Welcome to 2024, where web design is changing more rapidly than ever.
You know how crucial your website is nowadays, it's your online storefront, 24/7 billboard, and usually the first step your customers take to verify your identity and find out just what you do. We know how tough it is to keep up with all these rapid changes, so we want to make it a little easier for you to figure out what's new in design 2024 and how it effects your website engagement.
The impending changes are way too many to highlight in a single post so I have sifted out my top 5.
So let's dive in!
1. AI-Generated Content and Imagery
It's BIG and will certainly take hold in 2024. The forecast is that AI will grow into a multi-billion industry by 2025. It has already gained massive momentum and we now have the ability to access AI direct in our web design design platform.
In theory, AI can empower every aspect of a website: appearance, functionality, accessibility, user experience, interaction with visitors, consumer targeting, and even marketing aspects. But there is a way to go to be able to achieve all of that.
Nevertheless, more and more designers and platforms are shifting towards AI-based design practices, while more clients are craving AI-powered experiences. AI definitely intends to become an integral if not neccessary part of modern web development.
Chatbots have become a fixture of almost every website and machine learning procedures and NLP allow business owners to bridge the gap between them and clients by creating pre-programmed conversation paths, supposedly making interaction more productive. Just remember there is a real person at the other end.
Widespread adoption of AI-generated designs will continue to transform our web design world in 2024. We can already instert AI generated text, graphics and photos, which develop graphics based on a simple human prompt. We can already create custom website graphics based on your vision, user data, and design systems. Companies want to position themselves as forward-thinking through an ultra-modern online presence.
Before diving headlong into AI generated content, it is crucial to remember that AI has legal problems and raises ethical issues. Potentially, there will be some fallbacks that must be mitigated.
2. Textured Design
Even though we are seeing businesses adapt and incorporate the latest craze, many of us still seek out some sense of realism and humanity when they’re browsing the web.
So while tech companies are showcasing more futuristic looking designs, we'll see other brands go in the opposite direction. Rather than have websites full of funky and futuristic graphics, neon colors and animations, they’ll bring some texture and depth into their product showcases. Brands that make physical products or provide real face to face services are most likely going to be the ones to adopt a more textured approach.
Textured design refers to how the surface physically feels, rough, smooth, bumpy, scratchy etc. Incorporate these textures into your website by using images oir graphics replication the feel, like the leather a handbag is made from or close ups of sand, leaves water for a nature website.
3, The Art of Minimalism
With the online world drawn toward complexity and clutter, there's something is refreshing about a minimalistic website's clean look and feel. As more sites compete for our attention with over adventurous layouts and flashy graphics, minimalism almost seems rebellious in its restraint. And as we say "less is more" when it comes to web design.
There are a few advantages to building minimalist websites, they're lightweight and clutter-free resulting in:
Faster than overloaded, content heavy websites
Aesthetically pleasing to most users
Interactive elements and animations have more impact
Easier to navigate
More mobile-friendly for both user and designer
While are not a lot of minimalist websites around these days, it makes sense why you would lean towards this style. With so many distractions competing for your users’ attention. Minimalism is an effective method of creating a comfortable, enjoyable and engaging user experience, appealing to a broader audience.
4. SCROLL EFFECTS & ANIMATIONS
Scroll effects and animations are visuallly invigorating to a user experience with interactivity and motion. Scrolling can trigger actions like sliding graphics and text into position, fade-in or fade outs, transformations, or react with other forms of movement. Popular uses of scroll animations include:
To highlight products.
Provide visitors with visual feedback
Feature slides and infographics
A guide or visual cue
Structure times for content to be revealed
Making long content more engaging
Scroll-triggered animations can be an important part of a website, engaging users with dynamic visuals and enhancing its usability.
5. Focus on UX
UX Design = User Experience A modern, aesthetically pleasing design with an excellent user experience (UX) can be a challenge for most web designers. One of the main trends that will dominate the web in 2024 and in the years to come is the emphasis on UX design.
In today’s ever-changing world, complicated web design and complex navigation are simply too time-consuming and obsolete. UX Design enables users to be directed to what they are looking for as soon as they enter the site, without having to guess what the designer intended to communicate or where the business owner wanted them to go.
Web designers should focus on the structure of the site in 2024. This includes the navigation bar, head titles, video, images, animation, text, and even 3D. A well-structured site allows users to access information directly from the start, with a clear message.
