It is not new that covid has a major impact on the event industry, but the impact goes beyond that. Also in areas where you would not expect, such as the design of websites. Our collective longing for the way it once was is reflected in online design trends. In this article I take you to 5 online design trends in 2021 for your event website.

Trend 1: Pastels

One of the most striking expressions of our longing for the past is the use of colours. And I’m not talking about a longing for 2019 in which everything was still normal. No, we are really going back in time.

Not so long ago, colors on a website were allowed to be nice and bright and striking, sometimes even swearing with each other. That will change in 2021. We increasingly see pastel colors that (to me anyway) immediately remind us of bacon, fruit hearts and M&M’s Chocolate Eggs. Try resisting that sweet temptation! By the way, we use pastel colors as the background color of a page or block of text; the color of text and buttons are contrasting and ‘harder’.

Online design trends 2021: Voorbeeld van een website met pastelkleuren
Pastels on website https://jellypepper.com

Trend 2: Serif Fonts

In the early days of the web, web designers invariably chose sans serif fonts because they were specifically designed for use on screens. Because of the lower resolution, there is a chance that the serifs of sans serif fonts would disappear and the letters will therefore not be displayed nicely and legibly.

Over the years, computer screens have gotten better and better, and retina and 4K displays are no exception. As a result, we can now also use sans serif fonts with confidence. We prefer to choose this only for the titles, this also creates a nice contrast between the titles and the regular text.

Online design trends 2021: Voorbeeld van een website met geschreefd lettertype

Serif header on website https://www.charlieosborne.co

Trend 3: Organic shapes

Where buttons and photos had right angles for a while, we have been seeing a shift towards rounded shapes for a while and that goes on and on. Buttons that have not yet been adjusted are still given rounded corners and we use photos and images in organic shapes and where possible provided with an animation.

Fun fact: did you know that people have a fear of right angles? We unconsciously associate them with danger and we feel safer with rounded corners (long live evolution!).

Voorbeeld van een website met geschreefd lettertype

Organic shapes on website https://alphafoods.de

Trend 4: Gifs

You love it or you hate it: gifs. Anyway, in 2021 it is allowed to use them in your (event) communication – if you do it in moderation. The (irritating) moving images are particularly suitable for giving the duller pages on your event website a hip twist. Or, of course, to stand out from your target audience, if it suits your organization.

Voorbeeld van een website met gifjes

Trend 5: Using illustrations

Using illustrations is the ideal way to give your website its own identity that fits your brand. They turn an ordinary website into a unique website, with which the target group feels more connected.

Illustrations light up the page and manage to get a message across quickly, without having to write lengthy paragraphs. You can find illustrations in so many different styles that there will undoubtedly be one that fits your brand and tone of voice.

Voorbeeld van een website met illustraties

Illustrations on website https://kitchen.co

Online design trends 2021. What do you think?

These were 5 online design trends in 2021 in the field of event websites. Which trend appeals to you the most?