With the new year approaching, everyone is looking to see what will shape the digital space. Here is our list of what we think are going to be the top web design trends for 2023!
1. Minimalist designs
The first of our web design trends for 2023 is a move towards more minimalist designs that are both easy on the eye and easy to navigate. For example, when we designed cabinet makers Lowe and Bespoke’s site, we drew on a minimal palette with clean use of typography and space to allow the work to speak for itself. We can expect to see more of this type of clean, simple design going forward as we wave goodbye to the busy, chaotic designs of the past!
2. Negative space
We can also expect to see more designs making use of negative space and letting the content (in whatever form) do the talking. KTA Architects’ site is a great example of this – our designers used ultra simplicity in layout and style, giving plenty of breathing space to their incredible portfolio.
3. Better use of colour
While we’re expecting minimalism to take over, that doesn’t mean monochrome. Instead, we’re also anticipating a more purposeful use of colour in 2023. Code Red’s website is an example of how we partnered up with a branding specialist to craft their signature palette.
In this example, colour plays a key role in both establishing the brand identity throughout the site and embedding an information hierarchy with the colours for each Service and Global Network partnership.
4. Animation
Infusing simple animation into a site’s design can be very effective. For Cheese Cuisine and Handle Freelance, we used quirky animations – from walking characters to unfurling content – to boost engagement in a fun and dynamic way and improve the overall user experience. We’re expecting to see more use of animation as a web design trend for 2023!
5. Microinteractions
We’ve spoken in the past about how much we love microinteractions and we’re expecting more sites to start including these engaging feedback tools. Our design for Production Air Charter offers everything from animated hover actions to custom scroll events to draw the visitor into the content they want to see. Microinteractions let the user know the site is responding to them, and engagement is key in the digital space.
6. Mobile-first and responsive design
Over half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices. Designing sites for desktop isn’t going to cut it anymore, which is why responsive design needs to be a key web design trend for 2023.
All Studio Illicit sites have a ‘mobile-first’ approach to design, so every website is optimised for mobile and tablet devices, making them accessible, user-friendly and fully geared towards strong SEO. Our full portfolio is here.
7. Faster load speeds
Not long ago, Google put more emphasis on page speed as a ranking factor for websites, and even before that users didn’t have much patience for sites that were slow to load.
World Extreme Medicine is a one-stop-shop for medics and students to register for courses, sign up for conferences and participate in webinars, meaning load speed is paramount for such a full suite of e-commerce features.
When we developed their website, we prioritised optimised images, clean code, our lightning-fast hosting and Cloudflare CDN. These all come together on the site to allow the content to load in the blink of an eye.
8. Solutions to unsustainable trends
There are many web design trends such as AI, gradients, micro-interactions, and VR/AR that, while effective and downright cool, can be unsustainable. Due to the complexity of these particular features, they will naturally use more energy, resulting in a larger carbon footprint for sites that have them.
These features will undoubtedly be trends we see in 2023, but they come at a big cost to our environment. As a result, our developers are on the case to find a more eco-friendly solution for these cool features, so that we can continue to see them but not at the expense of the planet.
That concludes our forecast for the web design trends that will shape 2023. While some features are purely aesthetic, and others functional, we are hoping that more developers will be striving to make all site features more sustainable.
If you’re looking to refresh or revamp your website in 2023, you can get in touch with our talented team of designers and developers.