From AI to Maximalism: 10 Website Design Trends for 2024

Imagine clicking on a business website and discovering a text-heavy homepage, the menu on the left, spinning text graphics, and perhaps even an AOL contact email. Have you time-traveled to 1996? No, but you have arrived at a business page that makes you want to click away as soon as possible. Your next stop is most likely a competitor that makes customers a priority and puts in the effort to stay current with their website design.

Business competition is fierce, and your customers will draw conclusions about the quality of your brand, your product, and your customer service based on your website. In 2018, one study showed that 48% of people said the design of a website was their primary consideration when determining a business’s credibility—a percentage that has surely grown since then. As we move further into 2024, several new trends are shaping the way websites are designed, developed, and interacted with. Here are the top 10 website trends you may want to adopt in 2024.

1. AI and Personalization

In 2024, you can no longer avoid offering at least some level of artificial intelligence (AI) interaction on your website. Unless you own a high-end tech company, you probably don’t need a full suite of AI tools on your website. At the same time, customers do expect 24-7 customer service chat availability, customized product recommendations, and personalized customer journeys.

Providing experiences unique to the user requires analyzing the data they provide and predicting their preferences, which is where AI comes in. For instance, chatbots powered by AI are becoming increasingly sophisticated, offering real-time customer support and recommendations that are genuinely helpful.

Before you take the leap into AI, make sure you understand why it’s right for your business and the goal you want to reach. There are many AI-powered tools that make big promises but yield dismal results. You don’t want to waste time and money on the wrong application that may alienate customers.

2. Mini-sites

Throw too many features and menu items onto your website and you’ll very quickly end up with an over-complicated mess. Your customers want succinct and straightforward information on your business, not a maze they have to navigate. If your business focuses on one type of service or a niche product, multiple site pages and complex customer journeys may be unnecessary.

A mini-site, or a microsite, is a highly focused, single page that conveys information about your brand or product. Unlike a landing page, which is tailored to a product launch or upcoming event and is typically part of your larger website, a mini-site serves as your main website. The purpose is to reduce complexity and increase ease of use by putting all the relevant information a customer needs to know about your business in just one place. Mini-sites are also easy to maintain, load quickly, and translate to mobile easily.

3. Gamification

Humans love games! From simple punch cards at your local coffee shop to complex digital learning apps, gamification has been around forever and isn’t going anywhere. Incorporating the gaming experience to motivate users to engage with a business website is a more recent, and quite popular trend, though. To be clear, gamification isn’t about designing your website as an actual game. Rather, game principles are used to add emotion, fun, and entertainment to visitor interactions.

Beyond increasing your engagement and positive emotional branding, gamification can boost website rankings on search engines and increase traffic to your site. Then, when visitors arrive, gamification makes learning about your product easier which increases conversions and brand loyalty. Regardless of your business goal, even adding the simplest of game elements can have a beneficial impact on sales.

4. Sustainable Web Design

Although you should consider the carbon footprint and ecological impact of everything you do, sustainability might not be the first factor you think of when designing a website. This doesn’t mean your website needs to recycle! Sustainable web design focuses on optimizing performance, using energy-efficient hosting, and minimizing resource-intensive elements. Making these changes not only benefits the environment but also improves site performance and user experience by reducing loading times and data usage.

In addition to directly helping the environment, communicating your commitment to sustainability can improve your brand image. Avoid “greenwashing,” though. Don’t just talk about sustainability. Build trust with your customers by being transparent about both your efforts and their results. Our hosting provider automatically caches all our websites for fast load times to reduce energy consumption, and we compress large images and videos to load quickly while maintaining quality.

5. Inclusive and Accessible Design

A recent study showed that 90% of websites are inaccessible to those who rely on assistive technology. Inclusive and accessible design practices ensure that websites are usable by those with visual, auditory, or motor disabilities and are welcoming to your entire audience. Incorporating this type of design into your website enhances the user experience for everyone and can improve SEO and legal compliance.

To be considered accessible, a website should be properly structured with semantic HTML, provide alt-text for images, ensure keyboard accessibility, and follow federal website accessibility guidelines. Inclusivity goes beyond accessibility. The language and images you choose should be clear and simple, reflecting and respecting the diversity of your customers while avoiding stereotypes and bias.

6. Dark Mode vs. Light Mode

One of the ways a business can ensure their website is inclusive and inviting is giving users the choice between dark and light modes. Visually, this is nothing more than a simple switch of color scheme. Dark mode puts white text on a black background rather than the traditional black text on a white background. Although everyone responds differently, dark mode is intended to reduce eye strain, help avoid blue light exposure, and can be more energy efficient. Keep in mind that some users find their eyes strain to focus in dark mode, so always offer the option of light or dark.

The impact on users is minimal, but adding dark mode to your website requires thoughtful design. Consider the color contrast and readability of your website before making the switch. When implemented correctly, dark mode should enhance the overall experience for your customers. But, if the re-design process is rushed, your website could end up functioning poorly in both dark and light modes.

7. Minimalism and Brutalism

Whether you choose a mini-site or the traditional website layout, the cluttered look and feel is out. Plenty of white space, simple color palettes, and intuitive navigation gets users engaged and converted quickly. From multiple images or pages to submenus and content, there are no unnecessary elements when you’re going for the minimalist look.

For those who think minimalism doesn’t go far enough, brutalism takes it to the next level. Brutalism is wholly focused on establishing brand recognition, engagement, and conversions. Simplicity and functionality, along with stark images, asymmetrical layouts, and bold aesthetics are the hallmarks of the brutalist design scheme for websites. As with the micro-site trend, minimalism and brutalism support fast-loading, easy-to-navigate websites that perform well on mobile.

8. Maximalism

If stark and simple doesn’t appeal to you, maximalism might. Digital maximalism is the polar opposite of minimalist design. With bright colors, bold patterns, multiple layers, and varying textures, maximalism embraces disruption to pull users in with dynamic visuals, clever typography, and plenty of content. Maximalism is the chance to embrace your creative side without limits.

This type of design might appear random or thrown together, but in reality, maximalism is a deliberate, purposeful combination of elements with a cohesive presentation. Most importantly, the visuals are chosen and arranged to accurately reflect your brand. Despite the creative permission maximalism provides, this visual feast isn’t an excuse for messiness and disorganization. Customers still expect an informative, user-friendly website.

9. Short, Impactful Videos

There’s a reason why TikTok and Instagram are popular. People love watching videos, specifically those that are around 60 seconds long. According to research conducted at the end of 2023, users would rather learn about a product or service by watching a short video than read a manual or article, look at an infographic, take a sales call, or attend a webinar. So, it’s no surprise that using more short, impactful videos in website design is a significant trend in 2024.

Whether you use video to communicate your brand personality, catch the attention of potential customers, share the advantages of a product or service, or even loop video in your page headers, visual is where it’s at. Short videos communicate your message quickly, efficiently, and memorably.

10. Illustrations over Photos

Continuing to pursue the trend of personal and emotional user experiences, website design in 2024 has seen movement away from photos and toward illustration. The illustration aesthetic connects with customers far more effectively than even custom photos, and certainly more than stock photos. You may need to keep your product photos, but integrating illustrations throughout your website can help tell a story, provide a cohesive brand experience, and communicate difficult or intangible aspects of your business.

Designing a website around both custom photos and illustrations requires a deep understanding of your brand. The imagery needs to accurately convey your branding message, so expect this part of your website design to take extra time. Illustrations almost always take longer to create than photos, so if you’re on a tight timetable, the hand drawn look might not be the best choice.

Whether you choose to go understated, over-the-top, interactive, or unique, personalized experiences are the overall website design trend in 2024. Your customers want access to information on your product or service quickly and easily, while being entertained along the way. Ultimately, your goal is to create a visually appealing, functional, and user-friendly website that aligns with your business goals and resonates with your audience. Talk with one of our marketing experts today!