2021 Design Trends for Updating the Look of Your Website
How up-to-date is your site?
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Yes, you can date a website by its look. Remember cursors that used to leave a trail of footprints? Back in 2013, we wrote about three big trends that were popular in website design at the time. So how much has web design changed since then? Let’s take a look.
2013 was when mobile website usage was growing exponentially and every business was learning that their sites were not only difficult to navigate on a smartphone, but looked terrible as well. Re-creating old sites so they worked well on different platforms inspired some new looks for websites.
Flat Design
Acting on the principle that "form follow function," flat design arose from the increased use of mobile devices. Long text blocks, too teeny to read on a small screen, were simplified and white space buffers were added to reduce "fat finger" mistakes on navigation buttons. This minimalistic look continues to be popular today.
Infinite Scroll
Rather than waiting for each new page to load, often a lengthy process on a mobile device, websites became basically just one really, really long page to scroll through. This is also still a very common design element in mobile websites, but there have been some twists since 2013.
Side-swiping, like on a dating app, has been added to the up-and-down scrolling. Also, parallax scrolling, where one layer of the design moves at a different speed than the background layer, has become increasingly popular.
Throwback Looks
Everything old is new again, again. With increased mobile device usage, people are spending more time in front of a screen than ever. That has been problematic for in-print newspapers and magazines, but also has created nostalgia for print. Fonts like old-style print pieces are showing up more often in website design and pages are being laid out to resemble traditional magazine lay-outs.
Increased Interaction
The latest trend is to make website design less of a passive event and more of an interactive experience for visitors. These aren’t necessarily deep interactions, but small additions that make the visit fun. For instance, changes that happen when a visitor hovers or rolls over certain areas.
Mobile technology continues to drive website design trends. Has your website kept up or is it starting to look out of fashion? If you’re ready to freshen your look, just give us a call and we can talk it over.
This article is an update to “Three Website Fashion Trends to Follow” dated 8/19/2013.
Photo by Kamaji Ogino from Pexels
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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