Abbey is a digital marketer, copywriter, and lead editor. She has worked on over 200 client campaigns and WebFX, and she specializes in marketing strategy analysis and industry-specific digital marketing plans. Outside of writing and editing, you’ll likely find her taking pictures of her cat, making a new playlist, or tending to her houseplants.
When we’re creating a website, we must keep our future users in mind. They’re who we’re making the site for, right?
In order to create a website customers will love, you’ve got to keep in mind user experience (UX), or user interface (UI). UX/UI helps digital marketers and designers to build websites and digital marketing campaigns that put the user first to foster a seamless web experience that keeps customers coming back.
UX trends shape how designers create websites for modern users. These 2024 UX/UI trends and predictions should be on your radar to implement on your site:
Take a look at some UX/UI trends for 2024 below that are worth keeping an eye on (and maybe even investing in!). Ready to get started with WebFX’s UX design services? Call us at 888-601-5359 or contact us online now!
1. Immersive scrolling
With immersive scrolling, designers have the power to control what content they want to display to viewers, and how that content is shown.
Often referred to as “scrollytelling,” immersive scrolling involves showing content to users in a more strategic, narrative manner. With the help of smooth animations and dynamic elements accompanying other static site fixtures, customers will be more engaged with your website.
Immersive scrolling encourages customer curiosity and invites them to interact with content on your site they might normally ignore.
While this is one of the major 2024 UX/UI design trends that marketers should look out for, we should note that immersive scrolling is a graphic design trend that is not universal. It should be tailored to your business and support your marketing goals.
While it’s a great tool, ensure it aligns with your brand first!
2. Bold color choices
Of all the UX/UI trends for 2024 and predictions on this list, the use of bold color choices and designs like gradients that invoke a retro or nostalgic feeling is one that you’re probably familiar with.
Just like some 70s, 80s, 90s, and Y2K fashions are coming back in style, so too are those times’ color schemes and patterns. Specifically, design choices like bold, contrasting colors and gradients are making a big comeback in website design for UX/UI.
Gradients add a bit more motion and dynamism to otherwise flat colors. When integrated into your website design correctly, they’re a great UI trend for 2024 to attract eyes to your page and can make static elements feel more energized and meaningful.
With retro styles making a comeback, we can also expect bold color choices like neon contrasted with more muted colors to make an appearance too. Color schemes that invoke a feeling of nostalgia add another layer of personality to your website that draws people in, making this a UX trend for 2024 that you don’t want to miss out on.
3. 3D and animated visual elements
3D and animated visual elements can help draw more attention to static elements on your site. Like the effects of immersive scrolling, 3D and animated elements add movement (literally) to your website’s design and help hold users’ attention.
UX is enhanced with 3D elements by improving user interactions with the site and making it feel more memorable:
As an important note, though, 3D and animated visual elements should enhance and supplement other content on your website. Make sure these additions mesh with your static content and don’t take away from it.
Having unnecessary 3D graphics and animations can make your website overwhelming to users, but when it’s done right, you can create a memorable experience for website viewers that feels unique and out-of-the-box in the best way possible!
4. AR/VR
Over the last few years, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology have become more and more available to businesses. We think it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that AR/VR technology will be able to be utilized more by web designers looking to create an immersive website experience.
AR is real-world scenes that are augmented with computer-generated sound, graphics, and other input. VR is a computer-generated simulation of an environment. Both are incredibly immersive and can be useful to businesses looking to create a unique experience for their customers.
You can use AR and VR in lots of ways, like displaying products:
The commercialization of AR/VR tech is an exciting development that can be used to help create virtual interactions that merge with real life. It’s already used in fields like education, retail, and healthcare, so its increased use in marketing, graphic, and website design is no doubt closer to becoming a reality in 2024.
5. Personalization tools
Users appreciate buying and browsing experiences that feel personalized and geared toward them. Give customers that experience by adding personalization features to your site, like location-based recommendations and results or suggestions based on their browsing behavior.
In a world that’s increasingly shifting towards a digital landscape, it’s easy for users to feel like they are getting lost in a sea of data. Make them feel welcome to your site by adding these personalization features.
They may not be talking to you face-to-face, but it’ll feel like the next best option!
6. Dark and anti-light modes
If you have any social app settings switched to “Dark Mode,” you’ll recognize this UX/UI design trend that’s sure to have a larger presence on websites in 2024.
Dark mode, or anti-light mode, is a graphic design trend that truly puts users first. Rather than bright white backgrounds that are harsh on the eyes, dark mode is less saturated, making it easier to read content with ease.
For many users, websites with dark modes are more appealing because, especially at night, they cause much less eye strain than websites with text on light backgrounds. To implement this trend, you can implement darker hues to reduce eye strain and help with scrolling.
Whether your site’s background is dark or just a soft, off-white color, the harsh light design will have your users thanking you!
7. Increased accessibility
The user experience is all about accessibility. You want all customers to be able to navigate your site with ease and have an overall positive experience on your site.
You help users by increasing accessibility, starting with these ideas:
Rather than typing a query into your site’s search bar, users can easily speak it into whichever device they’re viewing your site from and search it from there. This is a great tool that helps visually impaired users better navigate your site and offers easy usability for everyone!
Mobile-first design
What can we say? We all love our phones, and so do customers. In 2024, make sure to build a website that prioritizes users who are viewing it from a mobile device like a phone or tablet. By making a mobile-first website, you create a seamless buying experience for customers no matter which device they view it from.
8. Kinetic type
The next UI design trend to note is kinetic type, also known as moving text. This text helps you capture attention, set your website’s tone, and convey your message in an appealing way.
Expert insights from
Keely YeagerSenior Web Designer
“We saw requests for [kinetic type] a few times in redesigns, and it’s been popular with the animation phase of builds. It grabs the user’s attention and adds a little wow to the site!”
Kinetic type doesn’t have to be super complex to have a powerful effect. Something simple as a slide-in animation as a user scrolls can make all the difference:
If you have certain points that you want to emphasize among other text, kinetic typography is a great way to go.
9. Gamification
Gamification involves adding interactive elements to a web design that encourage a user to complete a certain action. The idea is to make a typical website experience feel more like a game than a task to complete.
Expert insights from
Keely YeagerSenior Web Designer
“The idea [of gamification] is to get users engaged in the form that it feels like a game rather than a chore to get things entered.”
Think of Duolingo’s format. They use a map theme with different levels to help their users learn a new language and interact with the platform.
Some examples of gamification in web design include:
Badges
Rewards
Challenges
Quizzes
This UI trend is ideal for encouraging users to provide their contact information, demographic data, and preferences. You can make the process more fun while getting more information from site visitors.
10. Bento box design
Bento box design is another important 2024 UX trend. A bento box design places everything into neat little boxes that fit together. This design modernizes your website’s look and making it more appealing.
This example from RingConn shows how different website elements can be transformed into a bento-style:
More and more sites are using this style to make their content more eye-catching. In 2024 and beyond, you could try including some bento arrangements in your website to follow this trend.
11. Generative design
You’ve likely seen generative design online in the form of artificial intelligence (AI) art. But did you know you can use AI to create UX-friendly websites?
Generative design is becoming more popular as AI advances for creating websites. Instead of manually designing your website, you can use AI tools to help you with everything from formatting and icon selection to content creation.
AI is not a permanent replacement for human designers, but it can definitely help speed the process up. If you want to try generative design, there are plenty of tools for websites, such as:
These tools can help you stay up with UX design trends and cut the workload for your team!
12. Microinteractions
Closing out our list of UI design trends are microinteractions. Microinterations are subtle animations that support the user by giving visual feedback.
These small, purposeful interactions can improve UX and help them navigate your website. They accomplish all sorts of goals, from directing attention and encouraging engagement to guiding users through certain steps.
These interactions can be as simple as highlighting a button:
Some other examples of microinteractions include:
Text highlighting when you hover over it
An emoji appearing when you react to an item
A loading icon appearing after submitting a form
The more attention to detail you have for your website, the better your UX will be. Creating microinteractions is a necessary design task for making your website enjoyable!
We don’t want to tell you about the work we do, we want to SHOW you.
UX/UI design services are a must-have for any business looking to build a website customers will love — that’s where WebFX comes in.
WebFX offers UX/UI design services that can help you nail these 2024 UX/UI trends so you can start nurturing and converting leads. Not convinced? Check out our client testimonials that prove our dedicated UX/UI team can get the job done.
Abbey is a digital marketer, copywriter, and lead editor. She has worked on over 200 client campaigns and WebFX, and she specializes in marketing strategy analysis and industry-specific digital marketing plans. Outside of writing and editing, you’ll likely find her taking pictures of her cat, making a new playlist, or tending to her houseplants.
