2019 has not been a breakthrough year for web design. There were no fantastic new features or innovations on desktop, mobile, or wearable platforms. However, during the last 12 months  several trends have seen further development, and some are likely to dominate the next year. For you to keep up with the competition and offer your clients or users the best web design possible, you need to choose a web design agency.

3D Motion

3D graphics have been one of the hottest trends of 2019 and will likely continue to be. The more financial and human resources a design team has, the more time and money can be spent perfecting eye-catching visuals, the quintessence of which is 3D motion. To keep user’s attention, designers use simulation of lifelike and artificial materials, substances, surface, and various compositions of them.

Despite keeping the user’s attention, these visuals are very time-consuming to create and are hardware heavy. But in 2020, mainstream mobile and desktop hardware will be powerful enough to support such visuals, so you might consider spending a portion of your budget on some eye-candy.

Unique 2D and 3D Illustration 

Custom unique illustrations with varying degrees of weirdness have taken over the landing pages, onboarding screens, and email templates of virtually all significant products oriented towards the millennial customer base. The weirder, the better. There are now even creative commons tools used to copy and paste what attracts those oh-so-unique trendy humans.

Jokes aside, it’s getting harder to attract new customers in this information-overloaded age.  Unique, vivid, and attractive illustrations help entice those picky Millenials and Zoomers. Even better if the illustrations are dynamic, which leads us to the next trend.

Micro-Interactions and Animation

You don’t have to boast a mind-blowing million-particle 3D bonanza on your website to attract people (unless you are a design agency specializing in 3D). If you are developing an app, micro-interactions are what set you apart and produce those nano dopamine spikes that keep users engaged. Spend some extra designer hours on polishing those details to increase retention, and you’ll stay on top in 2020 (provided your core features are good enough).

Ubiquitous Dark Mode

2019 has been the year of dark mode. All major platforms have offered a dark mode experience to its users. 2020 will finish the transition to adaptive day/night UI for those night owls among us.

Oversized, Bold Typography

Over the past five years dominating minimalism and flat design have gradually shifted to more experimental forms. Fashion and millennial tastes have influenced the shift to trendier designs. Even companies like the world’s largest fully online bank are beginning to use bolder typography in their branding.

Brutalism

Another development in the avantgarde of web design is a shift to the 90s-nostalgic brutalist aesthetic. If your product is geared towards a more artsy audience, brutalism might be an excellent aesthetic choice.

Broken Grid, Asymmetrical Layouts

Generally, as digital products mature and grow in numbers, more effort and experimentation are required to differentiate from competitors, functionally, aesthetically and visually. Experimenting leads to more uncommon webpage layouts to help spark interest while scrolling through a page. This ultimately holds users attention. 

Storytelling and Copywriting

Visuals may be enough to attract your users, but it’s the content and message that prevents them from leaving and ensures their return. With the right choice of words, the narrative engages users with the brand and makes them associate themselves with it. It is vital for loyalty. That is why copywriting is becoming a separate role in design teams.

Personalization

Providing more options while not being obtrusive is a pinnacle of web design. More and more apps offer deep customization options to make the web design sincerely yours. You can also learn top web design courses online.

Adaptive Colors

Many major brands like Spotify, Dropbox and Facebook have adopted adaptive color schemes for their branding, depending on the medium and the message, in the last couple of years. This trend is likely to continue.

Digital Wellbeing

iOS and Android now feature built-in screen time tools. Social networks begin to offer options to self-limit your time on the apps and set mindful reminders to take a break. Mindfulness apps become unicorns. The digital wellbeing movement is on the rise, and more and more people begin to seek time well spent and avoid addictively dark patterns. It’s better to ride the wave than to be hit by it. Consider these things while designing your next app in order to promote healthy behaviors while earning money.

Accessibility and Inclusiveness

Show you care. Just by carefully choosing your color schemes, you will attract users who otherwise would not check out your app. Make the changes to maintain initial interest in your app from a range of people. 

Outro

This is by no means an exhaustive list of trends, but some of the most prominent ones. Keep an eye out for new developments, and while staying in the know, maintain your agenda, visual style, and identity.