Every year it is exciting to be inspired by new web design trends and to look at current and upcoming developments: Which aesthetics will we have to say goodbye to in the future? And which trends will dominate the design world in the years to come? Web designer Sonja Hoffmann has her predictions for 2020 up her sleeve.

Expiring web design trends

Various sources seem to agree that the era of flat design will take a back seat for the time being in 2020. On the one hand, it is assumed that other designs will simply come to the fore. And secondly, that a shift towards semi-flat design could be on the horizon.

Illustrations are also on the rise, mostly hand-drawn and far removed from perfectionism. This means that not only headers will have a more personal touch, but also firmly integrated elements such as icons and buttons. This is because web design - as the various experts in specialist publications agree - has had too artificial and perfect a touch in recent years. In future, more attention will be paid to individuality and personality.

Lasting designs

Gradients came with the further development of CSS and will remain with us in the future. There still seems to be sufficient need for exploration and development here. We can also look forward to seeing what variations and combinations await us in 2020. Color gradients will also continue to play an important role in logo design.

Loud colors and minimalism

The abundance of information we are confronted with nowadays forces us to present our information in a clearer and crisper way. Sensibly used areas ensure that the user can work their way through the content more quickly and therefore has a more pleasant, but also more efficient user experience. Minimalism, in particular the use of whitespace, will continue to be a key component of design concepts in the coming year.

Minimalism - i.e. a very simple and minimalist design - is increasingly coming into its own in the form of monochromatic variations. Here, it is also possible to use loud and expressive colors.

Natural colors remain popular

With its endless forecasts, the turn of the year once again brings inspiration for "the color of the year". Which, most designers agree, will continue to be in the realm of nature. We will also see a lot of soft green and blue tones in 2020, with a trend towards mint.

Collages: layout, photos & strong typography

There will probably still be a tendency towards asymmetrical layouts in 2020. Images and photographs in particular will be combined with illustrations and bold typography. A mixture of graphic elements and images will round off the minimalist trend for the coming year in an exciting way.

Our users take center stage

The focus of good web design will continue to be on the user in the future. Particularly in the area of e-commerce, the user experience of the end user is at the forefront of all creative decisions. Clear designs that are easy to navigate and understand are replacing abstract and confusing layouts. The user journey should be designed to be as simple and uncomplicated as possible. Color-coded calls to action will be used in a more targeted manner.

In addition to clearly structured online stores, responsive design in particular continues to be a priority. Why? Almost 60 percent of us in the western world now access the internet from our mobile devices. 

Now that Google has officially made mobile user-friendliness a major factor in its ranking, nobody should neglect their mobile web presence if they still want to attract visitors to their website in 2020. We will not be exempt from the terms "mobile first" and "responsive" in the future either.

In addition, the embedding of SVG files remains a hot topic. Even if it is not new information, too few websites still use vectorized graphics. Especially on smaller devices, vector graphics have considerable advantages - such as faster loading times and exceptional sharpness with 100% scalability.

Ever since the GDPR sent us all into a panic, we have been aware that our data is being stored. In future, this data should be used more sensibly and tailored to the user. Targeted ads are no longer a novelty. From now on, we will be able to receive push notifications from the websites we visit, even if the success of these is difficult for us website operators to track (What is really received? What is actually read?).

Especially then, the use of chat bots and AI makes more sense, as they are based on two-way interaction and offer clearly recognizable added value for the consumer.

Global web design trends

We've had enough of rigid websites for now: 2020 will be more moving and animated. Until now, the medium of video has been used relatively sparingly in web design. After all, when using moving images, the consequences for loading time, bounce rate and Google ranking must always be taken into account.

At the latest since the introduction of the new, more web-friendly .webm format, this has loosened up somewhat. In order to create more interesting websites in the future, we will therefore see more animated illustrations in the form of GIFs. In addition, there will be more so-called microinteractions, which will make navigation through websites clearer and friendlier.

Microinteractions are small animations that show us as users that something is happening and should happen here. A playful form of "feedback", so to speak. As a user, you feel more integrated and can identify more easily with the website/product. These interactions can also provide positive moments of surprise and serve as a guide to define the user journey more clearly. This makes the user flow easier - the user is more likely to find what they are looking for on the website.

A microinteraction can look like this, for example:

3D and 3D light in web design

As a side effect of the spread of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), we can expect to see more 3D elements integrated into our web designs in the future. However, AR/VR will still not make the breakthrough into web design next year. One reason for this is that the costs are too high. But also the contradiction with optimized loading times and designs that focus on the end user. After all, the use of new technologies naturally makes the most sense when there is clear added value.

As a cost-saving alternative, i.e. a kind of "3D light", elements placed on top of each other are becoming increasingly popular. These suggest a slight three-dimensionality and create more depth, especially when underlaid with light shadows.

Data protection in focus

Since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in May 2018, a number of infringements have already been penalized. Including serious ones, as Heise Online reports in this article. A concept for calculating the amount of the fine has now also been agreed, which takes into account the company's turnover and the severity of the offense, among other things.

Furthermore, the ePrivacy Regulation (ePR), which will clarify the legal situation regarding tracking tools, is expected to be adopted in 2020. The ePrivacy Regulation was originally intended to be published together with the GDPR. Both regulations initially serve the purpose of data protection. In this article, lawyer Mario Steinberg explains what requirements the ePrivacy Regulation will entail for website operators. 

Web tools and frameworks

Next year, we will continue to suffer from an abundance of "programming aids" in the form of frameworks and a further increase in supposedly easier-to-learn languages. However, the market has almost reached saturation point - and our developers have reached the limits of their goodwill. The frameworks, which were initially intended to simplify the implementation of designs, have also caused complications in the past due to their abundance. In the future, even if not directly next year, simpler standardized solutions will be sought again.

A lot of hope is being placed on React

JavaScript remains an important component in web programming, supported by React - a JavaScript library for creating user interfaces.

Although React has already grown in importance in 2019, it has not yet reached its peak phase and will continue to come under our noses in 2020. We will most likely continue to integrate UI elements into our websites and web applications with the help of React. So for front-end developers, it's definitely a tool worth learning. This is especially true in the WordPress context, as the new Gutenberg Block Editor is based on React.

PHP, Ruby, Python, Node.js, Java, and .Net also remain relatively equivalent programming languages for the backend.

The focus will be even more on the user in the front and back end

In future, we will not only generate and evaluate backend data, but also extend this to the frontend. This will enable us to understand more about what is clicked when and how on our websites, allowing us to adapt the UI more efficiently and improve the UX in the long term.

Conclusion: 2020 and beyond

Based on current developments, we can assume that the web will become even more interactive in the long term. I definitely see greater potential for experiences that are directly and individually tailored to the individual user. For example, through unusual and creative site navigation, as with Bruno Simon's portfolio .

In general, the internet should be more fun - be it through more creative and personalized approaches in the preparation and reproduction of information. The New York agency Red Collar offers a wonderful and playful summary of web design trends for 2020 on this page.

I would also like to mention the implementation of voice navigation. Even if this technology is unlikely to make its big breakthrough in 2020, we can prepare for it in the long term. And, once again with a focus on users: websites that are also tailored more carefully to groups of people with disabilities.

We can therefore conclude that 2020 will be an exciting year in terms of web design, in which we want to refine our accumulated knowledge and make it more accessible - with more personality and fun.

Do you have any feedback on the above developments or other web design trends for 2020? We look forward to your comment!