If you were around during the 90s, you’ll vividly remember the iconic trends that the decade brought us.
Design trends come and go, and looking back, there are a few we probably should have left on the drawing board. What once felt cutting edge or “clean” now feels clunky, confusing or downright irritating. Thankfully, design has matured and many of these fads have (rightfully) faded into history. Here’s our round-up of web design trends from the 2010s that we’ve definitely learned from the hard way:
Parallax Scrolling
Cast your mind back a few years and parallax scrolling was all the rage. This trend was intended to add depth to a web design by making background and foreground elements scroll at different speeds, sometimes flying in from random places and creating a very unique experience. While it felt impressive at first, it quickly became a usability nightmare, especially for mobile users. Parallax scrolling often slowed down loading times and distracted users from the content itself, so it’s no wonder that this once trend became a design fad very quickly!
Overly Minimalist Navigation
Minimal design can be beautiful, but when site navigation becomes a puzzle, it stops being user friendly. Hiding menus, removing labels or relying entirely on mysterious icons that weren’t obviously call-to-actions, left users feeling lost and ultimately, led to high bounce rates and low customer retention. Simplicity and minimalist design can be fantastic for ecommerce and lead generation sites, but only when it makes the customer journey easier, not harder. And with the rise of Google’s EEAT framework which takes into consideration things like site navigation, user experience, behavior and ease of use, it quickly became clear that this trend was best left in the past.
Popup Overload
From newsletter sign-ups to discount offers, cookie banners and live chat windows, the 2010s brought with it a tidal wave of popup boxes. When first introduced as lead generation tools, these popups were not used sparingly! Often bombarding users the second they landed on a site and leaving users feeling more disrupted than aided. This trend certainly taught us that timing and relevance are everything when it comes to successful web design.
Carousels & Sliders
Does anyone remember the huge carousels and sliders that would take up half of the homepage? While they were designed to showcase lots of content without clutter, in reality, most users ignored them or never made it past the first slide. Sliders often hurt website performance and make mobile browsing clunky. Nowadays, it’s more about prioritising one strong message than having five weaker ones rotating in and out of the homepage. Be concise and you’re much more likely to get your brand message across!
Illegible Typography
Creative fonts, ultra-light typefaces and poor contrast choices might have looked “cool” back in the day but they definitely made reading a pain. Accessibility took a back seat to aesthetics and it showed. Today’s designers know that legibility is non-negotiable and website designers now opt for strong contrasts between text and background and use fonts that aren’t so creative they can’t be read. We definitely think this is a step in the right direction that’s for sure!
Complex Animations
As technology and software became more and more advanced, animation was everywhere! Animated loading icons, bouncing icons, hover effects were commonplace for web designers. But we soon realised that when everything moves, nothing stands out. These effects often cause lag, break up the user journey and distract more than the delight. Today, subtle animations go much further than the bells and whistles of yesteryear.
Trends may come and go, but good website design always puts the user first. While these trends offered some memorable (and occasionally painful) web experiments, they taught us valuable lessons. It’s clear that simplicity does not have to sacrifice usability, and creativity works best when paired with functionality, always putting the user journey at the forefront of design. As we move forward, it is these principles that continue to shape smarter web design and more engaging digital experiences.
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