As we head into the final month of 2022, plenty of new ideas and website design trends are still emerging. The evolution throughout the year has been exciting and designed to help website designers and developers create greater engagement and interactivity while pushing the envelope. These trends are no exception.
1. Difficult Typography
Sometimes website design trends can be tough to explain. That’s the case with this one, where designers are experimenting with very difficult typography styles. What’s difficult about the text in these projects is readability.
Difficult typography is somewhat subjective but is emphasized by designs that have a lot of words. The reading challenge extends to mobile design, particularly when these fonts are smaller and can present even greater readability issues.
There are a lot of different styles and combinations of typefaces that can cause readability challenges. Some of the most common for website design include:
- Condensed or thin typefaces
- Unusual character styles or strokes
- Modern or thick serifs
- Old world styles
- Scripts or cursive styles
All of this, though, is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. While these examples all present some reading challenges, the designs are still interesting and visually sound. Whether to make these font choices is a personal choice, but you should pay attention to your audience base and website analytics to make sure it works for you.
Here’s where you probably see a lot of this trend outside of website design. Pay attention to the typefaces used for World Cup broadcasts. Difficult typefaces are paired for all on-screen text elements.
2. Avatars
Already popular on social media platforms such as Snapchat and Facebook, avatars are having a pretty big moment in website design as well. The big difference is that website avatars aren’t just cartoon heads, they can include full-body designs and animated effects.
Avatars can have an extremely personal look and feel, such as when they are used for portfolio websites or be more character-oriented. Both are an excellent way to use faces and incorporate somewhat of a personal element when you don’t have the right photography for the job or want a greater element of whimsy in the design.
3. Video Game Inspiration
That space where reality and virtual reality merge is popular for website design. Trending are design elements and themes with a pseudo-video game style that looks interactive, somewhat real, and much imagined.
These websites can have a variety of looks and themes but have a few key elements in common:
- Plenty of animation
- Interactive elements, real or perceived
- Fast motion that puts the user in the scene
- ”Unreal elements” such as the bat-skull for Mythical Games
- Dark color schemes
- Often lack traditional navigation or calls to action so that the “game” is the whole screen
- Leading text or design elements to help you move through interactions
Each of these examples takes a similar but different approach with their video-game-inspired design styles.
Adidas uses a three-dimensional trio of people in flight to get you interested in jobs at their animation studio. The point of view makes you feel part of the action, but traditional design elements, such as navigation, help you know what to do next.