Web design trends are ever-changing.

Into 2024, a few appeal to me that I think will stand the test of time more than others.

The Bento Box style reminds me of Japan, and anyone who has followed me a while will know that I teach and train a genuine Koryu JuJutsu style called Motoha Yoshin Ryu, which has its roots right back to the 1600's if you are good to believe the paperwork I've seen in Japan itself.

I've been to Japan 3 times now, to train with our head of style (Soke Yasumoto Akiyoshi), and have had my fair share of very good bento boxes - pretty much a lunch box divided into clear rectangular sections, with different foods in.

Apple have used this style as one example, for their website and some of their keynotes and presentations. Their website at the time of writing this is very angular, though their keynote slides are often more rounded.

The second style, an example below from Flux, is the use of overly large fonts.

Flux have been doing this for a while, it's nothing new, but it is gaining more traction from what I've seen around.

Like the Bento Box approach, it's a style that I think has the chance of not looking dated too quickly, and for big, bold brands, can work very well.

The last one is more use of gradients for colours and backgrounds.

This is another one which isn't overly new, though like the two above, if used right, can bring a nice visual style to a website - you don't always need images or photographs, sometimes you can make a website look beautiful just from colour alone.

As some form of conclusion, I generally avoid trends in the websites we design for clients, at least as a specific starting point.

Trying to follow a trend for your website can result in something which doesn't align with your brand. It's good to be aware of what is going on out there, but when a trend arrives, it can be too easy to fall into a website design that looks too similar to others - to end up with a design that needs refreshed in a few years.