It’s no surprise, then, that many aspects of design moved in diverse directions. Physical activities like work, education, dating, and shopping have migrated online. The metaverse, a speculative virtual world navigated by our avatars, is moving full steam ahead. (At least brands seem to think so.) The web—and by extension, the way it’s designed—became as much a part of real-life as the physical world. And despite the fact that we know more about the pandemic than before, it’s unlikely that we will return to the “normal” conditions of life and design anytime soon. Certainly not in 2022—it looks like some changes are here to stay.
We don’t have a crystal ball to predict how the precarity of our moment will impact web design in the coming year, but we do have the next best thing—leading designers from across the industry. With their help, we’ve analyzed what’s happening in terms of design, innovation, and culture, and forecast some of the biggest trends you can expect in 2022.
1. Dark Mode
Your phone’s dark mode feature saves battery and is perceived to be easier on the eyes, but it can also be a graphic move that creates visual interest—all important factors considering how our screen time has increased over the past 18 months. Monochromatic websites are becoming increasingly popular, used by brands like Apple, WeTransfer, and Spotify, and by studios like Pentagram for the Moholy-Nagy Foundation. Dark mode options are being used by personal websites and social media sites as well—Twitter has “dim” and “lights out” options.
“The internet has become very busy and with so many things competing for attention, circling back to a more pared-back visual aesthetic feels like a natural progression,” said Brandon Levesque, Art Director at Cusp, a collective made up of agencies from across Europe and North America. “Dark mode can act as a subtle easter egg on the site to peak the user’s sense of discovery.” As it becomes an option on most devices, we will start to see it trickle down to other aspects of the digital design space, like sites that take an editorial approach or place primary focus on photography.
2. Evolution of Corporate Memphis
Over the past several years, major tech companies like Airbnb, Hinge, and Airtable have adopted THE now-ubiquitous, abstracted, flat illustration style inspired by the postmodern Memphis movement from the 80s. The style’s popularity means that while it may not go away anytime soon, it is due for a shakeup: there’s increasing criticism that tech companies use the generic figures to appear more human-centered and friendly, despite their contradictory policies and business practices.
Indian e-retailer Flipkart’s figures feature characteristics from an array of backgrounds, University of the Arts London’s whimsical humanoid forms, and this recent Chipotle ad featuring music by Kacey Musgraves, are examples of how this trend might evolve.
Writer and strategist Samantha Culp predicts that future-forward companies will begin to take risks, updating the Corporate Memphis color palette and leaning into “jewel-toned psychedelia and cosmic art, lesser-known figures from Impressionism and Expressionist art, art nouveau (and the way art nouveau is influencing Solarpunk, and just more ‘pastiche’ of various clashing styles and periods all at once.”
3. Typographic Landing Pages
Bold, prominent, and expressive typography will continue its reign over landing pages. While this trend made waves in 2021 as well—see Gawker’s relaunched website, DIA Studio’s type system for the Chaumont Biennale 2021, and Harry Styles’ beauty brand Pleasing—it will evolve to include many different kinds of applications, from portfolios and brand websites to online publications and microsites.
“In the last few years a lot of big brands have begun investing in their own type systems because they understood that typography is a powerful way to convey the brand’s tonality and persona,” said Laura Scofield, strategist and creative lead at<> January.ai. Scofield adds that this trend can be interpreted as a throwback to modernist posters, Penguin’s iconic book covers, and movie titles like Wes Anderson’s use of typography as a storytelling device in his films. “Prominently displaying type has always been part of graphic design, but now more and more brands and companies are leveraging it on the web,” she said.
4. Preparing for the Metaverse
The metaverse is here and brands and designers alike will have to urgently prepare for the opportunities and challenges it brings with it. There is a slew of recent examples: Nike acquired RTFKT Studios, a virtual fashion startup that makes NFTs and digital sneakers, Adobe bought Substance, a 3D-texturing app used for game and film production, audiences tuned into virtual concerts on Fortnight, and Facebook rebranded to Meta and is investing heavily in AR and VR. Brands, entertainment, and the corporate world will be unrecognizable very soon—Bill Gates predicted that within three years most office meetings will take place via avatars.
As the future arrives more quickly than expected, 2022 will see companies building interaction design teams and coming up with strategies to succeed in the era of extended reality. “It’s hard to imagine that only some 30 years ago, there were no interaction designers,” said Adhiraj Singh, a San Francisco-based art director and interaction designer whose clients include Red Bull and Microsoft. “But today interaction designers are considered the architects of digital experiences that we use to work, game, network, entertain, travel, and even fall in love.”
5. Deeper Collaboration
What we’ve learned about remote work so far is that despite its challenges, it has tremendous possibilities for productivity as well as collaboration. And as more and more industries continue to work remotely, tools that support teamwork will take on a more human-centered approach. Frameworks like Figma, Miro, and Google Workspace are constantly innovating on improving collaboration, while digital design workshops like Open Collab and collaborative web development platforms like Editor X will transform how hybrid or remote design work takes place.
“Even without the pandemic, collaboration is a standard that enables agencies to work efficiently and smoothly. But the workflow in agencies today is quite linear,” said Na’ama Ben-Oliel Ronan, product team lead at Editor X. “On most websites and production platforms, designing together is either impossible or awfully limited. So we’ll start to see the creation process becoming much more parallel.”
