“What trends should we be following?”
A valid question a new client asked us during the initial planning phase and in a world where social media trends often dominate the conversation, what are the emerging trends, and should we focus on them?
Website design is constantly evolving and as we move deeper into 2025, new trends are already influencing the landscape of web design. We’ve identified five emerging trends gaining traction online and see if they are suitable for your business.
However, while staying current is important, blindly following trends can be a short sighted approach. Instead, consider which trends align with your brand’s goals and your audience’s needs.
1. AI-Generated content and design
Let’s start with the hot topic over the last couple of years, AI-generated content.
From ChatGPT essays, Midjourney images, even AI generated music filling up streaming platforms, it is unavoidable in the digital world. While these can be used as a benefit, it is best to use it as a light touch to enhance your content and not dictate it.
Tools like Adobe’s Generative Fill can be helpful ensuring you have the correct ratio for an image but a fully generated image can lead to a lack of personality and audience mistrust.
For example the Daft Punk office worker can help illustrate a point but would you want this bot to be managing your design strategy?
2. Dark Mode and Dim Themes
Dark mode has been popular across websites and apps for a while, but in 2025 expect more designs to focus further on the dark side, it would make Darth Vader proud.
Reducing glare and energy use, a dimmer palette is the way forward for many businesses though ensuring clarity and context is still key.
We are also seeing an increase in clients offering adaptive colour schemes that switch between light and dark modes based on user preferences.
3. Minimalist and Maximalist Extremes
These are trends that never go out of style but more swings back and forth like a digital pendulum.
Minimalism is continuing to remain strong with clean, whitespace-driven layouts while maximalism is making a comeback with bold colours and oversized typography. Depending on your audience, it will affect which style would best suit your business.
Lings Cars – a car leasing company has embraced the maximalism aesthetic so strongly it has almost a cult status in the website world.
4. Microinteractions and Animations
Subtle animations and microinteractions are all about providing instant feedback which can improve user engagement and making interfaces more intuitive.
Hover effects, scrolling animations, and motion-triggered responses, adaptive forms will enhance user experience without being overwhelming.
5. Inclusive and Accessible Design
Web accessibility is not a trend and something we focusing greatly on at Blaze, however for more and more businesses it is no longer optional.
Our design team ensures they are following the best practices to ensure our clients websites are suitable for all and where possible meeting WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards.
From colour contrast to keyboard friendly interactions more websites are adapting these best practices.