Take a peek at the key website design trends for 2022!

Websites are pretty much vital to all businesses. A key part of the marketing and communications mix, a portal for transactions, information and much more. Keeping them fresh and relevant to the audience is vital to their success. If you are thinking of a refresh to your website’s design, we’ve mapped out some of the key design trends for this year.

1. Micro animations

Animations help to bring content alive, add interest to the user experience but they can sometimes feel overwhelming and make things clunky – particularly on mobile. Micro animations are a subtle way of including the benefit of movement, adding some spark to the design and providing helpful signposting to the site without the ‘big noise’ of full-blown animation. Examples of micro animations are:

Hover effects over buttons
Switches such as toggle switches
Progress bars and timers

We’ve recently incorporated micro animations into www.ocea.uk.com including subtle movement and toggle switches to help guide the user through the site in an interesting and logical way.

2. Illustrations

Illustration is a constant key element in design, but this year there are 3 key trends which will make their mark in web design:

Geometrics A subtle, playful backdrop to content – not confusing or overpowering but fun and interesting. We like how Work-Happy have used a limited colour palette and range of shapes to build different icons to communicate the key messages through their website: www.work-happy.com

Minimalism A limited range of colours applied in a ‘flat’ approach can make a site feel focused, interesting and adopts a sense of modernity with a quirky twist. We’ve used this approach on our own website: www.olamalu.com

Illustration + photography When good illustration meets good photography, the resulting design can be a beautiful alliance. In our opinion, snapsound have definitely achieved this: www.snapsound.com

3. Brutalism

Brutalism as a design form has come in and out of fashion since its first appearance in the 1950s. Bold, unapologetic this ‘brutal’ approach certainly makes a statement through any medium. This year, it’s set to come back into the digital world for brands who want to shout about their message, make some noise and perhaps stand out amongst a younger target audience. Luxury Spanish fashion brand Balenciaga have hit the mark using brutalism to showcase their brand:

https://www.balenciaga.com/en-gb

4. Narrative visualisation

Also known as ‘Scrollytelling’, narrative visualisation is an engaging way to bring to life key messages as elements of a campaign or brand story through a sequence of images and limited copypresented on the web. This is one of our favourite examples:

https://www.evanshalshaw.com/more/bondcars/c11.html

Need help? If you need to refresh your website, are looking to build a new site or have a business challenge that is holding you back, we could help you.

We are Olamalu, Drupal experts and experienced web developers. We’re a friendly and down to earth team based in West Oxfordshire, who work together to achieve brilliant outcomes. We’ve been building websites and designing tailormade tech solutions for a huge range of different challenges for over 10 years. We work alongside clients and really get under the skin of the business, understanding not just what is needed now, but also how to plan ahead and consider the business needs in the future. If you want to get in touch with us, visit our website www.olamalu.com

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