Web design trends over the years have shifted dramatically and we continue to see new changes arise when examining 2020 web design trends. As web designers think about the new era of creative websites, it will be important to keep these top trends in mind. Similarly, companies that continue to invest in their websites and brands should be aware of the trends to ensure the latest iteration of their website is leveraging the newest web design trends to attract and engage their customer base.

Overall, these 2020 web design trends aim to create engaging, yet clean and simple, websites.

Interactive Animation

Interactive animation has been a growing trend but is a main 2020 web design trend we predict to see across the board this year. Interactive animation is a design element that comes alive in response to a user’s action on the site, such as scrolling, clicking, or hovering on a portion of the site. Interactive animation, no matter how large or small, encourages users to engage with the website further. 

The Pinpoint Acupuncture website with some subtle interactive animation on the calls to action. If a user hovers their mouse over any of the green calls to action, the CTA button gets slightly emphasized and has an arrow. This little animation emphasis encourages the user to move further into the site by clicking the button.

Dark Colors

Darker color schemes grew in popularity with Apple’s introduction of Dark Mode in 2018. Darker designs allow for brighter colors to be used as accents on calls to actions and other buttons on the website. The minimal use of bright colors in the most important areas pulls the user’s eye to that area immediately, helping guide them through the website. Revere’s design of Corinthian Textile’s site is a great example of this trend. 

Strategic Use of White Space

Though the future of web designing is moving toward dark color schemes, the importance of white space is still a big emphasis. This has been one of many web design trends over the years but is really highlighted in 2020, especially as the popularity of dark colors continues to grow. 

The Intuitive Digital web team designed Mosaik Design’s website by strategically using white space in certain areas to create emphasis without adding a new color to the mix. The bottom half of the home page uses white space overlaid on top of images to draw attention to project types and testimonials.

3D Elements

Incorporating 3D elements to a website (sparingly!) is a great way to grab attention and encourage interaction with the website without making the site too cluttered or busy.

The Tour DeVine site, designed by Intuitive Digital, features a video clip at the top of the home page. Tour DeVine offers wine tours via helicopter. The video clip features both wine tasting and a helicopter hovering above Oregon’s wine country. This 3D video experience aims to give website visitors a realistic taste of what a wine tour with Tour DeVine is really like.

Simplistic Navigation

Because there are so many emerging ways to engage users on a website, keeping the navigation as simple and minimalist as possible is really important to avoid any clutter on the site. Simple navigation ensures that users aren’t overwhelmed by the number of options they have. The fewer options, the more obvious the path through the website is, and the more likely users are to take that path to conversion.

The Axios Corporation site features a collapsed menu. This has become a popular web design trend over the years for mobile but is a newer idea for desktop. Without a full navigation immediately apparent on the site, it forces the user to focus on that messaging in the header. 

Most web users know how to navigate through a website, so the traditional navigation across the top of the site isn’t really necessary any longer. It is an easy element to eliminate in the name of simplicity. Less is more!

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Wondering how your website design stands the test of time with the latest 2020 web design trends? We’d like to take a look at your site to talk with you about potential opportunities and the future of web designing. Get in touch! We look forward to hearing from you.