Web design significantly impacts a visitor’s initial perception of your business, with an impressive 95% of first impressions being shaped by it. High-quality design can significantly enhance your sales figures. As a result, integrating contemporary web design into your marketing strategy is more crucial than ever. What are the upcoming trends in web design for 2025, and how can you leverage them to revitalize your website?Discover 10 modern web design trends to inspire your website refresh this year! Seeking further inspiration for modern web design and digital marketing? Subscribe to one of our email newsletters!
Illustrations are vital in bringing your brand and website to life. For 2025’s modern web design, inspiration is drawn from print publishing and traditional art forms, moving away from generic stock images.Custom illustrations are not only unique to your brand but also contribute to brand recognition, as they resonate with your brand’s style.Example: Renowned illustrator Alice Lee has designed custom illustrations for brands such as Macy’s and The Washington Post. Her website’s header changes as you move your cursor, creating an engaging experience.
Her art has sparked a trend of custom illustrations that evoke a storybook-like feel for brands.
With enhanced coding abilities, illustrations are evolving beyond 2D designs. Digital designs are incorporating 3D illusions, adding depth to the web. For instance:
Gradient shading that slowly transitions between colors
Digital cut-out styles that mimic paper-cut designs
3D cursor interactions that engage users
Full-page headers are a must-have for modern web design in 2025. Designers can experiment with header variations, but a common setup includes adding key text or CTA buttons to the left and eye-catching images to the right, as readers tend to focus on the top-left of the page.Example: Discord’s website, which offers a voice and text chat app for gamers, demonstrates this effectively. They use a fun and quirky image on the right and highlight their paid service benefits on the left, with clear CTA buttons guiding users to take action.
Discord organizes site elements into cards, making information sleek, easy to find, and read, while maintaining an engaging atmosphere.This approach creates a sense of playful sophistication on the site.Parallax scrolling is another modern web design trend for 2025. This technique allows the site to tell a story as users scroll, revealing more content with each movement.Example: The Goonies story site showcases how parallax scrolling can make content interactive and fun.
Background videos can also be incorporated into dynamic scrolling, triggering animations and making images appear magical.Modern website design is embracing minimalism with the trend of purposeful white space, reminiscent of print magazines. White space guides visitors through the site, establishing a visual hierarchy and allowing viewers’ eyes to rest.It aids comprehension by defining relationships between page elements and helps users identify the site’s hierarchy, improving user experience (UX).Example: Myles Nguyen’s digital portfolio, as a web and interaction designer, demonstrates how white space can be used thoughtfully to guide viewers to important information.
This example redefines minimalism with the thoughtful use of white space, allowing viewers to comfortably navigate the site.Modern websites often feature interactive cursors that enhance the user experience.In 2025, playful cursors can be as simple as changing the cursor shape or as complex as coding cursor-triggered animations.Either way, visitors will enjoy engaging with unique cursors.Example: Paolo Fornasier’s online portfolio has an impressive cursor setup that displays different photos with a rippling animation and a piano tone when hovering over text in the navigation menu.
The playful animation encourages users to spend time exploring the navigation menu. Unique cursor elements can add flair to your website.Sound effects can also be incorporated, adding another layer of engagement.In 2020, modern web design trends focused on humans, and this will become even more important in 2025. Your site’s UX must be seamless, engaging, and uninterrupted. This means:
Fast page load times
Minimal clutter
Scannable, relevant SEO content
Multimedia integration
Web designers blend creativity with functionality to create a great UX, emphasizing clean design while maintaining creativity and uniqueness.Top web designers inject a touch of chaos into the sterile world of technology. Alongside UX, your site’s user interface (UI) must be intuitive in 2025. This means:
Voice-enabled interfaces
Image captions
Video transcriptions
No distracting elements
Balanced motion design
Enhance your site’s UX/UI by:
Providing easy-to-read and easy-to-use interfaces
Appealing to the aesthetic preferences of your audience
It’s also crucial to note that mobile browsing will become even more prevalent in 2025 compared to 2021. Over 50% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, and this number is expected to rise.A successful modern web design in 2025 requires all elements to seamlessly translate to both desktop and mobile. Mobile responsive animation and videography will become increasingly important for web design.Example: Chobani’s sleek mobile design demonstrates how to effectively cater to mobile users, making full use of white space and featuring easily scannable content with captivating images of their products.
Chobani’s CTA banner at the bottom of the screen is easy to click, making it simple for users to sign up for exclusive yogurt offers.Modern web designers will continue to experiment with grids in 2025, with an asymmetric layout potentially becoming even more popular.Example: Jingqi Fan’s online portfolio showcases how an asymmetric layout can be functional, with plenty of white space and a minimalist style highlighting project images while keeping the site fresh and engaging.
CSS Grid Layout, a 2D grid system for CSS, allows modern web designers to create complex responsive layouts more easily and consistently across browsers, bringing the capabilities of print layout to the web.Many top modern web designers are using CSS Grid Layout to achieve a clean, organized aesthetic, and it continues to gain momentum as a top web design trend for 2025.Using an image as the entire header is becoming increasingly popular among modern websites, making a statement and engaging users immediately.Example: Adidas uses a bold image to draw users in, leveraging the power of Beyoncé to create a striking contrast and featuring two CTA buttons guiding users to the next step in their site exploration.
Finally, modern websites in 2025 will excel at storytelling. To create a meaningful connection with your site and brand, it’s crucial to master the art of storytelling in your content and advertising campaigns.Example: Every Last Drop’s website is a prime example of a story-telling website, using parallax scrolling to raise awareness about water waste in a memorable way.
