2020 brought a decade’s worth of innovation of change in just one year, and that momentum surged into 2021, furthering the case for “The New Roaring Twenties.”

There were more mergers and acquisitions (M&A’s) in 2021 than any other year, breaking the previous record, which was set in 2020. This is setting the stage for a decade of change like we’ve never seen before: machine learning, automation, blockchain, autonomous vehicles and far more. And hey, we might even continue to see some change in the medical space, which is much needed. It’s begun with telemedicine, and we should see more of it going forward, so keep an eye out.

The Internet sure has come a long way. Just look at how Google’s homepage has changed in the past 20 years.

In the meantime, we wanted to take a look at the hottest trends across the Internet in 2021 — from a web designer or digital marketer’s perspective.

  • White Space Is Cool, Because Less is More. Designers and marketers have adopted the “less is more” approach, with white space and less bells-and-whistles on websites, landing pages and sales pages. Gone is the era of pop-ups, endless images and videos and attention-grabbing graphics. Nowadays, it’s all about letting the text and media on the page breathe a bit, with white space, to help convey the message the business is looking to get across.
  • User Experience Reigns Supreme. Adding on to the above, websites are valuing speed and performance over media-heavy web pages. Mobile device use continues to increase with each passing year, as many verticals see an 80-20 split between mobile and desktop users (more on that later). A user that has a good experience on a website is more likely to become a return visitor and tell their friends about it. On the other hand, a bad experience will likely mean the last time they visit a website, so make sure everything works correctly, and the site loads quickly. Time is money.
  • Mobile Devices Are The Future. Some businesses are already moving toward using tablets and mobile devices over desktop (includes laptop as well). It makes for a happier team member, and less eye strain. Using a mobile device can also help speed up the process for team members, helping businesses optimize their customers’ experience, and also operate more efficiently.
  • Privacy is key. Apple showed us how important it is to do away with third-party cookies, and the affect its update had on social media platforms — especially Snapchat — was profound. No longer could social media giants such as Snapchat and Facebook (er, Meta!) use user’s data to help device which personalized ads to show them. The world is sick and tired of having its privacy stolen and sold, and tech giants will need to adjust.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, but we hope these trends help you get a better idea of what’s in store for 2022. We’re excited!