5 Design trends which is essential in 2024

Only days remain of this year, so perhaps it’s not too bold to predict the trends that will guide the hands of designers wielding their mice in 2024.

Nostalgia

Animated gifs, pixels, neon colors, oversized texts, previously retired fonts, and visuals reminiscent of the Matrix world – the nineties and Y2K retro will dominate not only fashion but also digital interfaces.

Brands are increasingly targeting this visual style towards the now financially capable demographic that spent their youth in the early 2000s. The challenge lies in creating a credible and usable retro mobile view with this style – unless we base it on WAP, as mobile browsing was back then.

Image source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/168031941/Psychedelic-Vintage-Collage-Creator

UX-focused Design

Do we need an explanation? Analytics show that users visit more pages year by year, while the average time spent on each page proportionally decreases – this trend can only be countered by designing pages where every function and interaction is developed with the user in mind.

We need to structure the menu, hero section, animations, and texts in a way that engages visitors from the first second. The homepage should have all essential information immediately accessible, clearly communicating what the business offers and what problems it solves for potential customers.

Accessibility

Statistics show that an increasing number of people with disabilities are accessing online platforms, making it crucial to design pages that are easily accessible and navigable for everyone. Using contrasting colors, alternative texts for images, and keyboard navigation can make our pages more manageable for all users.

Sustainability and Lower Carbon Footprint

Our online presence leaves a growing digital footprint, so a key aspect of web design is to figure out how to make browsing less environmentally taxing in an era where a Google search emits 0.2 grams of CO2 and sending an email with a photo emits 50 grams. Thus, it’s important to design fast-loading pages with optimized code (which uses less energy), allowing users to quickly access content, and using dark theme designs to prevent screen burn-in.

Image source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/185728959/Glassmorphism-Website-Design-UIUX

Storytelling

Companies have long used storytelling to emotionally connect with their users and build brand loyalty, but due to new methods and forms of storytelling, it deserves a place on this list.

For interactive storytelling, we need to enhance our pages with elements and functions that narrate our story uninterruptedly while involving the visitor. These could include parallax techniques (where background and foreground graphics move at different speeds to create a spatial effect), gamification, exciting 3D solutions, or videos, and dynamic text changes can also effectively support storytelling. One of our favorite examples of this type of site is this.

We believe these will be the defining trends next year. Did we miss something? Share the missing points on our Facebook or Instagram pages!