What is motion design?

Motion design is a creative way to bring graphics, text and other elements to life using animation. It is not just about making things move on a screen. It is about creating emotions, telling stories and guiding users through a digital experience.

Advantages of using motion design

Enhancing user experience

One of the main benefits of using motion graphic design is that it boosts user engagement. Animated elements catch attention more effectively than static ones, making users more likely to spend time exploring your content. This increased engagement is important for websites that want to lower bounce rates and improve conversions.

Guides user’s attention

Motion design is great for guiding user’s attention. It can highlight important features, show users where to focus, and explain how things on a page are connected. When used thoughtfully, motion helps users make the right choices without adding unnecessary distractions.

Reduce cognitive load

A good animation can make it easier for users to understand how a website works. Motion can guide attention to important areas, highlight key actions, and create smoother interactions, helping users process information with less effort.

Differentiating the brand

Motion design helps make a brand unique and memorable. By using animations and transitions that match the brand, designers can strengthen its identity and create a smooth, consistent look that makes it stand out from competitors. Whether i tis a fun loading animation or a special way pages change, motion design adds a unique touch that connects with users and leaves a lasting impression.

Creates smooth transitions

In static web design, transitions between pages or actions can feel sudden and disconnected. Motion fills in the gaps, making these shifts feel smoother and more natural. This improves the overall flow and helps users feel more in control of their experience.

Reduces loading screen boredom

Loading screens can often feel boring and frustrating, which can hurt the user experience. Luckily, UX motion design can make these moments more enjoyable and less annoying. A loading screen happens when users have to wait for something to load or process before they can continue. By adding motion design, you can turn a plain blank screen into something engaging and interesting for your users.

Indicate errors or successful actions

Motion can be used to show errors or successful actions, helping to reduce confusion and make things clearer for the user. By providing visual cues, like a shake for an error or a subtle bounce for success, users can quickly understand the outcome of their actions and know what to do next.

Types of motion design

Loading animations

When users are waiting for a page to load or search results to show up, loading animations can make the experience much better. Simple things like a spinning icon or a progress bar let them know the system is working. This helps the wait feel quicker and less annoying, keeping users more patient and making the system seem smoother.

Microinteractions

Microinteractions are little animations that make using a website more enjoyable. For example, a button might change colour when you click it or an icon pulse to show users that their actions have been noticed. These small touches make tasks easier, reduce confusion, and add a bit of personality to the interface. They might seem minor, but they can make a big difference in keeping users happy and coming back.

Animated logos

Animated logos are a great way to bring a brand to life. They add energy and personality, making a brand more memorable and unique. These logos can be simple, like a quick transition, or more detailed, like an animation that tells the brand’s story.

Form submission feedback

Feedback animations for form submissions let users know what’s happening after they click submit. For example, a checkmark means success, and an error message shows if something needs fixing. These animations help users feel sure that their information has been received and processed. They make the process easier and less confusing, so users are more likely to keep going and finish the form.

Navigation transitions

Navigation animations use smooth effects to help users move between sections or pages of a website. Effects like sliding fading, or scaling create smooth transitions that help users stay oriented and reduce confusion. By making the navigation process smoother, they create a more enjoyable and professional experience, encouraging users to explore further.

Interactive tutorials

Interactive tutorials guide users through a website’s features in a simple and engaging way. They might include things like animated tutorials and guides or step-by-step instructions. They make it easier for users to understand how the website works by breaking down complicated tasks into simple steps so they feel more comfortable and confident right from the start.

Explainer video

An explainer video explains a product or service, introduces a brand, explains how a product works or demonstrates a step-by-step process. It helps viewers quickly understand what the product or service does and how it can benefit them, making it easier to make decisions or take action.

Infographics and data visualisation

Animated infographics and data visualisations make complex information easier to understand by turning it into eye-catching visual stories. They’re commonly used in news, educational content, and corporate presentations to make data and trends clear and interesting.

Best practices for implementing motion design in 2024

To make sure motion design and animations improve the user experience, here are some tips to follow:

Meaningful motion design: Every animation should have a clear reason. Avoid using effects that could distract or confuse users.

Smooth performance: Make sure animations run smoothly and don’t slow things down. Stuttery or slow animations can hurt the user experience, especially on mobile devices.

Consistency and timing: Keep animation styles and timing consistent across your site or app for a seamless experience.

Ensure animations don’t interfere with content: Animations should not get in the way of the content or actions users need to take. Make sure animations are simple and don’t distract from the main focus of the page. Users should be able to interact with important elements like buttons or forms without having to wait for an animation to finish.

Guide users easily: Use motion to help users move easily from one action to the next, like showing buttons, transitions or loading process so the experience feels simple and clear.

Use colours and textures that align with your brand identity: Your UX motion design should reflect your brand’s style, so choose colours and textures that connect with users emotionally and represent your brand’s values.

Keep performance in mind: Heavy animations can make your website slower. To keep it fast, make sure your animations are optimised. Use smaller libraries, compress files and avoid too many animations that could slow down the user experience.

Test your motion design: Before adding motion design to your website or product page, make sure to test it on all devices and browsers. This will help ensure it works properly and looks good everywhere.

If you are interested in learning more about how animation can be effectively used in web design, be sure to check out our blog post on Animation in web design and how to use it effectively.

In conclusion, motion design is shaping user experience in 2024 by making interfaces more engaging and intuitive. From smooth transitions to playful animations, it helps guide users and adds personality to interfaces. By understanding the benefits, exploring different types, and using the right techniques, designers can create experiences that not only work well but also leave a lasting impression.

Types of animation in web design

Animation has changed how users engage with websites, taking the user experience to a new level and making websites more fun and interesting. From subtle motion graphics to eye-catching visual effects, animations are a great way to get people’s attention and share information.

This article will explore the significance of animation and interaction in web design by discussing various roles and types of animation. Let’s start from the beginning and explain what animation in web design actually is.

Related Articles:

• Visual hierarchy in web design
• Web design psychology: Understanding user behaviour
• Web design : Visual story-telling in web design

What is animation in web design?

Animation design is a field of graphic design that involves creating moving images or shapes typically in the form of 2D/3D animations. When we talk about animation in website design, we are generally referring to small animations that bring two-dimensional objects to life as a user scrolls through the web page. The role of animation in web design is to express information creatively, enhance the user experience and guide user attention.

Almost all web pages now use web animation nowdays. Website animations can be simple, such as a button changing colour when hovered over, or complex, such as a full-page animation sequence. When creating a web design, a graphic designer needs to have an understanding of composition, storytelling and colour theory to successfully communicate a message through their designs.

The role of animation in web design

Let’s take a look at the various roles of animation in web design.

Improve user experience

The goal of web design is to connect with users. In a world where attention spans are shorter than ever, websites need to grab people’s attention and keep them interested. Animation and interaction are key tools for achieving this. They add life and interactivity, turning a dull website into a memorable and engaging experience.

Use animation to tell a story

Animation humanises the business. By adding animation, you can share a memorable story about what the company wants to achieve and what it stands for. The main goal is to make it emotional and interesting to capture everyone’s attention and make them feel connected to the brand.

Creatively share information

The internet is full of information and sometimes it’s overwhelming. And this is the reason why we can use animation in web design. We can take complicated information and turn it into simple and attractive animations. For example, a financial website can use animated charts and graphs to make complex market data understandable.

Draw attention

Since people are naturally drawn to visual content, adding animation to pictures or shapes makes them even more attention-grabbing. When things move around on a page it naturally catches your eye. So animation gives you a much better chance of a user staying on your website to explore it further.

1. Hero animation

A hero animation is basically a moving version of the hero image you see at the top of a webpage, right below the header. Using animated hero images is a popular choice because the hero image is often the first thing visitors see when they arrive at a website.

Alithea Capital advises a group of companies that together make up a private family office and the animated building blocks are a good way to present this concept immediately as the user enters the website.

2. Loading animation

Another simple way to use animation is to give feedback to users. One of the biggest turn offs a visitor can experience when viewing a website is how long the site takes to load. Long delays in loading content can make users think something is wrong, even if it’s not. That is why it’s a good idea to use animation to show that something is happening on the website, letting the user know that data is being loaded.

Another example could be to add a submit button on a form. Instead of users clicking and waiting for a page refresh, make it smoother. Show a loading state to indicate the site is working, then visually signal success before refreshing the page.

On the HealthAxon website, we indicate that a page is loading with an animation of a man on a bicycle. It’s a fun way to introduce the site and it also informs website visitors that the page is loading, as a blank screen could give the impression that nothing is happening, causing users to potentially leave the site.

3. Scroll-on animation

Another way to make navigation better with animation is by using scroll-on effects. When you scroll down the page, elements can be animated to highlight important information or provide visual cues. These animations are made to add movement and interaction, boosting user engagement and providing a more dynamic browsing experience. This provides you with a more intuitive navigation experience.

We used this technique on Health Axon’s new website. When you scroll down on the HealthAxon website, you can see certain components animated throughout the website for example with moving clouds and shooting stars. By bringing these elements to life, we create an immersive browsing experience that not only makes the website more interesting but also guides users through the content.

4. Hover animation

You can improve website navigation with animation by adding hover effects. When a user hovers over a navigation item, this can trigger an animation to provide additional information or highlight the item. This helps you know where you are on the website and what you can do next.

5. Accent animation

Accent animations are a specific type of animation used to draw attention to important items on a website. Designers use them to highlight key information, buttons or menus making them stand out from the rest of the content. By adding movement to these items, accent animations can make the user experience (UX) more engaging and intuitive. It also makes websites easier to read and navigate by directing user’s attention to the most important parts of the page, like key words or phrases, which helps everything look tidy and organised.

6. Interactive animation

Unlike traditional animation interactive animation involves viewer interaction, such as hovering, clicking or scrolling on a website. This type of animation allows viewers to interact and engage with your design on several different levels. These animations can range from simple objects or images, like a button changing colour when hovered over, to complex simulations or games. It is often used for advertising, educational purposes and entertainment.

If you’re considering incorporating animation into your web design, it is important to take the time to consider when an animation is and isn’t appropriate. Animations should have a clear purpose. They shouldn’t be added just for the sake of having animation. When an animation lacks a practical function, it can come across as awkward or irritating. But when animation is done right, it can take a web design to the next level, turning it from something forgettable into something memorable and special. As web design keeps progressing, we can look forward to even more creative and captivating ways of using animation and interaction in the future.

What are your thoughts about animation in web design? Share your thoughts or questions with us in the comments below! And if you need help adding animation to your website, feel free to contact us. We’re here to help!

What is sustainable web design?

The internet is made up of digital stuff, but it actually has a real impact on the environment. Everything we do online, from pictures and colours to programming languages and servers, requires electricity and produces carbon emissions. As the internet continues to expand, its environmental impact also increases. However, there is a silver lining: by making small, considerate changes in how we design and develop websites, we can lessen the harm to the environment. Not only that, but these changes can also make the internet stronger and better able to adapt to the challenges posed by climate change.

A sustainable web design reduces energy consumption, minimises carbon emissions and optimises resource usage. It considers the entire life cycle of a website, from design and development to hosting and maintenance. Based on the Website Carbon Calculator, an average web page generates about 0.5 grams of CO2 each time it is viewed. A website with 10,000 page views per month adds up to 60 kilograms of CO2 emissions per year.

Practices of sustainable web design

Here are several practices to follow to minimise the environmental impact of your website and make it more sustainable.

Efficient code

Optimising the code is crucial for reducing the energy consumption of a website. Bloated code with unnecessary elements and excessive scripts can slow down a site and increase its energy requirements. By writing clean, easy-to-understand, easy-to-change, efficient code and minimising file sizes, developers can create websites that load quickly and consume less energy.

Minimalistic design

Embracing minimalistic web design principles enhances the user experience and contributes to sustainability. Simple and intuitive layouts with fewer elements require fewer server resources and bandwidth to load. Minimalistic designs are not only visually appealing but also help reduce the carbon footprint of a website.

Smart font selection

Using custom font files can make web pages much larger in size. A regular custom font file can be over 200kb and it might only contain one style or weight. When you have multiple typefaces or different font weights, the file size can quickly grow, leading to higher energy consumption and slower performance. To avoid these issues, it’s best to use custom fonts sparingly and consider using system fonts that are already available on the user’s device. This way, you can reduce the file size of your web pages and enhance the overall performance.

Responsiveness

With the rise of mobile devices, it is essential to design websites that are responsive and adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes. Evaluating your website’s performance across different screen sizes, browsers, devices and internet speeds can be a time-consuming task, but it plays a crucial role in sustainable web design. Incorrect content and design display can lead to a negative user experience (UX) and confusion. When users struggle to find what they are looking for, they spend more time navigating the website, which increases energy consumption. To prevent this, ensure that your design adjusts effectively to various variables, accommodating as many different scenarios as possible.

Image optimisation

Images often contribute to the majority of a website’s file size. It’s important to remember that all the pictures on your website should be resized appropriately. This is common knowledge when it comes to optimising website speed and improving SEO. By optimising these images, they can be displayed without any loss in quality, making them load faster. By optimising images through compression and using appropriate file formats, developers can significantly reduce a website’s load time and bandwidth usage.

Efficient hosting

Green web hosting providers utilise renewable energy sources like wind, sunlight (solar) or water (hydropower) to generate the power needed for their data centres. This ensures that the energy used to host your website comes from clean and sustainable sources, resulting in a smaller impact on the environment and reducing your carbon footprint. Selecting a provider that provides eco-friendly hosting fueled by renewable energy is essential in sustainable web design. Look for hosting companies that use renewable energy sources, have energy-efficient infrastructure and employ efficient cooling systems.

Sustainable development frameworks

Utilising sustainable development frameworks and content management systems can streamline the web development process. If you use CMS like WordPress, Magento, Craft, Laravel and others, it is common to find yourself overwhelmed by the numerous options available in the plugin market. Sometimes, we become overly excited about the possibilities these plugins offer and end up cluttering our websites with unnecessary additions. It is essential to evaluate your current plugin inventory, determine what is truly necessary and beneficial for your website and then confidently remove anything else that does not serve a purpose.

Energy-efficient technologies

Explore emerging technologies that promote energy efficiency and sustainability. For instance, using Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) instead of native mobile applications can reduce energy consumption and storage requirements. Implementing serverless architectures and microservices can optimise resource usage and scalability.

Sustainable content

The content displayed on a website also plays a role in sustainability. Encourage the creation of eco-friendly content by promoting environmentally conscious practices and featuring sustainability initiatives. By raising awareness through digital platforms, websites can inspire positive change and motivate users to adopt sustainable behaviours.

Regular maintenance and updates

Ongoing website maintenance is important for sustainability. Regularly updating software, plugins and frameworks ensures optimal performance and security while keeping energy consumption in check. Moreover, addressing broken links, removing outdated content and optimising databases can improve user experience and reduce unnecessary resource usage.

User education

Educating website visitors about sustainability and promoting eco-friendly practices can have a lasting impact. Provide information, tips and resources to inspire users to adopt greener lifestyles. Integrate social sharing buttons to encourage the spread of sustainability messages across various digital platforms.

As businesses and individuals become more conscious of their environmental impact, sustainable web design is gaining momentum. By adopting eco-friendly practices in web development, we can significantly reduce the digital carbon footprint and shape a greener digital future. Each small step towards sustainability in web design contributes to a collective effort to mitigate the environmental impact of the digital realm. Let us embrace sustainable web practices and work towards a more eco-friendly and sustainable online world.

What are your thoughts on sustainable web design to forge a greener digital future. Are you using the right website images? View our article on the best image tips and tricks and join the movement towards a more sustainable online presence.

If you’re looking to elevate your designs or need assistance with web design projects, feel free to contact us. We will be glad to assist you.

What is the new Photoshop feature – Generative Fill?

You are probably aware by now of the new feature in Adobe’s Photoshop Beta – Generative Fill. Generative Fill offers you two incredible ways to enhance your photos based on a simple text-based prompt. Firstly, it can expand the borders of your images by automatically filling in missing pixel details. This allows you to expand the size of your pictures horizontally or vertically while keeping all the important elements intact. But that’s not all. Generative Fill takes image editing to a whole new level. You can simply type in what you want to see in your photo and this magical tool will create it for you.

How does Adobe Photoshop AI Generative Fill work?

The power behind Photoshop’s Generative Fill comes from Adobe Firefly, which consists of machine-learning models trained on a vast collection of the company‘s own professional-grade, licensed, high-resolution images to generate and fill in missing pixels. In simpler words, it can automatically generate new pixels using existing photos and seamlessly merge them into your images, making the changes appear smooth and natural. It works by using smart technology to analyse images and make changes based on what users want. Because it uses images from the Adobe Stock images library, you can use Generative Fill without concerns about accidentally including copyrighted material in your photos.

How to access Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature

If the Generative Fill button is not visible in your Photoshop installation, you must switch to the beta branch. Adobe claims that Firefly Generative Fill will be a default option in Photoshop by the end of the year. An active Adobe Creative Cloud subscription is also necessary to access this feature.

To install the Photoshop Beta on your computer, follow these steps:

What Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature can do:

Remove objects in web design

Easily remove unwanted objects from your image by following a simple process. First, use the lasso tool to draw a rough outline around the objects you want to eliminate. Then, with a simple click on the Generate button, watch as the magic unfolds. This powerful feature comes in handy, for instance, when you want to erase unintentional photobombs by other tourists in your precious vacation snapshots.

Replace items and areas

Removing objects is one thing, but what about replacing them with something entirely different? With Generative Fill, you can create things that were never in the original image.
For instance, in a photo of a fruit-filled table, we can easily replace an apple with a pineapple. Generative Fill generates a seamless and convincing pineapple substitution by selecting the apple and typing Pineapple in the text prompt. The transformation adds a tropical touch to the fruit arrangement.

Extend the canvas

To make your image bigger, extend its canvas and select the empty area you wish to expand. Then AI will create a seamless extension of your scene, blending it naturally with the existing content. If you use a prompt, the AI will not only extend the scene but also add specific content based on your prompt, resulting in an expanded image with new elements that fit cohesively with the rest of the scene. You have the freedom to choose any image you prefer to expand the background. However, here are a few helpful suggestions to begin with. Opt for an image with a relatively simple background that can be easily extended. Avoid selecting images with intricate shapes or many people, as they may confuse the AI and potentially lead to less optimal results.

How to use Adobe’s Generative Fill for your website

Adobe’s Generative Fill offers an innovative way to elevate the visual appeal of your website. By following a few simple steps, you can seamlessly integrate captivating patterns and textures into your web design and enhance its overall look and feel. You can use it in numerous ways to improve your website and captivate your audience. Firstly you can apply Generative Fill to the background elements and generate unique patterns and textures that make your site visually dynamic. Additionally, you can use Generative Fill to design eye-catching graphics and illustrations. Another great way to use this tool is to make product images look good. You can use Generative Fill on the background of your product images, creating visually appealing lifestyle shots of your products to make them stand out from your competitors and leave a lasting impression on your customers.

Current limitations of Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature

Be aware that the program is currently in Beta, which means it is not a fully finalised product. Adobe emphasises that it should not be used for commercial purposes at this stage. However, you have the opportunity to test the program and provide valuable feedback to Adobe regarding how the AI is performing. It is important to remember that the Beta version is still being developed and is not fully prepared for widespread use just yet. Additionally, it is important to note that the Generative Layers can significantly amplify the file size of Photoshop files or layered TIFFs generated while transferring a photo from Lightroom.

At present, the prompts used for describing the desired changes are only supported in English. To achieve optimal outcomes, it is recommended to use descriptive nouns and adjectives in your text prompts rather than instructive prompts such as Fill the area or Create a scene. When you give clear and specific descriptions of what you want, Generative Fill will be able to understand and create more precise and satisfying outcomes.

In conclusion, the future of image editing in Photoshop is being transformed by AI technology. With the help of advanced algorithms and deep neural networks, traditional editing tools are now more powerful than ever. One exciting feature is Adobe AI Generative Fill, which allows users to effortlessly generate and transform images with incredible realism. This AI-driven editing saves time and effort for photographers, web designers and artists. However, using AI tools responsibly and with artistic intent is important. As AI continues to advance, we can expect even more innovative editing capabilities that push the boundaries of creativity. Embracing the future of AI-driven image editing in Photoshop opens up endless possibilities and reshapes how we work with digital images. If you aren’t a Creative Cloud subscriber, you can also try Generative Fill for free on the Adobe Firefly website with an Adobe login through a web-based tool.

What are your thoughts on the future of image editing and web design with AI-driven image transformation in Photoshop? We’d love to hear your insights and how you envision this technology shaping the creative landscape.

If you’re looking to elevate your designs or need assistance with web design projects, feel free to contact us. We will be glad to assist you.

Communication has already evolved in favour of the visual with the majority of people preferring images, gifs, and memes in order to communicate online. This big shift that came alongside the social media era promoted the concept of visual communication as faster, easier to digest, and way more efficient. This is why it’s always great to have a big library of resources to make your work easier when it comes to making data visualisation, marketing purposes, or presentations for your team or clients. These collections of free illustrations are a great way to add character and personality to your designs. Most of the free illustration websites also offer paid illustrations to download, most of which are not available on stock illustration websites.

Pixeltrue

Pixeltrue has a variety of illustrations which are animated. There are some premium illustrations, but they have a section dedicated to free animated illustrations. You can download it as JSON format or .GIF.

Source: Pixeltrue

Rocketstock

Rocketstock is an animated font website. Its very rare to find nice animated fonts for free. This font called Ribbon and it is afree animated typeface for editors. All you have to do is drag and drop the letters you need into your project. If you want to customise the colour, size, or saturation of each letter, simply apply colour correction in your video editing application.

Source: Rocketstock

Icons8

Icons8 is a great resource for amazing icons that fit a wide range of styles and needs. You can get here animated icons in form of JSON, .GIF and After Effect format. Most of this icons are free illustrations.

Source: Icon8

DrawKit

Drawkit is perfect for designers and business owners looking to create new projects with limited design skills. They have lot of cool collections of free illustrations and icons. On this website you can download 10 free vector illustrations for your website, UI or app design.

Source: DrawKit

Drawer

This website offers high-quality Lottie animations for busy startup owners, designers & developers. Drawer Lottie animations and illustrations come with Ae source file and in multiple file formats – Ai, Xd, Sketch, Figma, SVG, EPS & PNG.

Source: Drawer

Lordicon free illustrations

Lordicon is a powerful library of carefully crafted animated icons and free illustrations, ready to use in digital products, presentations, or videos! You get access 1,494 free animated icons. Lordicon also has a customising editor, where you can for example change colour of the icon, size of the stroke, padding etc. You can download free illustrations as JSON and .GIF.

Source: Lordicon

We’ve introduced you to some of the best websites where you can find fantastic illustrations for your next project. Illustration can turn an average website into something really unique, it’s a powerful and creative medium which can identify and communicate the brand message and transmit ideas universally, through the use of just one image.

If you require a website for your business then Reactive Graphics can help.
Get in touch with us today to see how we can get your project off the ground! To take a look at how Reactive Graphics have applied illustrations within their own website, please take a look at our services page here.

Dark Mode

Already a big trend this year, dark mode is set to become ever more popular next year too. Here are some of the main reason’s designers love dark mode:

• Makes design elements more visible
• Increases the contrast ratio
• Reduces eye strain in low-light conditions
• It can even save device batter power

Dark mode looks super-modern. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Apple are just a few big brand names that offer alternative themes in their platforms. Also, dark shades allow you to create elements using a neon glow, which is another trend you will find with other dark mode websites.

Bold Fonts

When visiting a lot of leading corporation websites, you will see that bold typography is on-trend. With heavy, bold fonts, the reader is instantly aware of the message, not necessarily the imagery.

However, combining these large fonts with neutral colours further emphasises the headlines, quickly becoming an “image” of their own.

Heavy fonts put more visual weight to the message and direct the reader to where they should look first. Visitors tend to read big headlines first. That is why these play a huge role in making a good impression. From an aesthetic point of view, bold fonts also give designs a modern and contemporary feel.

Unusual Colour Combinations

Another design trend this year is unusual colour combinations. Bold, bright, saturated colours help your brand stand out from the soft neutrals and minimalist designs that many companies have chosen over the past few years.

Most prominent web design trends will be the use of bold colours and unusual colour combinations that perfectly harmonise with each other to catch users’ eye.

In 2020, using colour combinations creatively means pairing together colours that your audience wouldn’t normally expect to see combined. Of course, in order to not make your visitors’ eyes hurt, the colour combination should be adapted to the graphics.

To succeed in implementing this trend, you shouldn’t be afraid to try new things. Glowing shades, intense colours, and unusual colour pairings will definitely stick in the memory of your website visitors.

Data Visualisation

A popular design trend right now is data visualisation. Humans are visual creatures; it is easier to comprehend the information when it is provided visually, rather than in text.

Presenting numbers in a smart way greatly emphasizes the information you are providing. Data visualization shapes boring data into catchy graphics, thus making it much more engaging and easier to understand. It allows users to better comprehend business specific information.

Communicating data in an engaging way is a struggle. But the struggle is worth it. Infographics and graphs are some of the most popular ways to bring data to life.

Gradients

Gradients are a long-time trend that has evolved from subtle colour overlays to eye-catching backgrounds. Gradients can be used to add depth, serve as a striking background, or subtly to add texture to an illustration. We increasingly see it used in bigger and bolder typography.

But compared to the gradients used by designers in previous years, the new generation of gradients has different styling. Now gradients are relatively simple, using a single clear light source and created using one or two colours.

This trend has staying power and we are excited to see the continual evolution of its use on websites.

Abstract Illustrations

There’s something about illustrations that captures our attention. A brand that uses illustrations on their website is seen as more creative and contemporary.

It is a well-known fact that using a custom illustration style is an excellent way to make a brand stand out. Genuine illustrations are part of a brands DNA. Competitors can copy your colour scheme or typography, but not your illustration style.

With so many illustration styles around, it becomes harder for the users to match a particular style to a specific company. To make illustrations more effective, designers started to embrace more abstract illustration styles. Making abstract illustrations a web design trend of 2020.

Hero Video Headers

For a long time, web designers have had to use static imagery to convey their main idea. But the situation has changed. High-speed connections make it much easier for web designers to turn their home pages into immersive movie-style experiences.

Like a giant billboard, making your homepage hero section full height can focus your users’ attention and serve as distraction free messaging. This is a big web design trend we are seeing now.

Video engages users and they are more willing to spend time watching. Video clips used in a hero section can vary from a few seconds of looped video to full-length preview clips with audio.

Mixing photography with Graphics

Another big trend in web design December 2020 is overlapping graphics onto photography. High quality photographs already look great on their own but adding in some cool graphics will really showcase your creative flair.

Here are some of the top reasons that web designers are mixing graphics and photography:

• It’s a perfect way to add extra personality to your web design.
• Yet another way to reinforce company branding. Think of the colours & shapes used in your logo, for example.
• Adds depth and keeps website visitors engaged with your content.

Designers have also been combining real-life photos with simple illustrations replacing parts of the photo or interacting with the photo.

Micro Interactions

This year we have seen a trend in micro interactions, and they are become even more popular.

On a website, micro interactions are small animations that offer subtle feeback to users. We’re all used to seeing a link change colours when a user moves their cursor over it.

With the focus on micro interactions, that same experience can give more attention to make other elements stand out.

3D Elements

3D design elements have intrigued website users for many years now. One of the most important requirements for a successful 3D graphic is the high performance of your website.

Your platform should be fast-loading and well-optimised. If it’s not, your site won’t be able to support such heavy content. Your website may appear slow and unresponsive, and so on.

If your website is designed well with the 3D elements, then it can really make your web design stand out from your competitors and wow your audience.

Conclusion

At Reactive Graphics we make sure we stay up-to-date on the latest web design trends to keep your website design relevant like the ones mentioned in this blog post.

We recommend that you avoid implementing all the available techniques. It can overwhelm potential customers and make them leave your website. Combine several trends and web design patterns to create a unique solution that will stick out from the crowd.

Check out web design trends from previous years:

2019 | 2018 | 2016 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011/12

If you require a website for your business then Reactive Graphics can help your company to correctly position itself in the marketplace.
Get in touch with us today to see how we can get your project off the ground!
Or you can view our portfolio of work here.