Web Design Trends for 2016

trends

Monday’s blog post about the minimal downside of trends like flat design had an effect on me that I’d like to continue to expand upon today. It’s been a bit since I’ve written about design so let’s just say that I’ve become inspired to dive deep into it this week. It’s well known that in our time the internet has developed into a valuable source of quality content. Because of the constantly metamorphosing algorithm of Google and search engines like it,  content is gaining new position every day. It is not far off to say, as I’ve said many times before that content is king. Along with content though, the past few years have also seen a rise in the value of attractive design. Because of this, recent years have seen numerous site owners opt in for high end website graphics that sometimes even supplant the content quality they’re putting out. These sorts of trends have flourished in the last few years and don’t seem to be going anywhere fast, so, with that being said, it’s time to take a look at the top 8 web design trends of 2016.

1. Flat design never get old

As I indicated last week, I’m a big fan of flat design, and despite the downsides that I was able to come up with, it remains one of those trends that just won’t die. No matter how much time goes by, flat design does not get old. If anything, it’s continuously evolving to the point that I would say it’s just reached its prime. The newest form that’s been a hot ticket contains both expansion of devices and screen sizes, and thanks to it, the principle of the flat design isn’t going anywhere soon.

2. Typography

Choosing the right font or typeface has never been an easy decision even for the best designers. Recall the backlash against iOS7 I mentioned last week. It is now harder than ever for designers to make those decisions. Typography, the art and technique of arranging type to make written words become more attractive, is in its heyday and  as designers are improving all aspects of design, typography must be included with it. Expect text and typography based design and interaction to explode.

3. Background design with a Fullscreen video

A new rising trend in website design is a homes screen that includes fullscreen video as you can see on sites like BrainsOnFire.com. People have a natural affinity for watching video and having an automatically loading background video will definitely catch the visitor’s attention. A background video also heighten the value of the website.

4. Increased Minimalism

If you’ve ever read one of my design articles before, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of minimalism, and it’s not just because I love Donald Judd. As both responsive design and flat design continue to surge, minimalism will need to increase to make UI and UX experiences simple for users. For people who don’t know minimalism, this is a trend in sculpture and painting that arose in the 1950s and used simple, typically massive, forms. A website with complicated or cluttered design is off putting and aggravating. This alone is why minimalism is becoming more important, and why you don’t see the busy Angelfire and Geocities sites of the early 2000s anymore. Minimalism will affect both user experience and conversion rate for your website. Speaking of responsive design…

5. Responsive design

Similar to flat design, responsive design is the best way to satisfy customers who are using desktop browsers. It’s also more preferable when your website doesn’t have it’s own app for browsing. Even old age websites are changing to responsive design, along with other prominent current websites. A responsive design also increases the loading speed several times over, so there’s no reason for not making your website unresponsive anymore.

6. Mobile apps design

As I just briefly implied, multiple websites have taken to creating their own apps to make mobile browsing easier. With the dominance of both mobile apps and social media, a tremendous amount of traffic now comes through mobile phones, making mobile app development and design necessary.

7. Storytelling

Storytelling is nothing new when it comes to web design and creating quality content. It’s one of those trends that’s been around forever and will continue to thrive after making adaptations to the the current landscape. Storytelling, as its name tells everything, content is the true king. You can hook your customers through emotional or attractive stories. As old as it is, engaging and emotional stories with a great design and content will continue to surge as one of the top trends of 2016.

8. Card based design

A card based design website, like an order of applications in Windows Phone or Windows OS will categorize separate block for content making everything more navigable. It’s something that a lot of people have complained about in recent years, but I suspect that is only because its implication has interrupted the status quo of what people were comfortable with, much in the same way that people feel when they switch from PC to Apple and have to learn all the new gestures and keyboard tricks. I for one believe it is more appealing, and it can show a lot more information more quickly than other formats. Pinterest is the best example for card based design