Innovative website trends are set to dominate this year.

Among a myriad of other factors, COVID-19 is most probably set to change the way we shop forever. A basic search on Google will quickly show you some interesting statistics since the global pandemic hit.

'Covid has expedited the digital journey for many businesses,' says Terence Govender, a director at Mazars Advisory. 'And it has caught a lot of businesses at the beginning of a journey that they should have started five years ago.' (read the full article here).

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Here are some quick facts from the above article:

• 37% of South Africans say they are shopping more online.
• 7 of the 10 most valuable companies are now based on a platform business model (The platform economy is economic and social activity facilitated by platforms. Such platforms are typically online matchmakers or technology frameworks).
• eCommerce accounts for 30% of global economic activity ($60 trillion predicted for digital platforms in 6 years’ time).

Other website trends to take note of:

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Immersive Digital Screens

Digital experiences that would otherwise have been attended IRL (in real life) will continue to grow and become more and more immersive. Examples include virtual concerts and conferences/summits (the stage productions for these events are truly impressive).

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Deroy Peraza, partner and creative director at Hyperakt also predicts there'll be more personality and quirkiness in website designs with immersive experiences leading the way:
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"This unexpectedly digital-first year has been a defining moment for websites as platforms to create immersive digital 'worlds' that show unique points of view. Expect to see custom cursors, big and funky font types, organic shapes, and ordered chaos along with big flat colour fields, animated transitions, and surprising colour combinations," he says.

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Individualised User Integration (UI)

Interfaces are likely to become more unique to each of us, reflecting our tastes, styles, and identities. The added benefit here is that customisable interfaces will lead to more inclusive design concerning accessibility (you can read more about the topic of accessibility in one of our previous blogs).

Examples of personalised UI include:

• Artwork personalisation (Netflix)
• 2020 Wrapped (Spotify)
• Dark mode
• The dark mode is not only elegant and sleek but by reducing blue light exposure it is much better for our vision.
• It also reduces blue light exposure, which in turn reduces headaches and eye strain.

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Healthcare and Mental Health

The importance of healthcare (mental and physical) has definitely been highlighted by 2020.

• Designers are incorporating soft, happy and even funny visuals in their designs.
• Illustrations and the use of vibrant colour palettes are also meant to uplift and foster a sense of wellbeing (the Pantone Colour of the Year 2021 reiterates this).
• Hope will be communicated through design with bright colours, playful typography and playfulness.

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Design Activism

‘The need to convey a powerful, radical message with the hope to effect change will lead designers to create bespoke design assets, such as custom-made typefaces, illustrations and icon sets,’ reads an Editor X report.

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Examples include:

• Good Glyphs: a dingbat font created by 32 designers with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders.
• Greenlist: a simple internal tool that empowers companies to start a sustainable office lifestyle.
• Ecover and Bulb are also shining examples of websites that resonate with environmental movements

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We also believe that our clients and their stories are the champions of our business and partner with them over the long-term to ensure their web presence remains safe, constantly improves and sets their businesses apart from a sea of others.

Trends are important, but shouldn’t trump our clients’ brand, tone of voice and unique offering.