Web design trends for 2024 blend old and new styles to create visually appealing and user-friendly websites. Top trends include fluid gradients, creative typography, 3D visuals, use of design systems, abstract compositions, and micro interactions.
As each year winds up, the design community looks forward to exploring the trends that will reign in the coming year. In a dynamic industry like design, adapting to the latest trends is key to staying competent.
An amalgamation of old, trendy, traditional and modern, the trends reflect a feel of return to old aesthetics.
In this article, we share our top 10 web design trends that will gain popularity in 2024.
The Latest Web Design Trends
- Art of Generative AI
Have you noticed how some websites feel like they're telling you a story? That's the technology behind Generative AI, a hot trend in web design for 2024. It's all about making websites more than just information hubs – it's about creating an experience.
So, what exactly is Generative AI in web design? It's using smart algorithms to understand how you, the user, interact with a website.
Based on your behavior, the website adapts its content images, layout, or audio to give you a personalized journey.
The goal is to keep you engaged and interested as you navigate through the site.
This trend is hyper-personalization. But it's also about creating a cohesive and engaging storyline.
Whether you're exploring a product or learning about a company, generative AI adds depth to your online experience.
Designers are using this trend to incorporate more interactive elements and dynamic content. It's about making websites feel alive and tailored just for the users.
In 2024, web design is all about the Art of Narrative AI – creating websites that are more than just pretty pictures, but engaging stories that keep users coming back for more.
- Fluid Gradients
Gradients have been a part of digital design since the 90s and they are the designers’ go-to choice for creating a distinct visual appeal in a minimal way.
While gradients as such is not a new web design trend, in 2024 gradients take a new form.
Fluid gradients or gradients that blend smoothly into one another will be a trendsetter in 2024. Also called Aurora gradient (named after Aurora Borealis, the northern lights), fluid gradients bring an artistic and beautiful touch to web designs.
Mixing of colors in a nonlinear way channels the attention to the background without distracting the user. It adds a sense of visual depth to the designs and a fresh look.
3. Horizontal Scrolling
Once considered a design mistake, horizontal scrolling is set to make things straight in 2024. Rather than replacing the conventional vertical scrolling, horizontal scrolling will be used where it can improve the users’ navigational experience.
It will be of particular importance in designs with large volumes of visual content, for eg, portfolio websites, image galleries and catalogs.
Here, horizontal scrolling will provide a seamless user experience, optimally utilize the designs’ real estate and motivate users to explore the full length of the website without getting tired of scrolling.
Important aspects to consider in horizontal scrolling are:
- Give clear visual indication where horizontal scrolling is implemented
- Use them only where it can contribute positively to user experience
- Provide alternate ways of navigation
4. Creative Typography
Experimentations with typography will be among the prominent web design trends in 2024. From staying on the sidelines in designs for years, typography will come to the limelight in 2024.
This can be read together with the growing focus on quality microcopy and its impact in improving the user experience. Below are some trends we can expect in typography.
5. Emotive Typography
Emotive typography will add the power of visuals with words to create an emotional response in people.
Using emojis, textures or colors that complement the words will be used to make the typography impactful and get users’ attention.
6. Serif Typography
Serif typography is on the rise in digital designs. Owing to their elegance and classic look, serif typography will be used in many website designs.
Serif typeface brings back memories of the print era and is yet another website design trend in 2024 which brings back the old aesthetics.
7. Blur Effect
Using blur effect to highlight certain information by downplaying the other elements in a composition will gain popularity in 2024.
When used with gradient backgrounds, blur effect creates a nice contrast and adds texture to the design. Glassmorphism, a blur effect that gives a frosted glass impression, has been gaining popularity since the release of Apple’s Mac OS Big Sur update – 2024 will witness widespread usage of this trend.
Depending on the background it’s paired with, whether monochrome gradient or mixed color gradient, blur effect can be used to add either a sophisticated touch or an adventurous feel to web designs.
This trend is an enhancement of gaussian blur, which has been a favorite among creative professionals for many years.
8. 3D Visuals
3D elements have been trying to make their way in web designs for the past couple of years and are expected to be in full bloom in 2024.
With the advancements in screen resolution, high quality 3D visuals that integrate seamlessly with web designs will become prominent.
Rather than creating a maximalist feel, 3D visuals will be used with minimalist designs to add some depth and improve the user experience.
9. Neobrutalism
Brutalism or anti-design has been a trend in website designs for a while. Brutalism was inspired by the architectural movement in the 1950s which encouraged the raw and brutal nature of buildings and advocated against decorative elements.
The brutalist movement when translated to web design was all about raw, distorted and chaotic style. Predictably, it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Neobrutalism takes after the brutalist design concept but uses a more structured approach. While brutalist designs were maximalist, neobrutalism promotes minimalism.
It brings an unconventional look to designs through usage of high-contrast and clashing colors, quirky fonts and modern illustrations.
10. Custom Illustrations
As websites are increasingly focusing on delivering users a personal experience, stock images and graphics will be replaced with custom illustrations.
They add a human touch and showcase creativity which are wonderful hooks for user attraction. Colored as well as black and white illustrations will be equally popular.
Moreover, 3D illusions and animated illustrations will also add to the trend, making it one of the stylish web design trends in 2024 .
The below example shows the homepage of Mailchimp, a marketing automation platform which uses black and white illustrations.
The illustration effectively succeeds in attracting user attention with simple and engaging visuals.
These hand-drawn illustrations exude creativity, add a unique touch, and take people back to the time of black and white print media.
11. Creative Cursors
From simple arrows to custom triggered animations, cursors have come a long way from the early days of design.
In 2024, cursors will undergo creative experimentations and contribute to elevating the user experience.
Playful cursors with innovative shapes or that implement cursor-triggered custom animations add delightful effect to websites and convince users to spend more time exploring the web pages.
12. Dark Mode
Although not a new trend, in 2024, the popularity of dark mode will increase and reach new peaks. When the trend was first introduced in 2020, many were skeptical about its life span.
But, renowned companies from diverse verticals including automobile, social networking and technology to name a few, popularized the trend and made it a crowd favorite.
It proved that irrespective of the industry vertical, dark mode is suitable for all, paving way for its universal acceptance in 2024
A noteworthy shift in this design trend is that many websites will offer a choice to the users to adjust the UI interface between light mode and dark mode according to their preferences.
This trend is already well established in many mobile and web applications where users are allowed to choose the desired mode from Settings. Websites will embrace this design trend in 2024.
13. Design systems
Though not an outwardly web design trend, design systems are something to look out for in 2024. This trend is particularly applicable to large website designs like ecommerce designs where consistency and need for scaling are crucial.
Design systems make updating and maintaining websites simple and quick. Tools like Figma simplify creating design systems by providing free design systems templates to designers.
Moreover, by taking inspiration from the existing best design systems, it is easy to build an effective one.
14. Image Presentation
A web design trend in 2024 for ecommerce designs is showcasing product images in such a way that multiple images are shared in a single view.
Aimed to increase the usability of designs, it addresses a pain point with transitional carousel format display where users have to click multiple times to get a full view of a product.
From the usability perspective, this creates excellent ease for shoppers. Companies like IKEA are already using this trend and more websites are expected to join the bandwagon in 2024.
15. . Micro Interactions
Micro interactions add extra delight to web designs in 2024. Rather than being used in an ornamental way, micro interactions will be used to add value to designs such as to give a hovering effect to logos or inform users about action completions. They will be less superfluous and more organic.
Significance of 2024 web design trends
The exciting web design trends for 2024 has an underlying emphasis on bringing back the old style. It can be through generative AI designs, custom illustrations or emotive typography.
Also, the trends that didn't fare well in earlier years will come back better in 2024. Along with it, the new design trends intend to bring a sense of awe in people, which is evident from the trends such as creative cursors, custom illustrations and 3D visuals.
If you are looking for a UI UX design agency to build or revamp your website, Aufait UX is the perfect place for you.
We have hands-on experience designing websites across various domains, in line with the latest trends and user expectations. Get in touch with us right away to discuss your website design.
ByFazmeena
Content Writer
Fazmeena is a UX enthusiast who loves learning about user-centric designs. She channels her passion for UX into every piece she writes, offering readers valuable insights into the domain of UX design. Connect with Fazmeena via www.linkedin.com/in/fazmeena-faisal/
