10 Web design trends for 2022

There are over four billion active web users worldwide. That’s more than double the population of the entire planet. The number is growing exponentially, and there is a need to meet the demands of this huge audience, creating an expansion in what’s possible on the internet. With designers building new experiences every day, looking at where things are headed can help us understand how to stay competitive in an ever-changing digital landscape.

“Design isn’t just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs.

This quote from one of Apple’s former CEOs sums up why we do what we do as designers. Our designs can’t just look good, they have to function properly too. Today, everything seems to be “designed”, but very few projects are able to meet the standards set by Steve Jobs.

I have been doing UX design for 8 years and have encountered trends that seems obvious to me, but might not be to everyone else. I’m going to take you through each one, in a way even those that aren’t tech savvy can understand.

#1 Micro Interactions

Micro interactions play a huge part in improving our experience with websites and apps. They make it easier to perform small tasks such as liking or favoriting posts on social networks, accepting terms & conditions, generating passwords, watching videos, pretty much any task that has steps required to complete it. Micro interactions help users become familiar with an interface quicker and can be used to provide feedback from system events.

Micro interactions rely on robust typography and well-structured information to ensure users complete their tasks successfully. Well-planned micro interactions can help web designers increase user engagement and save time for both developers and users.

#2 Responsive Typography

Designers are looking to responsive typography in order to meet the demands of users and enhance readability and comprehension online. As web designs become more intricate, it’s becoming difficult to focus on one element at a time. It’s important for designers to create an experience that simultaneously takes into account how fonts display along with other elements like images and videos.

By utilizing typefaces that can scale across different resolutions (such as sizes), designers can ensure fonts remain legible regardless of the screen size or device used by their audience. Typekit conducted a study that found reading speeds increase up to 20% when text is set at 16 pixels instead of 12 pixels, so take this into consideration when designing micro interactions for your projects.

#3 Drag & Drop Interactions

One of the biggest changes in web development is the expansion of drag & drop interactions for users. They are becoming more common across different platforms due to their ease-of-use and intuitive nature that simplifies pulling data from one source to another or duplicating design elements.

Drag & drop technology eliminates the need to copy, paste and re-create information that’s already available on a website or an app. It’s changing the way we create our designs and enhance our interfaces.

#4 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI has been an idea for decades but only recently have we seen its practical applications thanks to advancements in machine learning and neural networks—two areas where AI is becoming more prominent.

AI has the potential to change how we view our surroundings, interact with others and how our devices function. When it comes to designers, AI can help them generate unique designs that are better thought out by analysing large data sets that would normally take hours or days to complete manually.

#5 WebVR & AR

We’re seeing new standards emerge in web design as developers look towards emerging technologies like virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR), voice control platforms like Amazon’s Alexa and wearable tech like Google Glass (now called Google Glass Enterprise Edition). This technology will be especially valuable for designers who need to interact with their audiences via modular screens. This way you can provide users with multiple options on one screen instead of integrating several different screens.

#6 Multi-device Design

Multi-device design is nothing new to web design, but it’s become increasingly common thanks to the rise of mobile devices and tablets. Web pages used to be linear with a fixed number of elements on one screen but, now we’re building interfaces that can adjust to users’ needs regardless of what device they are using. For example, your website may load quickly on desktop browsers but take longer for those using mobile devices because the site needs to adapt its layout depending on factors such as available resources or viewport size.

Linear content is not as efficient as it once was, as these websites tend to make their users scroll endlessly down a page even when they don’t have enough information to fill that space. You can solve this problem by using text or image carousels, accordions and other techniques that only display the most relevant content on a mobile device’s screen.

#7 Generative Design

Web designers are exploring different ways of incorporating generative design into their work. It’s one of the most creative concepts we’ve seen in web design recently. Instead of following a linear formula (i.e., wireframing and prototyping), generative design has the potential to enable designers to explore what-if scenarios, which results in better user experiences and stronger brand recognition for companies.

Designers can experiment with different color palettes, shapes and layouts without losing valuable time as they wait for mockups to load. A good example of a generative design is a web page that displays a different layout for each user based on their previous browsing history and preferences.

#8 WebVR

We’re seeing new standards emerge in Web design as developers look towards emerging technologies like virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR), voice control platforms like Amazon’s Alexa and wearable tech like Google Glass (now called Google Glass Enterprise Edition). This technology will be especially valuable for designers who need to interact with their audiences via modular screens. This way you can provide users with multiple options on one screen instead of integrating several different screens.

#9 Typography

Type has always been a central part of web design, but in the past couple years we have seen websites that are really pushing typography to the forefront of their designs. This is mainly due to the rise of H1-6 tags and CSS, which allows designers to change font size, style, weight and more—allowing them to use web fonts instead of traditional typefaces like Arial and Helvetica (though these can still be used in smaller sizes).

You can also expect clear hierarchies in the next few years. We won’t see design elements that compete with one another for attention. Instead you’ll see flat colors and solid shapes with plenty of space between each letter. Everything will work together towards a common goal (i.e., user experience), rather than having loud elements competing for attention.

#10 Microsites

There’s a trend in web design that involves creating smaller, more focused websites or landing pages rather than large portals. This is especially useful when you want to direct people to a specific service or product, but still have your business appear professional and up-to-date with current trends in the design world. Microsites allow these businesses to stand out from their competitors while getting a better return on investment because they can develop one site for multiple purposes. This way they don’t need to invest money into several different sites that serve the same purpose.