Digital marketing and online presence is becoming more and more vital with every passing month, so most companies are always striving to make their websites as cutting-edge and engaging as possible.
This need to be the best is driving innovation in both trends and methods in web design, so what can we expect for the rest of 2016?
Surround HD
Using HD images and backgrounds on websites will become almost universal. Some designers will use HD images that website visitors can “move around” in, with 360-degree views for a greater feeling of immersion.
Minimalism
At the other end of the scale, some sites will opt for minimalism and this movement could be a serious rival to immersive HD. The minimalist trend uses white space and lets visitors focus on the content and the content alone. Some sites might use a bit of shading or texture if they’re feeling racy, though.
Mobile-responsiveness
We all know that mobile browsing has overtaken desktop and so websites need vertical scrolls with well-laid out content. Most agencies doing web design in Perth see mobile-responsiveness as vital. The site recognises the device it’s being rendered on and adjusts its layout to suit it.
More icons and illustrations
The screen resolution of many devices has outpaced the resolution of many of the photos and images used on them. This means that sometimes, the images don’t give as much as the screen is capable of displaying. Customised icons and illustrations can be as high-res as the company needs, so web designers will increasingly opt for them over photos.
More striking typography
Websites have moved way beyond Times New Roman and now employ a huge range of typography styles, some stunning and streamlined, some more challenging. This trend isn’t going anywhere in a hurry, especially as gorgeous fonts attract more eyes to the page.
Interactive innovations
Visitors to websites aren’t just passive readers anymore, they are increasingly encouraged to engage with the on-screen content and to give feedback or get involved with a game. This connection with the audience may lead to some serious sea-changes in web design over the next couple of years, with content shifting and changing according to who’s viewing it, for example.
Video rules
High-speed wi-fi will be omnipresent before we know it, so web designers no longer have to think about the poor souls stuck in the boonies on 4mbps. Low internet speeds can hamper productivity, but there are things you can do to improve it. This paves the way for more videos on websites – not just embeds – maybe even titles and headers could be videos rather than static straplines.
Animation, animation, animation
Animated embeds are used quite shamelessly to keep eyes on the page and use has grown significantly over the last year. This growing trend will see every web designer looking to place more animated snippets on sites. This will only be successful, however, if the figure works with the content and style of the site and actually serves a real purpose.
What do you think are the hottest web design trends for 2016? Let us know!
Image credit: ShutterStock
