As the old saying goes ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, and WordPress websites are no exception.
If you want to create a truly beautiful website that draws back visitors time after time, you need to ensure you’re incorporating design trends. And, guess what? We’re about to tell you exactly what those design trends are… 👇👇👇
Why WordPress website design is important
But, before we kick off our list of the seven WordPress design tips you absolutely need to know this year, we thought we’d take a moment to explain why you should be concerned about these design trends in the first place. 🤔
The primary reason you should be following, embracing and acting on these trends is because of two key things; trust and relevancy.
If your website looks old and dated, then people are less likely to trust it (and by association) your business. In fact, if your website looks so out of date, people may even assume that you’ve gone out of business! So, it pays (literally) to keep your website looking fresh and on trend. 👌 🎯
Secondly, a website that’s on trend is much more likely to incorporate the design elements and user experience features that people have come to expect on the web. 💯
Think of it this way – if your website looks drastically older than other websites on the web, then visitors will find it harder to use and interact with – ultimately costing you business. 😭
So, with those points in mind, let’s take a look at the seven WordPress design trends that are set to dominate 2022. 👍
1. Use of white space
Cast your mind back to the days of Yahoo! GeoCities (if you’re old enough) and you’ll probably recall swathes of websites with garish, brightly coloured and/or patterned backgrounds with dark text overlaid. 🙄 🖥️
It may have looked cool during the early days of the internet, but there’s a good reason that you don’t see many websites like that any more. ❌
In 2022, the most forward-looking websites will be making maximal use of white space; not merely to make website content more readable and accessible, but as a means of drawing visitors’ attention to key parts of the website. ✅
2. Subtle parallax effects
Parallax scrolling has been used on websites for years, but 2022 is the year that this effect comes into its own.
It’s a fantastic way of adding an element of interest to a website without having to resort to data-heavy videos or animations. 🧐
To really make the most of this design trend, it’s important that you both use it sparingly and you use an appropriate background image (not all images will work well with parallax scrolling).
If you want to incorporate parallax scrolling into your WordPress website, then the easiest way of doing so is to use a plugin such as Beaver Builder.
3. Effective use of video
Whilst video can be overwhelming if you try to include too much of it, the considered use of this medium can make a big difference to your WordPress website. 🎥 📹
Video is the ideal format for explaining complicated concepts and as such has found widespread use, particularly in the B2B space.
If you intend to use video on your website however, you need to ensure that your website has suitable hosting and is able to deal with the demands that video can place on website loading etc. 🔥🔥🔥
4. Ensure your website’s design is optimised for speed
It may be cool to include flashy, eye-catching elements on your website, but if they cause your website to load slowly or to render in unusual ways, you’ll not only have unhappy visitors, but you may suffer SEO penalties too.
So, when you’re designing your WordPress website, you should always have one consideration in your mind – speed. 🏃 💨💨
Don’t try to pack too many elements into your web pages. That’s not to say you can’t use things like video or high-definition images, but you should look for ways you can optimise and minimise them.
Things like ‘core web vitals’ are important ranking factors these days, so ignore website speed at your peril! 😲 🤯
5. Big, bold, typography
In an age in which we are awash with media and bombarded with videos, animations, gifs and more, it can be refreshing to focus on an older design feature – typography.
A trend that first saw traction in 2021, the use of big, bold typography is something that will really gain steam in 2022.
Sometimes, simpler really is better. 😎 😎 😎
Given the content-saturated landscape that web users tend to navigate these days, an ultra-simple website with a focus on typography stands a better chance of standing out of the crowd. ✌️
The beauty of using WordPress is that there are multiple themes and customisations that can help you create a truly-unique, typography-first website.
6. Contrast colours
Although we began this list talking about how the use of white space will be a key trend in 2022, the converse is also true. ✨✨✨
Expect the use of contrasting colours to also be a major trend in 2022. Largely shaped by the cultural memories of millennials, websites are increasingly using bold, contrasting neon colours.
It’s a trend which is not only eye-catching, but which taps into a cultural-cache to generate revenue for savvy B2C brands. 🤑 🤑 🤑
7. Going dark mode
It’s not an exaggeration to say that people are checking their smartphones more than ever. Even when they’re lying in bed in the pitch dark, many people will be tempted to check out their favourite website. 🌙 🌝
Well, it’s because of this that ‘dark mode’ is one of the major WordPress website design trends of 2022.
Not only do websites which can be switched to dark mode reduce eye strain – an increasingly important concern for web users – but dark mode is also a highly-aesthetic look which many brands are looking to adopt as part of their standard brand identity. 🌘 🌘
So, it’s cool and practical! What more could you ask for in WordPress web design in 2022?!
upHost: the home of WordPress hosting
It doesn’t matter how good your website looks, if people can’t access it and you don’t have reliable, affordable hosting, you may as well not have a website. 😥 👀
Luckily upHost is on hand to help. For an incredibly competitive rate, we’ll keep your WordPress website updated, secure and backed up, giving you total peace of mind. 😀 😃
Our packages include benefits such as free website migration, upHost portal access, free daily backups, free SSL certificates, UK-based servers and more. ✋ 👇 💯 🔥
Speak to upHost about your WordPress hosting today
For more WordPress hosting and website advice, explore the upHost blog…
How to Make Your WordPress Websites More Accessible | How Website Speed Affects Your SEO and Google Rankings | How Do I Maintain My WordPress Website?
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