2025 Website Design Trends

3…2…1! HAPPY NEW DESIGN TRENDS! As we celebrate our way through the end of the year with co-workers, family and friends, ZAG is busy gearing up for another year of award-winning, successful website builds. We’re focused on finding ways to apply the latest and greatest trends to our clients’ business goals to create intuitive user-centered digital experiences, without creating digital experiences that are so trendy that they won’t be relevant in a few years.

Get ready to clear the clutter with minimalist, content-focused design.

While minimalism proves to be a timeless trend, the concept of minimalism in 2025 will evolve to put user focus on easily-consumable content. We all endure information overload and, on the web, this makes people leave websites. Now more than ever, we need to create streamlined, distraction-less experiences that hone the user in on essential information and actions. This means presenting your content in a way that is more visual, scannable and digestible.

Neumorphism 2.0 – say what?

Short for “new skeuomorphism”, Neumorphism 2.0 brings together a visually appealing blend of realism and minimalism. This trend creates a soft, 3D look which brings depth to UI design. Design elements use soft shadows and gradients to bring them to life and create the illusion of elevation off the background. The result is a more visually immersive and engaging experience.

Turning the spotlight on accessibility!

What could possibly be more important than ensuring that your website is accessible to all users? If you said nothing – we agree! No matter how beautiful your website, if your content isn’t fully accessible it’s rendered useless to the millions of people who have some type of disability. While accessibility is gaining its spotlight as a key trend this year, ZAG has been championing the latest WCAG standards in all our work with a dedicated team of CPACC certified accessibility experts for years. Staying at the forefront of accessibility is crucial in today’s social and digital climate.

Engage users with scroll animations & parallax effects

Incorporating subtle animations triggered by scroll into your website design helps pull users into a more interactive experience and maintain user engagement. It is vital to strike a good balance and avoid issues with ADA guidelines. Too much motion can be confusing and potentially slow down your website’s performance. The goal is to keep animations smooth, so it doesn’t distract from the content. Animations should add to the user experience by making it more engaging, not be annoying or interruptive.

What about imagery, where’s that headed in 2025?

We’re seeing a trend in merging realism with imagination, creating dreamlike images that fuel creativity and satisfy the ever-increasing desire to escape reality. There’s also a movement of mixing eras happening. A juxtaposition of past and future – mostly thanks to AI. Images are blending futuristic components with historical and vintage elements. While these types of images may not apply to every industry, the increasing trend of custom branded illustrations is more widely applicable. Through custom illustrations, it is possible to create an engaging and more immersive branded visual experience.

Join the movement with inclusive & gender-neutral design

If it’s right for your brand and audience, opt for things like universal color schemes, gender-neutral language, diverse iconography and imagery to create an inclusive design that welcomes all users and embodies social responsibility.

Let’s be real, every human appreciates a good laugh

In 2025 we also expect to see a focus on creating brands that are more relatable, more human and entirely more engaging and unforgettable by creating visuals and content grounded in levity. By embracing a more humorous or down-to-earth tone, one builds a better rapport with consumers – inherently creating a more transparent and authentic brand with relatable personality. Human connection is key – and nobody likes a “fake” human.

Asymmetrical & organic shapes inspired by nature

In 2025 we’ll be seeing more natural looking websites compared to the boxy or banded style popular in year’s past. Asymmetry of elements balanced by soft, organic shapes work together to fashion a more friendly, inviting feel.

Full-page headers are taking over – literally

Guess who’s back – back again? Full-page headers are becoming increasingly popular as we head into the new year. These large hero sections dominate the entire screen and create a focused point of interaction between a website and its user with less distraction. This type of header makes sure that your most important message gets noticed. While it may not be ‘right’ for every unique set of business goals, it is a strong trend to keep in mind. Key to the success of this tactic is to ensure that key action(s) are clearly accessible and that it’s obvious to the user that there is more content on the page to scroll to.

Color me impressed – palettes this year will be visually dynamic

We’re seeing a trend of bold, vibrant hues that create an energetic and exciting statement. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the wheel, soft pastels are emerging to offer a calm and more sophisticated palette. Whether loud or soft, gradients work to add depth and movement, and monochromatic color schemes are budding.

Lastly, a few 2024 trends that will carry over into 2025

• Mobile-first design: In an on-the-go world, mobile-first design is non-negotiable. Not only are most people surfing the web on hand-held devices, but Google also prioritizes mobile-friendly websites. Websites need to be designed and built responsively to adapt to the vast device sizes that are available on the market today.

• Micro-interactions: Keep users engaged with simple but effective animations on clickable elements.

• White space: Cue the negative space and let that content breathe! White space improves digestibility of content by giving text and images the space to stand out.

All these trends boil down to crafting an intuitive, user-centric website that is inclusive, accessible and focused on delivering quickly digestible content and actions. The goal is to minimize clutter and unnecessary elements to provide a fast, modern user experience focused on achieving unique business goals, while delivering users the information they need in a frictionless experience.

• Responsive Design
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Trends to watch in the upcoming years

• Sustainable design elements: Designers will make eco-conscious choices like using lower-resolution images and energy efficient color schemes to keep website load speed down, reducing energy usage and promoting green practices overall.

• Personalization through AI: AI-driven interfaces that personalize design and content based on individual preferences and habits will deliver a more human-centered, tailored and relevant user experience.

• Voice-activated conversational interfaces: Voice and conversational interfaces are quickly becoming more common with advancements in natural language processing (NLP). It offers hands-free interactions creating a faster, more accessible and convenient user experience.

• Dark mode enhancements: Improvements to dark mode which users are choosing to use to reduce eye strain and to conserve battery life.

• Micro-interactions with haptic feedback: When tapping buttons on mobile devices and tablets, subtle vibrations called haptic feedback adds a level of satisfaction upon interaction.

• Zero-click interactions and predictive design: Makes user experiences faster by anticipating user needs based on previous interactions with things like predictive text populating in search bars.

• Advanced data visualization: Simplifies complex information making it easy for users to digest data at quick glance.

• Dynamic cursors: Cursors that change their appearance or behavior based on how you interact with the site can make a site more user-friendly. But don’t go overboard – too much of a good thing can create clutter and distract users.