A few years ago, web design trends made it easier to make your website popular. Choose a theme, post content, and people will start flocking to your site. Of course, this design trend was nearly more than ten years ago. The present-day scenario has changed. One thing is for sure, amidst the glitz, glamor, and yards of chiffon on the runways, certain designs will rise to the top and make room for fresh WordPress web design trends of the upcoming season.
WordPress’s catwalk is no different.
It’s been a while since WordPress first released. Despite which it shows signs of improvement with new features every year.
Over 27% of the internet powered by WordPress. Including top brands like CNN and TechCrunch. Thus the features only get bigger and better! People are always on the lookout for new trends in WordPress. To keep up with the cutting-edge design trends, you need to know the popular trends in web design.
In 2018 WordPress introduced improvements and new features. Now, get ready and excited for the WordPress web design trends in store for you in 2019.
1. Trend of Maximalism With Touches Of Minimalism
Take a peek at the latest runway shows of some of the esteemed fashion houses, and you will know what we mean. Quiet, reduced, and clean style is seeing a decrease. It’s making way for louder colors, bolder choices, and the least amount of empty/negative space. Who says minimalism is dead? At least not when it comes to web design! This well may be a passing web design trend or it might stick around; you have to wait and watch.
The comeback of minimalism
Minimalism is having a comeback, and it’s being revisited and overhauled. This new type of minimalistic design focuses on simplicity. The design elements include clarity, flat colors, and a lot of white space.
Minimalism, is one of the WordPress web design trends that ensures that your site loads fast and looks good on all devices. Additionally, lays the required emphasis on your content.
On WordPress, the Arnold theme is the perfect example which focuses on creatives. It makes excellent use of white space while letting both the image and text shine.
Although this web design trend has been around for a while, it has not grown stale by any means; it’s only evolving. It’s beginning to incorporate images, shadows, gradients to a large degree. These elements create a sense of depth as well as showcase eye-catching designs. Hue is the perfect example which uses clear, large, and gradient color schemes. They come together to form a memorable style.
Of late, the use of videos and photos to grab attention is growing in popularity. One of the themes which takes advantage of this is Kalium. This theme couples full-width headers and a minimalistic design.
You can make your web design stand out by using the less is more approach. It offers improved loading speed and visitors can navigate and find what they need with ease.
There is no clear-cut winner. Some sites enjoy maximalist designs while others flourish on minimalism.
2. Asymmetrical And Broken Layouts Trend in Web Design
Flat designs and minimalism are all good, but at times you want something that is unlike a neat and clean look.
The perfect year for design rebellion is 2019. This year, break a few well-established rules to achieve more dynamic and bolder design choices. Designers are pushing boundaries to create asymmetrical designs and broken grids.
Layouts are all over the place with overlapping images and text as if it’s an unintentional coding error. Playing it safe with WordPress web design trends that are symmetrical and tidy are so last season.
Albert is one theme which achieves this well. It uses a twisted look, which overlaps elements and sliding images. It catch the attention of your eye and make you pay attention.
Designers beware. There is a very fine line which separates messy and edgy. This is an innovative web design choice. It can make your website seem innovative and visually striking, or it can appear to be a sloppy and cluttered site.
Don’t try to overstep the line or overdo it. Your main goal is to covey your textual and visual message in a straightforward manner.
3. Web design that is Mobile-friendly And Navigation That Is Thumb-friendly
Mobile-friendly And Navigation That Is Thumb-friendly
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For the first time, in 2016, the number of internet users on mobile devices surpassed desktop users. This is a turning point for web usage. It became more important than ever to create websites which are mobile-friendly and responsive.
Did you know that Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites? You can consider you website as good as non-existent to leading search engines in the world if it’s not mobile-friendly.
A plugin recommended by Google is the WPtouch plugin. This plugin helps create a customizable mobile theme based on your website. It’s a plugin which ensures your mobile theme passes the standards of the search engine.
Along with mobile-friendly, thumb-friendly navigation is worth mentioning. Placing interactive elements within the thumb zone is great too. Thumb-friendly navigation is when you optimize your mobile website for the use of the thumb.
As per research, the mobile phone is held and operated with one hand, and the thumb is the primary tool. With the growth of mobile usage, this is going to become a useful and effective tool in WordPress web design trends.
4. High Saturation And Vibrant Colors
Today, the commonplace is contrasting combinations and bold colors. Long gone are the days of ‘you can use any color as long as it’s black’. The way people react to colors on your website can impact how they perceive the your brand or website. According to a study by Buffer, we make 90 percent of our assessment about products based on color.
No doubt, toned-down, pastel, or dull colors are visually safe. But they don’t showcase your inner innovative spirit. The perfect way to make your website design ‘pop’ is by using a striking combination. Web-safe colors are becoming outdated, and WordPress designers are latching on to this innovative web design trend.
Did you know that saturated, bold, and bright colors look sensational on screens with a retina display?
WordPress has a Skin theme which allows you to pick two colors with which it will create a gradient scheme.
Just keep in mind that bold colors are not for everyone. They’re difficult to manage; however, Infinity Digital – a website design company from Coimbatore aces it every time!
5. WordPress web design trends include Bold Typography
Bold Typography Choices
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Although its not a new website trend, it’s one of the WordPress web design trends that is on the rise. Typography is a fun way to turn words into pieces of art.
Large fonts allow empty spaces to exist as well as accentuate specific messages.
Wedding Planner is a theme which shows this off well. Along with bold typography, this also displays variation in the font, another trend. Rather than sticking to identical fonts, make use of two similar fonts to create a unique result.
Get creative. Funky fonts aren’t only for headers. You can use several different fonts to create a retro-inspired looking page. A theme which perfectly illustrates this is Retro Portfolio.
A pro tip: Experiment with different font sizes, placements, and styles. Whatever you choose, remember that readability still matters.
6. Microinteractions in your web design
The lifeblood of social media platforms is the ‘hearts’ in Twitter or the ‘likes’ on Facebook.
Emphasizing small details has become a popular website design trend this year. Design is all about the details.
As the name suggests, microinteractions is where different elements on the website respond in various ways to small interactions. For example, when you hover over or click on an icon, a short animation plays.
Microinteractions make it feel like you are interacting with the website rather than staring at a static wall overflowing with information.
The Animate It! plugin helps you add similar effects to your website’s image, text, and almost any content.
Other forms of microinteractions include the option to highlight text and share it on social media. The Highlight and Share plugin lets you add this feature, and it supports networks like LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Facebook.
These are just a few ways of using microinteractions to make your website feel more responsive and alive.
7. The Rising Popularity Of Videos in Modern Web Design
The importance of videos is surging. Be it a video background, a video header, or pop-ups, everyone is rushing to post videos on their website.
Going with the flow of this trend, web designers are attempting to whip up creative, innovative ways to showcase videos.
Since version 4.7, looped videos have been available on WordPress. But in 2019, video headers are going to be even bigger, and people are going to explore this trend to the fullest. In web design, several websites are already opting for the video-first approach. WordPress has adopted easy integration of videos because social media platforms are focusing their attention on video and streaming.
Dynamic backgrounds another web design trend of 2017 and 2018, which are WordPress web design trends that are back in 2019. But this time around rather than animations or images, it’s going to be more video based.
Video is the new black, so get on it!
8. Include Colorful Vector Illustrations in your Web Design
Colorful Vector Illustrations
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Vectors are definitely more innovative and inspiring and they instantly add an element of color to your presentation.
From time immemorial, illustrations have been one of the most common design elements in web pages. The creative possibilities of illustrations are endless. Plus, they are an excellent way to emphasize a strong brand presence with the use of only visual elements.
Everyone appreciates a good illustration. If you had to choose between a generic photo of a couple sitting in a park versus a super-cute vector illustration of the same scene, the winner is crystal clear.
Performance is another reason for the popularity of vectors in web design. Typically, vectors are saved as SVG files, and these files are well-known for their small size and ability to infinitely scale with the screen size of the user. This allows developers to use tons of visually-based components to create a compelling and rich experience for the user.
Lastly, vectors allow the author to showcase their originality and uniqueness. It’s easy to simply purchase a stock photo and use it in a layout but to come up with a cute, smart, catchy vector illustration which enhances the overall style of the website is not everyone’s cup of tea.
If hiring a vector designer isn’t covered in your budget, you can turn to purchase vector illustrations online via various marketplaces.
The above-listed reasons, coupled with the positive emotional response, have given vectors an edge in web design trends.
9. Gradients Are Making A Comeback in Web Design
Looking back at web design trends, gradients haven’t seen much of the light of day. They were a popular retro trend for a bit and faded out quickly, but now they’re back with a bang. It appears that retro trends are dispersed across the chaotic stylistic terrain we live in and poke their heads out here and there but never really go away. 2019 is the year for gradients to take the spotlight.
The nature of gradients is expressive colors which change dynamics and progressively tone down. They create stunning and engaging visual experiences which are tasteful, daring, and memorable.
They’re also one of the popular WordPress web design trends as they let you create new colors. Plus, you can take overused, overdone, and worn out shades and blend them to create something new. Not to mention, there is the perfect ‘cheat’ for sites which don’t have much to offer with regards to imagery, photos, and illustrations.
For some inspiration tools like Adobe Illustrator and Sketch work wonders for gradients on the go.
You’re definitely going to see much more of this in 2019.
10. Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality (vr/ar) in Web Design
Rather than just sticking to the line, following broader web design trends, especially technology trends, is what web design should do. And needless to say, it’s doing just that.
If tech says the future is Augmented or Virtual Reality, then the design team should be at the drawing board generating new and innovative solutions to enforce it.
In 2019, as technology has become more accessible and the hardware price of VR/AR has come down, it’s anticipated that VR and AR are going to be even bigger.
VR integration capabilities are already present in WordPress. Keep in mind that the virtual reality on WordPress isn’t like the Matrix, Tron, or Johnny Mnemonic. In comparison, it’s much more practical, and that’s why it will be more suitable.
For example, you may get a 3D video of a space, product, or layout. A few e-commerce websites already come with this experience like Sephora’s Sephora Virtual Artist where you get a 3D live experience of trying makeup on.
Like this, many other sites offer this experience, and you’re only going to see more of it in the years to come.
WordPress web design trends for the win
There’s no doubt, 2019 is an exciting year for WordPress users – new web design trends imagined, old revisited trends, some of them rational and others crazy. Everyone has their own style and usability preference. What might seem like a fading fad to one will look like an emerging trend to another. The above-listed web design trends are the ones that are going to mark WordPress’s design this year.
Those who are in the business start taking notes. Catwalk or not — ensure you put your best foot forward, for when the latest design trend takes off, you want to be on board.
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