Web design is a tricky business.
And with technology ever evolving, sticking to old patterns just won’t get you ahead of the competition. Trends come and go quicker than ever before, while competition is set to stay. Keeping up with fast-paced evolution of web design year in and year out is imperative to the success of your business.
Think of the web design as fashion. There are trends to keep your eye on and there are styles to let go. As we roll into the end of the year, below are trends to say goodbye to and trends to look out for.
Say Goodbye to
Mobile versions as we know it
Frost & Sullivan predicts that 93% of Australians aged 15 to 65 will own a smartphone by 2018. The majority of them are likely to rely on their mobile devices when using the Internet. Designing mobile versions of websites, therefore, make perfect sense at least in the beginning.
Well, it turns out that switching from PC to mobile versions doesn’t make for the most responsive experience. To address the matter, designers and developers are now focusing on web designs that guarantee a fully integrated experience.
Text laden websites
Content remains king and websites must work hard to include only quality content. Heavy text alone, however, will not draw people’s attention.
So rather than telling stories in text, web designers are now recognising and incorporating visual media in web design. You’ve probably noticed by now that sites have geared themselves up for richer content, more visuals, and a lot less text.
Say Hello to
Flat design
With Apple setting the trend of what has been dubbed as the “flat design”, expect to see more websites ditching the use of gradients and shadows while embracing a flat user interface. More designers are injecting flat elements in new web designs to focus on simplicity and clarity.
Flat designs do not only look breathtakingly simple and clear when done right, but it also gets rid of excess clutter, thereby significantly improving overall user experience. If you are not sure this is something you can do by yourself, you can always go with a top Chicago web design company that mastered flat design and is ready to provide you with a website that will meet your needs.
Typography
Expect bolder typography with different and interesting personalities in new web designs. Gone are the standard fonts we used to see on websites.
Web designers have been playing around with different fonts that will inject a subtle uniqueness to websites. Readers won’t have to strain their eyes either because fonts are going to get bigger and better.
Quality content
Other design elements may change over the years but one trend that won’t go away for a long time is quality content. Quality content used to be just a guideline but new web designs today see it as an essential aspect of the design process.
After a couple of Google shake-ups in the past years, there’s only one thing you can’t go wrong with – quality content whether in text, image or video form.
Responsive interface
The ultimate trend in web design other than content to look out for is how to improve user experience. Employing flat design elements is one way to create a more responsive interface.
Also expect to see page elements such as side fly-out menus, mouse input, drop down boxes and pop-up windows among other things to facilitate convenient and quick user experience.
Scott Donald is Managing Director at Creativ Digital and specializes in website design and optimization.
