In order to truly appreciate the trends, one must understand the roots of the Internet and certain elements of contemporary design as an art form. From then, one can break down each design element common to all pages, and predict the future of website design in its smallest pieces and in its entirety.

In a world of rapidly changing design trends and fads, the future of web design will eventually be one of two extremes, based on the site’s functionality. If the site’s purpose is to generate revenue, the page will be extremely busy, full of content and advertisements geared to persuade the user on a personal level (ex: Amazon.com). If the site provides a service or is not designed to generate revenue, the exact opposite will take place: it will be a very minimalist website, with strict focus on its usability and simplicity through functionality (ex: Google.com). Naturally, one can argue that these two options are not necessarily the only possibilities of the future of design on the Internet. Despite room for variation, the research presented will include many apparent trends and observations that will support the claim of a clear demarcation between just these two utterly different styles of design.

First I will present and examine the brief history of the Internet, from its origins to its evolution as a mainstream part of daily life. Next, I will evaluate website design practices, past and present, explaining in my own words and through excerpts from experts what each element is and why it was designed a certain way. Comparisons will then be drawn between current online corporate websites or non-for-profit sites (which are non-revenue in purpose) versus e-commerce pages (which generate a broad range of revenue). The ways in which design is currently used from the main page content through the elements of composition, color, typography, and writing styles will be explained. Through the use of statistics, trends, interviews and surveys, I plan to draw correlations and predict the future of web design from an aesthetic perspective.
While it is certainly up to debate and merely a prediction, the conclusion of this research is that only two options exist for web design in the coming years: dynamic, content-driven, perhaps distracting websites, or streamlined, simple, user-friendly websites. The determining factor is simply its function: does the site need to generate profit?

When the Internet was first created, it was part of a government initiative around the time of Sputnik: as explained in History of the Internet: A Chronology, tensions were high in the 1950s, and American military hoped to develop a piece of technology able to help them communicate internally in a manner that was quick, efficient, and secret (Moschovitis 35).
It did not take long for experts to realize the great power that the Internet held for the average citizen in terms of accessing information and sharing content, and by 1992, the World Wide Web was released to the public.
