Web Design Trends to Consider

January 14, 2016 at 2:30 pm By

It seems as if the state of web design shifts pretty often in terms of trends used by designers who are looking to create the best possible site they can. Each year a new set of trends arise and shift as the year progresses. A new article is pointing out five trends to keep an eye on for this year and some of them might look familiar.

A Business 2 Community article points out that ambient video, custom drawn illustrations, simpler design with bolder call to action, dialing down on excessively “scrolly” websites and responsive design will be among some of the biggest trends to watch in 2016.

Responsive design has been at the top of many lists of what to expect from web design and has already been a major focus for many companies as well. The phrase has been thrown around quite a bit, so much in fact that businesses are now inquiring about it.

“I see 2016 as being even less kind to non-responsive (or at least non-mobile-friendly) sites,” according to Erika Dickstein of Business 2 Community.

“Businesses whose sites are non-responsive will continue to lose traffic and the traffic they have will bounce even more quickly.”

A lot of designs are also taking the route of using ambient videos, or silent videos in the background of their website to explain the products, services or at times how the company came about. It gives sites a more personal feel to help browsers feel more of a connection.

Website layouts are looking more and more similar,” according to Dickstein.

“The reason for that is that simplicity and functionality requires sticking to a formula. To break from that formula, I have been seeing sites moving toward custom drawn illustrations.”

Some designs might also be a little too complex causing the browser to become confused and ultimately leaving the site. This is why there has been in increase on simpler designs that boldly state the most important aspects of the business or organization. It eliminates confusion and makes it easier for the browser to find what they need in a timely manner.

“If 2015 was the year of anything in website design, it was the year of the ridiculously long scrolling pages,” according to Dickstein.

“Like most trends gone horribly awry, this one started out innocently enough.” 

Many news sites like ESPN adopted a continuous scrolling design that is just a bit too much. There are some sites that have evolved the method by having separate home pages and pushing the scrolling pages towards individual stories. They have also added an index to the side which allows the browser to get to the story or area of the site they want without having to scroll through countless stories.

These trends are pretty strong and will most likely be on the rise in 2016.

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