How to Be on Trend in 2023

How to be on trend in 2023

2023 is all about engagement, exploration, and playfulness, and we’re here for it! 🤩 It's crucial to stay current and make your brand shine, especially on your website, which is a vital part of your digital presence. Whether you're planning to revamp your existing website or launch a new one, understanding the latest trends can help you create a website that's visually stunning, functional, and engaging. In this blog post, we'll delve into the top web design trends to keep an eye on in 2023.

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Nostalgia and the Y2K aesthetic

Looking back we’re turning old into new. For 2023 some sites are taking a good dose of energy from the past with textures, clip art styles, scrapbook and more nostalgia. By "turning old into new," designers are taking inspiration from the past and reinventing it in a modern way. This design trend is popular because it helps to create a unique and visually appealing website that stands out from the crowd.

Overall, the use of nostalgic design elements in web design is a way to create a sense of warmth and familiarity for users. It can also be an effective way to capture the attention of visitors and create a memorable experience.

Why Karpi loves it: Playful personality and warm 90s memories.

Home - Olivia Rodrigo

Pixelation

Fabian Barszcz for tonik - Dribbble

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Y2K Aesthetics

Grunge and grit of the 90s was ditched into the 2000s for the Y2K metalics and plastics, bright obnoxious colours, gradients and stickers! The Y2K fashion trend was popularized by the French fashion designer Christian Audigier. The style was in response to the Y2K scare and that it was meant to reflect the uncertainty of the future, this is being revived for modern web design.

Envato

XIZT Cybersecurity site

Why Karpi loves it: Reminds us of the Mean Girls film/burn book.

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Increased accessibility

Customisability and allowing the user to personalise their experience is hot this year. Accessibility is also more important than ever. Ensuring guidelines are followed so all users can enjoy your content is important, you can do this via sites like: Web Accessibility Solution for ADA Compliance & WCAG - accessiBe  which help check the accessibility of your website.

Why Karpi loves it: The web is for everyone

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Micro-animations

Bring your site to life and surprise and delight your users with beautiful, small animations! Animation not only looks good, it’s helpful to have users understand the intended action to take, draw attention to elements and guide the user through your website.

Duda Microanimations Blog post

Why Karpi loves it: Unexpected delight is always welcome! ✨

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Text only layouts

Text alone can be enough to make a statement. Some sites are moving away from using imagery or video in the hero section to move solely to a text only design seen here. Large size contrast between elements guides the user through the hierarchy of your content and ensure it gets read, as there’s no other visual distraction.

https://www.awwwards.com/inspiration/contact-text-scramble-contekst

Why Karpi loves it: Clean and crisp. Obvious what to look at.

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AI / Metaverse

The trend continues into 2023 as AI builds more momentum behind it. AI is used within design to create all sorts of wonderful things and saves time and labor. It’s able to create beautiful imagery, perform tasks, write copy and content and much more. Vibrant gradients, glows, 3D and neon colours are still growing in 2023.

A very cool example being Totem:

https://totem.itsoffbrand.com/

Why Karpi loves it: AI and Metaverse is the future, and it’s really cool to design anything neon and glowing.

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Scrapbook aesthetics

Linking into the fun and filled with personality overarching vibe of 2023 and the overstimulation theme, this scrapbook aesthetic feels rough around the edges, fun and may remind you of art classes in school! A digital scrapbook! More is more!

https://www.awwwards.com/inspiration/some-fun-on-the-home-page-breakfast

Why Karpi loves it: Fun, fun, fun!

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Overstimulation

Weird is in. This style of website aims to delight by standing out and being a little different, this makes the site super memorable. It goes for maximalism and usually involves bright colours, animation, flashing imagery, oversized text and lots of elements on the screen at once. It’s an immersive experience. It’s important to ensure that the site experience for the user is not overwhelming and that the designer has thoughtfully considered the placement of elements and ensures the website is still easy to use.

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Seter Design | Bootcamp

Why Karpi loves it: Maximum creativity, not much is off the table

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Custom typefaces

Providing it’s readable by the user we say add that personality! A custom typeface or use of a quirky ‘Display’ typeface for the main header of your website can add a huge dose of impact when a new user visits your website! Check out his wobbly example from Visuely:

https://www.awwwards.com/inspiration/canobis-psychedelic-typeface

Why Karpi loves it: Major impact and personality for your brand.

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3d interactions and motion

3 dimensional space allows the user to see and live your product in full glory. It creates depth and immersion, great for highlighting a walk through of a product use case or different areas of a product.

https://www.fooom.eu/

Why Karpi loves it: Clear product and service storytelling.

Delighting users

Concept and storytelling have never been more important, and can be what set your brand apart from the competition. A beautiful example of how to add delight can be seen in BOOST, electric gradients, massive fruit, 3D objects and text copy that makes you laugh. We love the 1 star review from the ex 🤣:

https://takeboost.com/

Why Karpi loves it: Memorable and unexpected. I’ve remembered this site since I first saw it ^ 🔥🍊

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The 2023 Wrap-up

This year is all about personality, fun and playfulness. It’s a year of uncertainty, exploration and pushing boundaries. Ensure that your users understand the action to take, that the site has clear information hierarchy and the eye can be guided through key information and everything can be found. Ensure your site is accessible to all that may use it including those with disabilities and make your site yours, make it super personal and represent your brand fully in the most fun way possible!

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Reach out to the team at Karpi studio today to see how we can help overhaul your online presence: info@karpi.studio

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