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Top Web Design Trends for February 2022

Now that we are well into 2022, it’s time to start thinking about modern refreshes and website design trends. Whether you are starting new or just looking for a few trending touches, we’ve got some great ideas to help you along the way.  Here are five great trends that will keep your WordPress website looking fresh.

Carrie Cousins

Now that we are well into 2022, it’s time to start thinking about modern refreshes and website design trends. Whether you are starting new or just looking for a few trending touches, we’ve got some great ideas to help you along the way. 

Here are five great trends that will keep your WordPress website looking fresh. 

1. Big, Big Text

The more we look at typography trends, the more we keep coming back to the concept of big text elements. And they just keep getting even bigger. 

Designers are having a lot of fun with oversized text that’s fully integrated into the design, such as the text on the photo here at regrocery.co

For the most part, this concept is used with bold images and text elements that include short words.

  • Why it works: This design works when text and image elements work together. When paired in a way that feels united and seamless, the result can be stunning and highly engaging.
  • How to use it: This is one of those trends where you can’t force it. You need just the right words – shorter is often best – and a stellar image that combine to create a unified message. If the elements work against each other, the design won’t hold up. 

2. Hidden Navigation

This is one of those trends that seems to be almost everywhere, it seems completely counter-intuitive: The navigation is hidden. 

Without an obvious menu or navigation structure at guidelotus.com, designers are opting for deeper headers with more white space – reminiscent of many mobile homepages – and kicking navigation elements out of the design. 

The result is a very clean and sleek visual, but is it user-friendly? This is something you’ll have to test on your website. If you go this route focus groups, user testing, and a close look at analytics to ensure usability are important. 

  • Why it works: Users are getting more and more accustomed to hidden and hamburger-style navigation because of the increased usage of mobile sites. Because mobile websites have been using these patterns for a while, they are almost becoming the norm anywhere. 
  • How to use it: Start with a small site. If the user can get everything they need by scrolling, navigation won’t be missed as much. Make sure to provide plenty of other visual clues to help guide the journey. 

3. Child-like Fun

Bold color, animation, and funky fonts all contribute to a more fun, child-like experience in this website design trend. With the weight of the world in the past few years, this lighter feel is a welcome option. 

Designers are going all-in with a fully child-like theme too, just like at nikeplaylab.com. Often with a design trend like this, you see bold color or animation or funky fonts, but now we are seeing all three quite often.

There’s another element at play here as well. These “childlike” elements are also throwbacks to the 1980s and 1990s, those generations now have kids of their own. There’s an almost nostalgia that comes with this trend as it combines a childlike feel that reminds adults of their own childhoods with visual elements. 

  • Why it works: This trend plays on emotion and happy memories. Those elements combine to make website users feel comfortable and at home. If a website makes you feel good, you’ll keep coming back, right?
  • How to use it: This visual scheme needs the right content to work. Make sure that the words match the tone of the visual display. You don’t want to sell tax preparation on a website with a child-like feel. Content and design symmetry matters a lot here. 

4. Mismatched Color Schemes

In design theory, the color wheel helps guide choices. We look for harmonies and combinations that will appeal to wide audiences and make a design just feel right. 

Right now, designers are throwing that concept out the door with bold color schemes that use seemingly mismatched color combinations, like at studiobardzo.com. This includes everything from colors that you would never imagine pairing to things like a bright paired with a pastel. 

Admittedly, it can be a little garish. But it can also work with the right content. This color trend almost plays off of the same emotions and vibes as working with child-like design aesthetics. 

  • Why it works: Colors that don’t seem to go together are a bit disruptive and make you look. Anything that gets in the way of the normal flow can cause you to pause and investigate; that’s exactly what designs using this color trend aim to do. 
  • How to use it: Pick your colors carefully and don’t be afraid of them. If you are going for a mismatched color combination, it is innately daring. Use it in that manner in the design. The example here uses two colors that fill the screen as it leans into this design trend. 

5. “Magazine” Grids

When you have a blog or a lot of content that you want to showcase, a “magazine” style grid is a clean way to organize and highlight content. A magazine-style is often exemplified by a large hero image with columns of additional content blocks below. Those columns might include just one row of content to infinite scrolling rows.

The trick to this website design trend, like at ironandair.com is all in the structure of content organization. You need a strong grid.

In the example here, you can see that every new content element has a distinct set of elements that line up perfectly. There’s no question about where to look or what to read or how the eye should flow. The structure of the grid takes all the work out of it for you, making it easy for the user to engage. 

  • Why it works: When you don’t have to think about a design, it is easy to engage with. The more content and information you have to display, the more important this becomes. 
  • How to use it: This design aesthetic is made for blogs or sites with a lot of content that’s updated regularly. 

Putting it All Together

Website design trends are a fun way to keep a finger on what visual elements people are paying attention to. Remember that it can be just as important to see what stops trending as what is so that your projects don’t begin to look dated. 

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