5 Website Trends That Will Shape Future Designs

By Wendy Dessler is a super-connector who frequently writes about the latest advancements in the digital and tech industry.

Think of how far website designs have come in the last five years alone. While there will always be trends that come and go, we’re really gotten to a place where the user experience triumphs above all. Now, website designers are challenges with the need to create designs that are both built to look great and work well for users.

The website trends we see today are more than just an idea to follow. They’re a big hint about where future designs are going in the next few years. For those of us willing to push beyond what’s normal and traditional, we can use these trends to anticipate new things before they happen. Here are 5 website trends that will shape future designs.

Image via Pexels

1. Say Goodbye to the Sidebar

The sidebar has been getting smaller and smaller in recent months. While in the past, it was normal to have one, two, or even three sidebars, they’re increasingly being made obsolete by full-width designs. Navigation nowadays is likely to be found at the top of the screen for easy access, so the sidebar is much less useful.

Yona Gidalevitz of Usability Geek argued that sidebars are completely pointless nowadays in any user-experienced based design, but that’s not to say you should abandon your sidebar altogether. If you do include a sidebar, it needs to be necessary and shouldn’t be distracting.

2. Mobile-Friendly Designs

Of course, no list of 2019 design trends would be complete without saying something about mobile-friendly designs. In 2018, Google released an algorithm update that enforces mobile-first indexing. This means websites that are mobile-friendly will be valued higher in search engine rankings. All of this mobile-friendly talk will need to be considered in future web design trends.

3. Play Your Cards Right

Cards are becoming a popular design trend on both online stores and social media in particular. Cards can contain anything from text, forms, to images, or icons. A good example of a card-centric design in action would be Pinterest, an interactive social media platform. Why are they so popular?

They’re responsive, so they’re super simple to use when ordering content on any screen size. They make the page look organized without compromising on the user experience, so it fits into our user-focused design trends of the age. In the next few years, we’ll likely see these cards be applied in new ways.

Image via Pexels

4. Add Setting Notifications

Notification pop-ups have been everywhere in the past few months. Websites are now building these notification reminders into the design themselves. Users are allowed to choose if they want to opt-in to notifications so they can receive reminders on their desktop or mobile device for new updates. In design, we’re seeing more micro-animations to encourage users to opt-in.

5. Lightening Fast Designs

Finally, the biggest trend today is for website designs that load quickly. Users are more impatient than ever. If things don’t load perfectly within a second, they’re likely to just move on. You need to bring your Website Status Monitor to the future to keep up with this trend.

From reducing image sizes to using a content delivery network (CDN), website designs of today and tomorrow need to be optimized for speed. Once again, this is a successful way to adapt to users needs.

Final Thoughts
Is your website utilizing any of these trends above? If not, it’s time to invest in the ones that make sense for your users. While you shouldn’t blindly follow the latest and greatest trends, knowing these can be a powerful tool.

There’s no guarantees in the world of web designs. Something that works today isn’t guaranteed to keep working tomorrow. You have to be agile and ready for anything to compete with the competition.

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