The world of web and graphic designs is a fickle one. Trends easily come and go. We’ve seen some trends disappear before we’ve even known about them. Then there are those with longer staying power. Each year also has its own set of unique surprises that may just change the way we do things. As the year 2014 comes to a close in less than two months, there is no better time to look into the future.
Based on how the year went so far, web and graphic designs are predicted to embrace the following trends in 2015 and in the foreseeable future.
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Responsive designs will rule
There is no stopping the skyrocketing growth of mobile usage. Mobile traffic for many websites started to rapidly increase in recent years and it is expected to overtake traditional desktop and laptop usage by 2015. Rather than create mobile versions of websites, more and more designers are keeping up with the trend by opting for a responsive design instead.
Creating two separate versions of websites isn’t only time-consuming and expensive but Google doesn’t seem to favor this route as well. There are still arguments regarding a responsive design’s implementation but it clearly looks like that this new trend hit new heights in 2014 and wouldn’t fade away anytime soon.
Typography will continue to shine
Gone are the days when websites use dull and boring fonts. As a way to capture the audience’s attention, even fonts today have personalities. Designers have been playing around with numerous fonts including the quirky ones. They made it bigger and bolder and more fun. This in turn emphasized the continued rise of responsive typography to the spotlight.
Beautiful fonts and sophisticated typefaces, however, used to be pricey. Only those with a larger budget can really afford to design a website that’s typographic-oriented. Fortunately, 2014 paved the way for more designers and users particularly those working on WordPress to emphasis typography. Web type-kits today are more affordable and sometimes even free which means that more users can join the trend without going breaking the bank.
Scrolling over Clicking
Start saying goodbye to websites with dozens of pages because the coming years are going to have more scrolling than clicking. Back in 2012, scrolling websites weren’t as popular. But then websites such as Pinterest and Cutest Paw changed the game. Today, users are falling in love with scrolling prompting designers to clamor for designs with all types of scrolling including parallax, column-based and infinite scrolling.
Scrolling in general offers a more convenient and pleasant browsing experience that users now prefer more than clicking. Infinite scrolling in particular used to lead the pack in previous years but let’s also not forget about parallax scrolling. If you want to breathe more life into your website then parallax scrolling will accomplish just that. The technique was hot in 2013 and is predicted to be even hotter in the future provided that you don’t overdo it of course.
Minimalism is in because less is more
Flashy designs are out, minimalism is in. That’s exactly how the web design industry went for the most part of 2014 and it is predicted to continue reigning in the future. Audiences today are just no longer impressed with flash and over the top designs. In fact, one of the reasons why people leave a website is because of the fact that they are assaulted with too much too soon.
Less is more is going to be an even hotter trend in the future. From content to navigation and pretty much everything in between, people would want to see less because it’s more interesting especially with the industry going for more emphasis on typography. For the coming year, also expect for website navigation to be simpler and stripped down as people want everything quicker. It looks like that the key to the future of web design is to get back to the basics. Just keep it simple basically.
Flat Designs will only get better
When the big brands do something, it is likely bound to lead to trends with longer staying power. Take for instance flat designs. Things got turned around when Apple ditch skeuomorphism and opted for a flat design with the iOS7 and now with the iOS8. Window 8 also plays an important role with this hot trend. Because the Internet as a whole wants to cater and attract mobile users, flat elements have become the most sought-after features of today’s designs.
Also considering the fact that audiences have shorter attention spans more than ever, flat designs make perfect sense. Websites who ditch 3D graphics and opt for a flatter design usually load faster because of the minimalist interface. More than just aesthetics, a flat design is actually one effective way to make your audience stay.
More Videos, Less Text
While content is still king, more and more websites are going to be less text-heavy in the future. Rather than texts, websites especially those who target mobile users are relying more on videos and images to convey information. And with web design becoming simpler, making videos particularly HTML5 videos and not the promotional ones are also easier to make. This allows designers to incorporate videos into websites as backgrounds more easily.
Videos when done right are a more effective way to win over audiences and potential customers. Going back to attention span becoming shorter, videos are excellent visuals that our brains will easily connect with. Expect to see more HTML5 videos in the future and bid farewell to text-heavy websites.
Interactive Story telling
Not every website has to spin a tale but interactive storytelling helps from time to time. Just think about the number of infographics you’ve encountered recently and think about those websites who’d rather inject some fairytale into their marketing. It’s all a matter of making use of design elements and tall to make your brand narrative more compelling.
For the past years, infographics have been widely used across the web as a fun and more effective way to convey information. This year, the tool continues to make waves in the web design industry and it predicted that the technique will continue to shine as it adapts the concept of interactive storytelling in the future.
Code-Free Designs
Web design trends for the future do not only concern the outside appearance of websites. Also equally important are the happenings behind the scene especially the codes. But so far for 2014, it seems like code-free designs have been gaining quite a steam.
This is good news for amateur and novice users. Without the complication of codes, newbies are handed a wonderful tool that will make life easier. It is predicted to continue to be a hot trend in the future especially because this trend lets designer focus on the more creative aspect of web designing.
CMS-based websites
As code-free designs become more accessible and widespread, it just seems likely that CMS-based websites only have one way to go. Even for many years now, CMS-based websites like WordPress have solidified its place in the web because it’s easy to use. As more trends come and go year after year, these websites have continued to grow. vivasex Statistics for this year, in particular, have been very good which means that the trend is still on in 2015 and more likely the years beyond.
Content is still king
While we will see less text-heavy websites in the future, content even when it’s just the bare minimum will continue to be king in the future. Quality is going to be given much more importance considering the many updates Google has been implementing in the previous months. But also worth looking into is the different ways to present your content. More emphasis is given on how content is arranged, displayed or conveyed to the audience.
We’ve talked about interactive storytelling which is one way to present your content in a more interesting manner. Some combine text with videos and images. Others use infographics to convey information. In any case, the goal is to provide the audience a richer content experience which is a trend that’s expected to only become more important in the future.
Conclusion
While we won’t accurately foresee what will happen to the world of web and graphic design in the future, above are ten trends that expert designers and users expect to see more in 2015 and beyond. So keep an eye on them if you want to keep up with what’s hot and what’s not. At the same time, leave room for some surprises here and there.
Image credit : theonepoint
