we will share with you the web design trends that every web design company Melbourne thinks will rule 2021. Some of these have been trending for three/four years. Some of them are brand new. So, let’s dive deeper.

Web Design Trends To Appreciate In 2021

1. Video Headers

Web designers are leveraging the increase in the overall internet speed across the world. More and more websites are now coming up with video banners in the background. A full width video banner makes the web page spectacular! It gives an immersive experience. Since people stop to watch the video, the video banners help increase the session duration. So, it’s good for SEO too.

Here’s an example of a web page that leverages a video banner that people look at in awe – https://www.lonelyplanet.com/best-in-travel

2. Dark Mode

The popularity of dark mode has been increasing year on year. In 2021 dark mode is not just a web design trend – it is a movement in itself. Dark mode gives websites an elegant, polished, mystery-filled look. 

However, a web design company, Melbourne must also remember that not all users love dark mode. Dark mode is mostly loved by the people belonging to the tech or art industry. It will be counterintuitive if you use dark mode for a travel website. The best thing would be to give the users the option to choose between dark and white themes. In fact, from at least 2018 onwards we have the CSS feature – prefers-color-scheme – that tells the website whether the user requested a dark themed web page.

Here is a website that leverages the dark mode. See how beautiful it looks – https://qatalog.com/ (Bonus point for the awesome usage of cartoonish images)

3. Horizontal Scrolling

Don’t you get bored with the way you browse websites? Everything is so… vertical! Why can’t we have websites where we can scroll horizontally? This will give a breath of fresh air to the way we navigate through the websites.

Creating a horizontal scrolling website comes with its own risk. The users might find it counterintuitive. So, most websites combine horizontal scrolling with vertical scrolling. Also, web designers have to make sure that the website scrolls horizontally with the use of the scroll wheel of the mouse. If they are forced to drag the horizontal scroll bar manually, that will be an example of a bad UI.

Here’s an example of a horizontal scrolling website – https://www.gingko.pro/ ( Notice how it has hidden the scroll bar so that people do not get confused).

4. Minimalism

Another web design trend that started before 2021 but is gaining more and more popularity is the tendency towards minimalism. Big corporations like Google or Microsoft are leaning heavily towards minimalist designs. Websites having minimalist design help the visitors to not get distracted by meaningless frills. The empty area gives the visitors the space to breathe. They are effective for SEO services.

Example – https://www.broom-studio.com/ 

5. Funny 404 Page

Admit it. Isn’t it frustrating to click on a link only to see that the web page does not exist? Well, traditionally websites used to show a plain and simple ‘Error 404 Not Found’ page. But today the websites display witty 404 pages to minimize the frustration of the visitors. This web design trend can be seen prominently in 2021. As Creative Bloq pointed out Marvel’s website employs such witty, humorous 404 pages.

6. Parallax Scrolling

No article on modern web design trends is complete without the mention of parallax scrolling effect. On a parallax scrolling website, the foreground elements (usually the text) move up and down but the background doesn’t move at the same speed or in the same way. This gives a unique touch to the website.

Example- https://www.oncorps.ai/ 

The Rise of No Code Web Design Platforms: A Significant Web Design Trend in 2021

No code web design platforms and plugins like Elementor, Webflow or Wix are trending in 2021. The no-code movement is not new but it has gained immense support in 2021. Companies want to be self-sufficient. They don’t want to depend on web designers to make some slight changes to their website. Thus, these no-code web designing platforms are seeing a rising popularity.

Compartmentalization: The Mantra of Mobile Web Design

Another web design trend in 2021 is the compartmentalization or separation of various themes or products appearing on the same web page on a mobile website. Mobile screens have less real estate. So, this compartmentalization helps mobile websites look uncluttered. The mobile website of Apple is an apt example.

Let’s end this article with some good news. Google has decided to discontinue amp. So, the web developers do not have to design amp specific web pages any more for SEO services. This will remove a lot of burden from their shoulders. 

2021 is an interesting year for web designing trends. On one hand, we have so many new technologies to leverage upon. On the other hand, there is wider consensus on the need to remove unnecessary bloat from the web pages to make them efficient and minimalist. Let’s see how it goes.

By Anurag Rathod

Anurag Rathod is an Editor of Appclonescript.com, who is passionate for app-based startup solutions and on-demand business ideas. He believes in spreading tech trends. He is an avid reader and loves thinking out of the box to promote new technologies.