Well, it’s time for our annual web design predictions for the upcoming year. Our didgital marketing agency wrote a blog last year (7 Web Design Trends of 2014) and the year before (7 Web Design Trends of 2013) and ended up with fairly accurate guesses, so we thought we’d take another stab at it.
Card Designs
While other websites have been experimenting with it, the popular social media site Pinterest introduced card design to many people. Essentially, card design does away with the traditional “meat and potatoes” parts of a website (like images and paragraphs of content) and replaces them with many different square or rectangular options for you to navigate. We think this super-modern idea will gain in popularity over the next year.
Example: Coca Cola’s AHH website.
More Flat Design
Flat design has definitely caught on, and we think it’ll continue to be a big part of web design. So much so, that it may even evolve into the “material design” that Google introduced earlier this year. Google’s material design blends together flat design, layering, and subtle gradients to make the design a little more tangible.
Example: Google’s Design page.
Ghost Buttons
When you think of “ghosts” you probably think of being hidden. Ghost buttons, however, are perfectly plain for the eye to see, however, they’re partially transparent. You’ll usually see a button outlined with a thin line of color and in the middle of the button, the call-to-action in the same color. The background, however, will show through the negative space, making them “ghost”-like. They may also be called “empty” or “hollow” buttons.
Example: Report-automating website Visage.
Video Backgrounds
It hasn’t been seen too much yet, but we think videos (and/or moving images) as backgrounds will become more popular over time. Instead of having a static background pattern or a static image, some companies are opting for a moving background to capture attention and set themselves apart from others.
Example: Resignation Media’s home page.
Big Fonts
For the last two years, we’ve made predictions about website fonts. For 2013, it was custom fonts and for 2014, it was mixed typography. Both have been on the rise, and in addition to typography variety, we think big fonts will be showing their faces. Right now, many individual and freelance designers are playing with the big font feature.
Example: Josh Kill’s website.
Coding Decline
Traditionally, web developers always had to type up lines of code in order to create a website. But, as coding tools get smarter and more sophisticated, coders are getting the opportunity to use graphic design software to create websites. This lets them skip the act of traditional coding.
Hamburger Icons
Hamburger icons are often used to let you know that there’s a hidden menu underneath the icon. The icon consists of a simple three-stacked-lines design (kind of like a hamburger, when you think about it) and can be found on nearly any page of a website. They’re especially popular in mobile designs, since mobile designs only have so much room to work with.
Example: Fixed Agency’s left-hand menu.
