A design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in web development, that has been proven to be effective and efficient over time. Design patterns can help developers to solve complex design problems, improve the quality, maintainability, and scalability of their code, and reduce development time and cost. Design patterns can be classified into different categories, such as creational, structural, or behavioral, and can be implemented using various programming languages and frameworks. Some examples of design patterns in web development are the MVC pattern, the Factory pattern, or the Observer pattern.