Are you curious why the discussion about web elements and the latest trends in modern website design is so popular nowadays? Referring to the statistic report released by Internet World Stats, the number of internet users as of March 2021 has reached more than 5 billion in the world. Facing the fact that the world has gone online in many aspects, the use of websites for various needs will, of course, grow swiftly. From grocery-store delivery to BTS video streaming, accessing websites will be the basic thing people do when employing the internet.

Since users shift their attention to the internet and surf from one website to another, they must expect a comprehensive online experience. To further satisfy users’ expectations, you undoubtedly need a more engaging web design. That’s why today’s designer is compelled to update their insights about the latest modern web elements and trends in website design. In addition, effective web design not only creates a gorgeous visual but also optimizes SEO.

However, with so many references outside, finding inspiration about web elements or trends in website design could be overwhelming sometimes. For that reason, we are eager to help you narrow down the right element option for your modern website design. Thus, keep reading this handy review to get some cognizance.

What Exactly Are Web Elements in Website Design?

Web elements in website design are interpreted as a fundamental aspect. It means that the elements are the primary principle that determines whether a website can have a good online presence or not. Moreover, the use of specific elements in the web design will further accelerate the success of a branding process. This is why some websites can win the audience’s attention easily, while others are ignored. 

The Modern Web Elements and Trends in Website Design 

To ensure your web design stays relevant to current trends, know the essence of each element below. Keep in mind that the improper use of them will only lead your users to get cluttered experiences. Due to this fact, it is crucial to boosting website performance by utilizing only particular elements—ones that fit your site’s needs.

Remarkable Typography

For branding purposes, every company or brand must have a typography style that becomes their hallmark. The use of particular fonts can help users to identify one business with another. Fortunately, access to various typefaces is straightforward this day. Thus, web designers can easily create a brand identity through typography.

As a part of the web elements in website design, unique typography also helps designers establish a good visual hierarchy. Hence, visitors can distinguish each section on the page without any trouble. Whether it’s a difference in font sizes or a combination of typefaces, typography will help you build a more enjoyable online experience for users.

However, make sure your typeface of choice gives a definite subtle hint you want to deliver for your business character. Is it an informational or formal one? Or, is the website fun or serious? On top of that, it would be better not to choose typography that doesn’t get support from common computers or browsers. The reason is that your font display will look strange, making it harder for users to perceive the web persona.

Semi-flat Design

Discussing modern websites and their latest trends, semi-flat design is one of the key elements many designers utilize today. Simply put, the definition of flat design refers to a non-three-dimensional display. 

In other words, there is no visual perception, such as shadows or gradients, in flat design, something you normally find on the 3D one. However, semi-flat designs still feature some realistic touches to capture a 3D feel in the result.

Why is flat design considered helpful in building the image of a website? The most obvious reason is that flat design makes websites load faster and also helps to create an easier-to-read user interface. 

Responsive and Engaging Hero Images 

Hero images will never go wrong with your modern web design. This full-width image is usually placed in the center or front web page. Because of this, hero images regard as the same as larger banner images. In some websites, the hero image is set under the navigation bar too.

Exactly, why is hero image essential? This web element serves several purposes in website development. First and foremost, a hero image can help increase conversions by influencing user opinions of a company. However, choosing the most appropriate hero image for a site is not an easy task. Whether it is dynamic (animations or videos) or static, your hero image must represent the company details in-depth. Therefore, you need to research first which one can meet your web design goals.

What is more, your hero image option should be available in high resolution for a more captivating appearance. The web page’s loading time must be improved so that you can still display the hero image perfectly during a slow internet connection.

Hamburger Menu 

Long menu is one of the web elements available in various design options. It can immediately take users to their desired section. However, the long menu design consumes a lot of space and is not efficient. Meanwhile, a hidden style one like a hamburger menu can be effective in increasing the conversion rate. This kind of menu option can give users more intuitive navigation and also saves more space.

Of all the names, why is it called hamburger? The answer is to use your imagination when perceiving this menu option. Coming with three stacks of lines, this type of menu looks like a hamburger arrangement—two buns with a patty set in the midst. Then, how is the hamburger menu beneficial for modern web design? 

The peculiarity of a modern website is its clear and streamlined look. Hence, this menu option will give web designers a fruitful approach to manage distraction-free navigation. Most of all, hamburger menus can provide users with a more straightforward path when finding the destination page.

High-quality Product Images 

Image is another fundamental element that brings life into a web design. Instead of depending on heavy blocks of words, users will find it easier to engage with visual perception. That’s why high-quality product images are a must for websites, particularly for Business-to-business (B2B) companies. Not only does it increase your site’s visibility, but it also builds engagement with users who can relate to the posted images.

Adding high-quality product images to the websites also enhances the interface and helps to clarify texts. In some cases, users cannot fully understand text content on the website. Therefore, we need images to clear the air about the text’s meaning.

Another reason why top-quality product images should be in your web design arsenal is that it increases customer trust. The better the image quality, the higher the customer trust. The application of high-quality images will also send potential customers messages about how much effort the company puts into the web design. Most importantly, this element can depict the characteristics of modern web design.

Background and Feature Videos 

The automatically-playing background videos will become a brilliant way to entice your visitors. Right after visitors landing on your website, the video will give them a detailed overview of your company. Furthermore, the video can help trigger click-throughs by visitors without adding any texts. 

On the other hand, a study has found that the human brain is 60,000 times faster at processing messages from video than text. That scientific result also explains why consuming video on the website will be much easier than accessing heavy blocks of texts.

Aside from background videos, a feature (short) video has become one of the significant web elements in modern web design. Web designers usually embed short videos to bring out the specific details of the company. Feature videos also do not overwhelm visitors because it only aims to provide experience in specific cases. For instance, you can make a short video containing how easy to change the image or color in your template. This kind of video, guaranteed, will give a deep impact on your potential customer’s decision.

Card Design 

A card design is one of the most popular ways to convey the company’s key points on the websites. It helps you distribute the information in a more visually pleasing and captivating way without overwhelming your interface appearance. 

Moreover, card design can be an easy solution to emphasize two or more products at once. Nevertheless, bearing in mind that the use of unsuitable card design options will only make you fail to achieve your design goals. Therefore, pay attention to the size, number, and responsiveness of your chosen design card. Make sure they can meet the website needs optimally.

White Space

The white space is one of the features in building a minimalist, modern web design. However, now this element is widely applied to support an effective website framework too. To make the most of white space, designers must balance the use of videos, links, and text. Thus, you can draw the key point of your company without creating conflicts between other web design elements.

White space doesn’t have strict standards about the right amount of applying it on the website. Most of all, white space is a brilliant way to help visitors find what they are truly looking for. For instance, give white space between the videos and product images that you feature on the top homepage. That’s because if your visitors cannot find what they’re looking for on the website, the click-through or conversions opportunities will not be brought to a close.

Speed Optimization

There’s no point in having a content-rich website if the page loading time is terrible. Because of that, users may not achieve a satisfactory online experience. As a result, your conversion chances will decrease as well. For this reason, it is crucial to optimize the speed of your website, making the page load time shorter when accessing content.

Speed optimization will touch many elements in web design too. For example, PNG images present better image quality than JPEGs. However, the resolution of PNG images is larger than JPEGs, which can affect the loading time. Considering that fact, using JPEG images will be a better option. That is because the JPEGs provide a good balance between quality and speed. In addition, you can try compressing files uploaded on the website to reduce page load time.

Regarding the survey conducted by Google, the higher the load time, the higher the bounce rate. Increasing page load time between 1-10 seconds, for example, will make your website experience a bounce rate growth of up to 123 percent. That is why investing in speed optimization will bring an extensive impact on your conversion rate.

Mobile-Friendly Layout

A mobile-friendly layout is one of the essential web elements in building an innovative modern website. In former times, the initial generation of websites focused more on desktop needs with larger screen sizes. On the contrary, today’s web design must be able to meet the requirements of mobile devices. That’s why mobile-friendly layouts are essential for contemporary websites.

To create mobile-friendly layouts, you certainly need a responsive web design. The definition of responsive here will refer to the ability of web elements to resize and rescale automatically when accessed through all types of user’s devices. Furthermore, according to a report released by Statista, website traffic worldwide through mobile devices as of April 2021 reached 54.8 percent. The trend is expected to rise due to the massive use of mobile devices in modern society nowadays.

Therefore, ensure not only to create sites that are desktop-friendly but also responsive to mobile screens. That is because if the global website traffic through mobile access is more than 50%, it means that you have a chance to lose half of your potential customers due to not-so-mobile-friendly websites. 

Conclusion

Perform back-to-back evaluations to determine the performance of your implemented web elements. On top of that, get the latest web element references by visiting the Aqr Studio website. You can find everything to enrich your modern website projects, from mobile app templates to dashboard UI concepts.