12 website design trends for 2025 and beyond.

It’s that time of year again. So we’re going to share our take on the biggest and best web design trends for 2025.

Let’s preface this post by saying we don’t advocate being slaves to fashion. Some website trends are destined to come and go. Nevertheless, your business website needs to look contemporary and up-to-date.

75% of website users judge business credibility based on its web design. And it’s easy to fall behind the times, with the average website lasting just two years and seven months.

Keeping an eye on the latest web trends helps you identify issues with your business website. It can provide inspiration for site improvements — and give you some ideas to share with your web design and development agency.

So, let’s look to the future. Here are 12 web design trends you can expect to see over the coming year.

12 web design trends for 2025

What does the future hold for the world of web design? If you want to improve your website in 2025, take inspiration from these modern website design trends.

Bespoke visuals

In 2025, stock visuals are out. And bespoke animations and illustrations are very much in.

Stock visuals have been overused. They’ve contributed to a sense of sameness across websites. And when everyone is using the same graphics, it’s much harder to make your brand stand out.

So over the coming year, we expect to see more and more web designers opting for custom web graphics, designed specifically for each brand and website.

As well as unique animation and illustration, we expect to see more examples of:

• 3D graphics
• Neumorphism (a subtle technique used to create a 3D-style interface)
• Custom video animation

These techniques help to create immersive website experiences. They’re exciting to look at and they’re great for building brand identity.

Dynamic cursors

Another top web design trend for 2025 is the dynamic cursor. Dynamic cursors change shape or colour — or alter their behaviour — based on user interactions.

The cursor may change into a different icon when hovering over a particular link. Or it may alter the website background as a user moves the cursor around.

Creative cursor designs make a fun and playful addition to a website. They can increase user engagement. And they’re another opportunity to build brand personality into your website design.

But this is a modern web trend that you need to use with caution. User experience — not pretty design — should always be the priority. Go overboard and users may struggle to navigate your site.

So however cool a dynamic cursor looks, ensure it adds value for website users — and doesn’t get in their way.

The rise and rise of AI

AI is yet to replace web developers. But it is changing how we build websites. It’s making web development faster and more efficient.

So, in 2025, we’re expecting to see more developers and designers using no and low-code website builders, like WebFlow. These platforms will make design suggestions and they’ll help developers write code more quickly.

Websites will use AI in other ways, too. AI chatbots will continue to provide customer service. But they’ll become more useful and sound more natural than they have done in the past.

Websites will also use AI to analyse user behaviour and preferences. They’ll track user behaviour, looking at the pages they visit, the products they view and how long they spend on the site.

Then, they’ll tailor the content shown to these users, picking the most relevant products and content — and predicting what a user is likely to need next.

In some cases, AI will dynamically adjust a website’s appearance, changing its layout and colour schemes for different users.

Colour schemes

Warm, earthy colours and bright pastels are having a moment. Pantone has highlighted these shades in its colour trend reports for London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week.

WGSN, the consumer trend forecaster, has predicted that soothing Transcendent Pink along with futuristic, neon tones like Future Dusk, Aquatic Awe and Sunset Coral will prove popular this year.

So how will web designers put these colour schemes into action? We predict that monochromatic websites will maintain their popularity.

This is where a web designer uses a single colour plus a contrasting shade of that colour as the basis for a site. And it’s a great way to set a strong mood.

Of course, it’s worth remembering that when deciding on a colour scheme for your website, you should look beyond this season’s trends. Trends will come and go. But the colours you use on your website should always have a meaningful connection to your brand identity and values.

Sustainable website design

People are waking up to the fact that every website has a carbon footprint. So another of the top web trends for 2025 is going to be sustainable design.

That means using green hosting providers — companies that invest in renewable energy sources and use energy-efficient data centres.

It also means cleaning up website code. Developers will be working to get rid of unnecessary scripts, minimise file sizes and use efficient coding practices.

This will reduce the energy it takes to transfer a site from server to browser. It’ll also improve site performance and site speed, which is great news for web users.

Cinematic visuals

Another of the latest trends in web design? Cinematic visuals. We’ll be seeing a style of sweeping, immersive visual in the hero section of a website, as part of modern homepage design.

The hero section is the bit people see when they land on a homepage before they start scrolling. And it’s where users spend 80% of their time.

These visuals can come in many different formats — photography, video, 3D web graphics or typography. But in 2025, we expect them to pack a punch.

They’ll take up the whole screen, grabbing the eye and eliminating distractions. They’ll also do a really good job of building an emotional connection between brands and their customers from the very first interaction.

Dark mode

Dark mode is something many website users have come to expect. And it’s a website design trend that isn’t going away.

When dark mode is enabled on a website, the usual colours are inverted. Instead of a light background with dark text, we get a dark background with light text.

Some people just prefer to use dark mode. But providing this option for users isn’t just about website visuals and personalisation.

It’s also a practical choice. Dark mode can reduce eye strain when looking at a screen. It can make text more readable. It can also save battery power on OLED screens.

So in modern website design, more and more sites will allow users to toggle between dark and light themes. We’ll also see sites that automatically detect user preferences; for users who prefer a dark theme, dark mode will launch as soon as a website loads.

Horizontal and dynamic scrolling

Web designers have been playing around with dynamic and horizontal scrolling for a couple of years now. But in 2025, it’s something we expect to see a lot more of.

Horizontal scrolling reveals content placed to the left or right of the main window. Users swipe, click or use arrows to scroll horizontally across the page.

Dynamic scrolling is often used on single-page websites. It incorporates techniques like:

• scroll-triggered animations — where visual effects are triggered as a user moves down the web page
• parallax scrolling — where background images move slower than foreground content, creating an illusion of depth
• content reveals — where images or text only appear as a user scrolls down a page

These alternative styles of website scrolling are sleek and stylish — and they’re great at engaging users. In fact, 60% of website users are more likely to scroll to the end of a web page if it includes interactive scroll-triggered animations.

Horizontal and dynamic scrolling help you to tell a brand story and guide users through your website. These techniques also create a memorable user experience, which means your brand is more likely to stick in the minds of users.

Thumb-friendly design

Over 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. A thumb — and not a desktop mouse — is now a website visitor’s tool of choice.

So in 2025, web designers will be looking for ways to make responsive websites even more user-friendly. They’ll be ensuring that websites work beautifully across all devices.

That means uncluttered, minimalist and intuitive design. And sites with a clear, well-spaced layout. Web designers will also pay attention to thumb zone mapping.

The thumb zone is the part of a mobile device screen that users can reach easily, even if they’re holding their phone and scrolling one-handed.

Key interactive elements — like calls to action (CTAs) — should be within easy reach of the thumb zone. This tends to be the bottom centre and mid-screen on most devices.

It’s also important that buttons are big and well-spaced enough to be clicked without causing accidental taps.

Advanced micro-interactions

Another web design trend for the coming year? Micro-interactions, which will become a must-have, not a nice-to-have, in 2025.

Micro-interactions are a type of website animation technique. They’re subtle animations that provide real-time, visual feedback to users as they interact with your website.

For example, a clickable icon may change appearance when a user hovers their cursor over it. Or a call to action button could animate to show that a user action has been successful.

Micro-interactions are engaging for users. And they give users a greater sense of control as they browse your website. They also improve user experience by guiding user attention, preventing user errors and communicating a little more of your brand personality.

These micro-interactions are proving so popular that sites without them now seem static and boring. But it’s all about balance. Use micro-interactions subtly and sensitively to avoid confusing your users.

Augmented and virtual reality

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) allow website users to explore your site in new and exciting ways. And they’re becoming a more mainstream feature of contemporary website design.

Both are highly immersive formats that can engage users in ways that a traditional interface can’t. So what does that look like in practice?

Augmented reality. Apps and sites that use AR show users a real-world image. This image is then overlaid with digital visuals.

Virtual reality. Apps and sites that use VR show users a completely virtual environment. They use audio and visuals to transport a user to a simulated reality.

AR is a useful tool for e-commerce stores. Users can combine real and digital images to try on sunglasses — or to see what a particular paint colour looks like on their living room wall.

Sephora uses AR to help users try on makeup products from home. This creates a memorable shopping experience and gives users the product insight they need to make a purchase.

With VR, users can explore 3D spaces and interact with virtual products. VR is also useful for virtual product demos, where users can interact with and explore products in detail.

Accessibility

Last, but by no means least, on our list of website design trends for 2025 is accessibility.

Many websites are already striving to be more accessible. But with user expectations and legal requirements changing, this has never been more important.

There are 16 million disabled people in the UK. And that’s before we consider other people who may struggle to access and use a website. That includes:

• the elderly
• people with a temporary disability like a broken arm or a lost pair of glasses
• people who are using your website in imperfect conditions — for example, a place with bright sunlight, lots of noise or a slow internet connection
• people who are using a non-standard device like a smart TV or a smart watch

Accessible design ensures that a website is easy for everyone to use. That means optimising for voice search and voice-operated commands. It means providing text-to-speech, alt text and video caption features. It also means ensuring that all elements on your site are easy to understand and navigate.

Web design looking outdated? Get a modern website that works harder for your business.

We hope these web design ideas have given you inspiration for your own site. And if you’re worried that your website is more old-hat than on-trend, we can help with a website redesign.

The Radical team will ensure that fundamentals like responsiveness and accessibility are in place. We can also incorporate web design trends like bespoke visuals, micro-interactions and dynamic scrolling.

The end result? An exciting user experience that customers will remember. Improved website traffic and conversions. And a brand that stands out from the competition, thanks to a well-designed, well-functioning modern website.

Time for a redesign? Let’s chat about your website project! Get in touch with the Radical team today.