The Latest Web Design Trends
The Web design industry is ever-changing, with a number of trends fading in and fading out of style each year. In this article we evaluate just a few of the trends popular today.
Animated and Still Images
The most noticeable current trend is animation, along with still photos. The right balance between still and moving images can draw people in. The richer and more high-quality an image is, the more likely it will impress users. Hero images – high-quality images that fill the entire screen – serve as great visuals for the home page of a Web site. You can also use a background animation or video that fits the entire page. Galleries, slideshows, and carousels are a few different ways in which you can present multiple photos. Another trend is to add a fun loading animation. This helps to make the loading screen a bit less boring. Adding a spectacular image or engaging animation is a good way to capture users’ attention immediately upon visiting your site.
Icons
While photographs will always have their place within web site design, the use of interesting icons can accomplish a great deal as far as giving web site visitors a clear message at a quick glance. Nearly every industry can benefit by using icons specifically tailored to their business type. Used most often in conjunction with short descriptions, icons inherently bring a clean, modern and effective visual appeal to your web site.
Card Layouts
Using a card layout is a popular way to organize information because a single subject or topic is contained with its own rectangular box. Cards help to clearly differentiate or separate groups of information in a neat and organized fashion. If you have groups of dissimilar information but want to present them on the same page, a card layout would be able to present them in an attractive way without the page appearing cluttered or in disarray.
Advanced Web Forms
Online forms are extremely popular and can automate a large number of tasks that have long required a combination of PDF downloads, scanners and email attachments (and headache) to accomplish. Online Employment Applications, Quote Request forms, Membership and Event Registrations among others are all excellent ways to streamline various departments throughout a company, save employee time and simply run a business efficiently.
Microinteractions
You engage in microinteractions more often than you think. When you press a button, turn a dial, or flick a light switch, you are performing a microinteraction. Microinteractions are simple actions you perform that you barely notice. Designers should make your web experience as easy, fast, and straightforward as possible, such as scrolling through a web site on your mobile phone by simply moving a finger.
Minimalism
Minimalism is all about making an impact with simplicity. It can be tempting to fill a web site to the brim with exciting images and content, multitudes of bright colors, and various eye-catching fonts – after all, you want your web site to gain attention, right? Yet it is important to refrain and prevent elements from clashing. Too much visual competition can distract the user and diminish your message. Minimalism proves the old adage that “Less is More”.
Vibrant Colors
Flashy colors have long been a go-to for designers wanting make a particular area stand out, such as images and text, or for simply livening up a page. Vibrant colors can greatly enhance a web site when used correctly. As a general rule, limiting the color palette of your web site design to 3-4 colors can help ensure your site showcases your business and your brand. Using the colors of your brand consistently across all of your marketing, in print and online, will also reinforce your image and help to build brand awareness.