Web design trends 2024

 

By Robert Allen 

our website reflects your organization

No one wants their website to look tired and out of date. Being aware of the latest website design trends means you can ensure your website keeps impressing visitors. It’s not about chasing the latest fads, which you should be careful to avoid, but rather understanding the current state of best practice and applying these to your site where relevant to you. 

Website design agency Numiko builds stunning and complex websites for some of the most prestigious organizations in the world. So we asked their team of web designers to uncover the latest web design trends for this year and share what their predictions are for 2024. Here’s what they identified as the current top web design trends:

Bento grid layouts

These types of layouts aren’t new. In fact, they’ve been around for decades. However, they have exploded in popularity recently, in part due to their adoption by Apple both in their online presence and iOS.

The bento grid layout feels modern and playful. It’s also very simple, as it’s a form of grid, making it easy to use. You can see more examples of Bento Grids here.

Apple’s decision to use the Bento grid layout for their pages showing the iPhone 14 Pro and Apple Card have propelled its popularity. Apple is probably the world-leading brand in design, so their use of it will prompt many other designs to consider it for their websites. 

Website technologies have developed to support the Bento grid designs, making them easier for developers to deliver. This combined with its integration into iOS means we predict this hot web design trend is just getting started and will continue to grow in popularity in 2024. 

Fluid layouts

Fluid layouts are fully scalable and ‘fluid’ design systems that mean a website no longer snaps to predefined breakpoints and instead proportionally scales to a users’ viewport, ensuring a more consistent experience for users across devices. In design terms, this means no-longer using pixel based measurements, but instead using percentages.

Elements within the grid adjust proportionally, so the layout smoothly adapts to different sizes. This is the most effective way to ensure your website looks great on all devices. With the rise of new device types such as smartphones with folding screens, like the Galaxy Z fold, it’s more important than ever to ensure your website is perfectly flexible to whatever device your visitor is using.

AI-generated imagery

The proliferation of AI-generated imagery will explode in the next few years. This will affect website design and imagery heavily. This trend started recently with the launch of MidJourney v5 in March 2023, and is set to gain further momentum as AI image-generation tools continue to improve. Dalle-3 is now out in alpha and is due to be released to all Open-AI subscribers in October 2023. 

Below is an example of AI-generated imagery. It’s already on the cusp of realism, it could soon be indistinguishable. 

This raises ethical questions, particularly for charities - does using AI-generated imagery of non-existent people diminish the legitimacy of your message? 

Despite this, we have no doubt that we’ll see AI imagery as a major trend in 2024, potentially with some pushback. Its ease of use means websites that may have lacked great photography in the past and therefore rely on flatter designs, will now be more likely to use images. 

AI-generated video may also start to improve in the same way as AI imagery has over the past year, increasing the use of video and animated content.

Renewed focus on accessibility

Website accessibility is nothing new, but new developments over the course of this year mean it’s receiving more attention than ever. The WCAG standards which set out the official requirements for websites to reach different levels of accessibility and has recently updated its guidance to WCAG 2.2.

In the UK, all public sector websites have been required to meet WCAG AA accessibility standards since 2018. The updates to the WCAG guidelines mean that web design teams will be looking to accessibility afresh in 2024 and building more accessible websites than ever before.

Retro / nostalgia 

It’s 2023, and the 90s are cool again. 

Fashion moves in cycles, and strange as it may seem, there’s now enough time between us and the early 90s that a current pop star’s music videos are deliberately cultivating a 90s look.

Web designs are not immune to this. Certain websites are embarrassing 90s or 2000s fashion trends and applying it to their design. Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery for example opted for a nostalgic, 90s-inspired design for its new website.  

It’s fun, quirky, and stands out from the crowd. It’s a great example of how trends can be unpredictable, they don’t always go one way. Sometimes you have to leap back into the past in order to be cutting edge. 

Large typographic hero images

The ‘hero image’ is a classic of web design. A way to showcase your product or evoke a feeling with a single powerful image. The typographic hero image takes this style of design but updates it by switching to using oversized typography to create a memorable impression.

Artist Martine Syms’ website uses extra-large typography in the place of a hero image to make a bold impression on the visitor.

Numiko applied this trend to their own website, which uses extra-large typography in place of a hero image, with the addition of masked video, using the typography as the mask.

Microinteractions

Microinteractions in web design are subtle interactive elements that enhance user engagement and experience. They provide feedback, guide user behavior, and serve various functions such as loading indicators, form validation, and gamification.

These small design elements play a significant role in brand identity and contribute to user satisfaction and usability on websites and digital applications. The interaction itself may be just a simple animation on a button to indicate a change of status, but these little elements of movement help bring a website to life. 

By giving the user subtle clues about changes in status or interactive elements, they can help improve the UX whilst adding to the aesthetic feel of the website, such as in the example below. 

A simple but effective micro interaction website is rotating the hamburger menu to indicate when it is opened. Or you can animate it to become a cross, indicating that you tap there to close it once opened.

Bold and custom typography

Bold typography is a trend characterized by the use of large, impactful fonts. It serves to immediately capture attention, establish a visual hierarchy, and convey brand personality. This trend enhances readability, adapts well to mobile responsiveness, and complements minimalist design principles. 

Designers often use custom fonts for creative expression, and when combined with animations and interactions, it can create engaging web experiences. However, it's essential to consider accessibility to ensure an inclusive user experience. 

For a long time, typography trends emphasized simplicity, serifs were out and Helvetica was king. But now things are going in the opposite direction. Serifs are back. Designers are using typography more creatively, using uncommon fonts to stand out from the crowd. 

E-commerce store aiaiai employs a typographically driven design to great effect, creating a captivating website that stands out from the crowd.

Predictions for 2024

The design trends outlined here are likely to continue to grow in popularity over the course of 2024. The Bento Box layout is currently being propelled by Apple, and so has further to run, but we may see it peak after another year or so. 

AI imagery will evolve rapidly so this will keep getting more and more use in web design over the course of next year. However, because AI will make great imagery ubiquitous, it will mean that great imagery will no longer provide a way to stand out from the crowd. 

That’s where you’ll see trends like creative, bold typography come into their own, as a way to stand and position your brand as different from the rest.

https://www.smartinsights.com/

How to Pick the Right Website Color Scheme

 Color choices are crucial for a website, influencing everything from brand recognition to purchasing.

So, how can you choose the right color scheme for your site?

An infographic (below) from WebsiteBuilderExpert, which is based on this guide, provides a four-step process for determining the perfect color combination.

The piece also looks at why website colors are important and provides tips for how to choose among different colors.

https://bit.ly/3t2s0bv

The Anatomy of a Great Business Website

 People want business websites to be easy to navigate, fast loading, and secure, according to recent research from BestSEOCompanies.

The report was based on data from a survey of 1,004 internet users as well as an analysis of 20 brand websites that people rated as their favorites.

Survey respondents say the top characteristics of a great business website are that it has an easy-to-use menu (60% cite), quickly loading pages (58%), easy site navigation (57%), easy-to-read fonts (54%), and a secure connection (54%).

Business websites preferred by internet users tend to have navigation bars at the top, large banner photos, and SSL security certificates, the analysis found.

After looking through the websites of the 20 brands highly-rated by internet users, people were more likely to say the businesses were trustworthy and had a positive impact on society.

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 1,004 internet users as well as an analysis of 20 brand websites that people rated as their favorites.

https://bit.ly/31CKOCH

10 Web Design Trends for 2022

 Designers should be considering the impact of both light and dark—specifically white space and Dark Mode—when developing experiences for the Web next year.

That's among the key design predictions for 2022 explored in an infographic (below) from Red Website Design.

The piece covers 10 trends to watch, including technical considerations such as page load times and dynamic scrolling.

It also looks at why designing for the thumb—i.e., mobile-friendliness—will be more important than ever.

https://bit.ly/3n7Foqd

The 61 Best Marketing Tools for Every Business & Budget [2019 Guide] Part 1.

Written by Bethany Cartwright

@bhopecart

In the world of marketing, it seems like there are always new tools, tips, tricks, and trends to discover and incorporate into your marketing strategy. How is it possible to keep up with them all?

As a marketer myself, I often wish I had a better sense of all of the tools available to me -- and what sets each of them apart -- so I can make more informed decisions on how to create and optimize content.

Luckily, I have the privilege of working on a team of 150+ other marketers who specialize in different functions than I do. And because of that, I was able to curate this list of the top 61 tools every marketer should know about and use in 2019.

The list of recommended tools below is sorted into different sections so you can get a better sense of what tools are available for different functions of the job. At the end, you'll see the whole list of 61 tools that you can skim and bookmark for later. Nearly 50 of them are free marketing tools, which means the product offers either a free version with limited resources or a select group of tools inside the product that are yours to use at no charge.

Enjoy!

Your List of the Best Marketing Tools to Build Your Strategy in 2019

Marketing Automation

Automation is nothing new to marketers. Whether you want to save time doing marketing tasks or simply cut time wasted doing those daily tasks like saving emails and files to spreadsheets, having a tool that makes your life easier and saves you time is ideal.

While there are lots of automation tools out there for specific fields or verticals (for example, the HubSpot workflows tool for marketing automation), there aren't many tools that allow you to automate the various different tools you use throughout all aspects of your life.

Wouldn't it be nice to link lots of tasks between different apps together? Like posting your Instagram photos to all your social networks or linking your app reminders together. With IFTTT you can!

IFTTT (IF This Then That) is a service that allows you to create chains of simple conditional statements, called applets. These "if this then that" applets are triggered by a wide range of other web-based services at the choice of the user. Some of the web-based services that work with IFTTT include Gmail, Google Drive, Facebook, Twitter, Fitbit, and much, much more.

Sounds great, right? Check it out.

Data Reporting

Most tools that automate some of your marketing strategy will also provide reports that allow you to see and present your campaigns' performance to other employees in your company. What if you want a more holistic look at the health of your marketing?

From the efficiency of your content calendar to the effectiveness of your lead-generation methods, Digital Marketing Tuner offers a helpful overview of all of your latest marketing activities.

Developed by OverGo Studio, an inbound marketing agency and HubSpot Agency Partner, Digital Marketing Tuner guides you through a brief survey where you can submit basic information about your company's content volume, email open rates, website traffic, and more. The tool then sends you a detailed report in which you can better visualize your team's strengths and weaknesses so you can make even better decisions for your company moving forward.

Closing Deals and Tracking Relationships

You and your sales team want to sell your product or service -- not fight with messy spreadsheets, cluttered inboxes, or clunky tools that slow you down. That's why using a Customer Relationship Management System -- also known as a CRM -- is essential. Not only will it help your sales team manage relationships, but a CRM will also give you a place to deliver those leads you generated to your sales team.

CRMs are such an essential part of any good marketing and sales team that we think everyone should have one. That's why the HubSpot CRM is completely free.

HubSpot CRM automates the tasks salespeople hate and takes minutes to learn -- not months. That means doing more deals and less data entry.

Check out the HubSpot CRM Now

Collaboration

In any marketing team, the inevitable happens: there's a million files and pieces of content between everyone on your team without one place to keep it all. Organization on any team -- let alone a marketing team -- is essential. That's why it's important to have a collaborative organization tool to keep you sane.

Dropbox is the perfect tool to keep your team organized and your files under control. With cloud-based software to keep your files accessible anywhere at anytime, Dropbox helps your team store all of its files in a central location. Dropbox makes it easy to collaborate, too. With tools like Dropbox Paper, which allows you to write and collaborate in real time on the same doc -- and sharing tools for shared folders and files, you'll be organized and ready for any project that comes your way.

Get Dropbox for Your Team Now

Other Collaboration Tools:

• Google Drive
• Box
• Trello

Content Creation

In the world of content creation, there are admittedly tons of different tools you could use to create various types of content. Whether it's social images, logos, blog posts, or ebooks -- the options and tools are endless.

That said, a newcomer among the Adobe Suite of tools is winning the hearts of many marketers, including this one, for its ease of use to create stunning webpages, awesome videos, and eye-catching graphics. The best part? It's completely free and impossibly easy.

Adobe Spark is a suite of three web or mobile apps - Spark Page, Spark Post, and Spark Video -- that allows marketers to easily create graphics, webpages, and videos in a variety of themes in minutes.

You can completely avoid the hassle of page layout, video editing knowledge, or a CMS and start creating content that looks remarkable immediately. For example, we use Spark Page at HubSpot to create some of our online guides and promote them with Spark Videos and Posts. You can too!

Check out Adobe Spark

Other Content Creation Tools:

• Venngage
• Piktochart
• Canva
• Recordit
• Kap
• Adobe Color CC

Video Marketing

It's 2017 -- haven't you heard? Video is the thing everyone is talking about. But how do you actually implement it into your marketing?

Maybe your strategy is just to put a YouTube video embed on one of your blog posts or landing pages. But then what happens? Someone else's ad plays on your landing page before your video even begins. That's bad for your conversion rates, brand, and your user. Luckily, there's a solution.

Wistia is a powerful video hosting platform that allows you to host your videos on your website -- ad free -- with a guaranteed smooth playback and responsive player. Wistia also helps you prove the ROI of your video efforts by offering you video analytics and key metrics to fine-tune your video marketing efforts over time. Ready to take your video marketing to the next level?

Try Wistia for Free Now

Other Video Tools:

• Vidyard
• Vimeo
• YouTube

Content Distribution and Brand Awareness

While it might seem like a given, when it comes to getting your content distributed online, there really is king that we'd be remiss if we'd different mention:

I know, I know. Google isn't "exactly" a new or a fascinating tool that you didn't already know about. That said, within the same parent company is another important distribution channel that many marketers often forget when they're strategically distributing content for the sake of brand awareness.

YouTube is becoming more and more important to marketers lean more heavily on video-based content. While, of course, you should continue to optimize your text-based content for search engine optimization, don't forget to consider YouTube as an important channel as well. Not only is YouTube great for hosting your videos and getting them shared across social networks, it's also important to optimize your videos for search to get found on YouTube as well.

Other Distribution and Brand Awareness Channels:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Linkedin
• Product Hunt

Continuing Education and Learning

A challenge all marketers face is the need for continuous learning over time. With new tools and methods changing all the time, it's essential to stay on top of the trends and changes. Luckily, there aren't a shortage of tools and platforms for you to learn new tactics or techniques and take necessary classes.

HubSpot Academy, for example, is a great place to go anytime you need to get up-to-date information on the latest marketing best practices, find answers to your questions, get certified in a new area of expertise, or renew certifications on subjects that you're a little rusty on.

Bookmark your HubSpot Academy portal today

Other Ongoing Education and Learning Tools:

• Lynda.com
• Udemy
• Codecademy
• Skillshare
• General Assembly
• DigitalMarketer

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

When it comes to your bottom-line goals, you probably want a few tools for not only attracting prospects to dedicated marketing campaigns, but just as importantly, converting those visitors into leads and customers.

Thanks to a drag and drop interface, Unbounce lets you quickly build mobile responsive landing pages without developer assistance. The tool also integrates with a number of different CMS platforms and tools.

With Unbounce Convertables, you can also launch targeted overlays on top of any web page, each with a dedicated call to action. Customizable triggers and targeting rules give you control over who sees your offers and when, so you can serve the most relevant offers to the right audience.

Try Out Unbounce Now

Other CRO Tools:

• Hotjar
• Optimizely
• Leadpages
• HubSpot Landing Pages Tool (try it below)

Build landing pages that convert visitors for free.

Event Marketing

Whether your team holds monthly customer and prospect events, yearly conferences, or just occasional community outreach parties and events, it's important to have the best event marketing tool up your sleeve when the time comes to use it. After all, in-person events are some of the best ways to interact with potential customers and create a brand experience that prospects, customers, and your community will remember.

Eventbrite is an efficient, easy-to-use tool tons of marketers rely on not only to manage the logistics (like ticketing) of events but also to promote their events. Eventbrite lets you create an event landing page and allows you to set up your ticketing and payment for the event all within the same platform. The best part? Eventbrite is always free if you're hosting a free event!

Check Out Eventbrite Now

Other Event Marketing Tools:

• Picatic
• Facebook
• AddEvent

Innovation and Efficiency Tools

If you're on the search for new marketing tools, chances are you're not just looking for the hammer and the nail in your toolkit. Instead, you might be looking for new and innovative solutions to try out and experiment with in your marketing. Sound about right?

As marketers, you've probably used forms -- whether on your site or in a survey -- more than a few times. But have you ever started to get bored with the same old, robotic form type?

Typeform is the tool you need to try if you're looking for new ways to interact with your prospects and customers while giving them a positive, human-centered experience. Typeform isn't just another survey tool. It's a conversational, interactive typeform that feels more interactive than a standard form. Use it to host survey content, lead forms, or even create content with it by putting together quizzes and more.

Try Using Typeform in your Marketing Today

Other Innovative Tools to Try:

• Giphy
• Todoist

Keeping Up with the Latest Industry News Tools

Reading this post alone won't end your career-long pursuit for the latest tools, trends, and marketing techniques. That's why keeping up with the latest industry news is a full part of your job as a marketer.

Product Hunt, a tool meant for finding the latest tools and products, is a must for any marketer trying to stay on top of the industry and find new channels to promote their own product launches. Product Hunt is a daily feed of launched tools, letting people upvote what they think is interesting. Pro tip: when you sign up for Product Hunt, set it as your homescreen in your browser so you'll always have a reminder to keep an eye out for what's new. Who knows? You might even decide to use some of the featured tools yourself!

Sign Up for Product Hunt Now

Other News and Timely Tools:

• Flipboard
• Pocket
• Your choice of online news sources or magazines

Lead Generation

If you're in the mood for demand generation, you probably have you eyes on the prize: converting anonymous website visitors into contacts with email addresses that you can successfully nurture. While landing pages are a must for some things, sometimes you want a shorter, simpler user experience to capture lead information.

HubSpot's free marketing tools can help do just that. The moment a lead shares their email, you’ll know who they are, where they work, and what pages they visited -- all in real time. When they view an offer or check your pricing, you’ll be ready to follow up right away.

And with simple but powerful analytics, you’ll learn more about what’s working and what’s not -- like which traffic sources or pieces of content are driving the most conversions. It's a risk-free way to find out what inbound marketing can do for you. No budget necessary.

Try HubSpot's Free Marketing Tools

https://bit.ly/3gYxlI9