Designers believe that following the trend is a crucial part of our job. More often than not, being constantly up-to-date is seen as mandatory in our line of business.
Then again, the web is a rapidly evolving space, so development techniques and technologies can appear instantly. Tools are continually improving to allow for greater freedom when designing interactions and interfaces. Because of this, various web design techniques and patterns can begin to trend within a short span of time.
Here’s a quick guide of web design trends to help you keep up with the latest:
Improvement Through Microinteractions
These are the specific moments when a user/visitor is interacting with your website. These moments include actions such as sending a message, liking a post, or filling in a form. The goal of micro-interactions is to gain feedback from the users, thus, rendering guidance for the users by enhancing UX.
Modern Retro Vibe
Whether it’s vintage typography, pixel art, or 80s inspired imagery; retro style with a bit of a modern twist is undoubtedly in right now. It has been having a more significant influence on the web design world over the last few years, with numerous sites making use of this trend.
When opting for a vintage look, be sure to make use of some eye-catching animations, as it gives the site a sleek, modern feel.
Opt for Open Composition
Before, the web design world was mainly dominated by symmetrical, closed, and somewhat static layouts.
However, during 2016, a lot of designers deviated from this style and opted for open compositions instead. This layout is composed of loosely suspended elements that are moving somewhere off-screen. The placement of elements on these sites conveys the idea that they still “exist” beyond the edge of your monitor. It’s quickly gaining popularity year after year.
The Juxtapositions
In 2016, most web designers veered away from the similar pairing of typefaces for higher contrast. Strong combinations were reinforced by the high contrast between the text sizes. Large and ornamental typefaces were mixed with plain geometric ones and vice versa.
One popular thing to do was to use large-sized texts, as it created a powerful contrast between headers and the rest of the content.
Creative Cinemagraphs
Cinemagraphs are still images with details that have repeated movements. They have been recently gaining popularity, as it can be a visually striking addition to any site.
Bear in mind that cinemagraphs can either be videos or GIF files and that both of these can result in large file sizes if it is of high quality. Some of these files can exceed 3MB, so you might want to reconsider streaming a video instead.
Bold and Artistic Typography
2017 is likely to push the limits of what designers will do with typography. Nowadays, you can even combine video and typography to create a classy yet stylish website design! A short video can play in the background, and it’s only visible through a single, large letter of your choice. The letter and the video can even change as you navigate through each section of the homepage. Pretty creative, right?
Material Design
Material Design has been around since 2014. It is mainly built of on the principle of paper and ink, translating the characteristics of these two into a digital format.
It is indeed an innovative way of designing to build a hierarchy of importance and meaning of any page. It employs different geometric shapes to enhance their website visually and create depth; such as the use of edges and shadows to emphasise what you should click or touch.
The Asymmetrical Layout
2016 also broke the custom of symmetry design, which dominated the industry for quite a long time. Nowadays, a lot of designers are making asymmetric layouts which are not entirely balanced on either side of the web page.
360 Videos & Virtual Reality
Numerous gaming VR headsets have been released during 2016, and 360 videos have seen a surge in various search engines. This year, web designers should think of exciting ways to include 360 videos into their websites to draw in more audience.
Contrasting Colours
A website’s colour palette is incredibly essential. It can significantly influence users’ thoughts, emotions, as well as conversion rates. Due to the continued popularity of Google’s Material Design, bright and vibrant colours is now entirely in demand. The use of Duotone is also quite popular these days.
That concludes our top 10 web design trends to follow this year! We hope these tips gave you some idea of the web technologies and design patterns to watch out for. Now have fun planning out and designing your websites!