Welcome! Trends and not fads, as trends tend to stick around for a few years while fads are only hot for a very short time. Let’s see what kind of new(ish) Web design trends we can look for and be inspired by this year.
Non-boring typography!
One trend with type we can expect to see in 2014 is more designers experimenting with fonts with personality ! Designers are starting to find different fonts that add a little personality and uniqueness to their designs. Expect to see many more websites in 2014 getting away from very simple and overused typefaces and finding some with personality.
Flat Design!
With the release of iOS7 came the design aesthetic most commonly known as “flat design.” While dropping drop shadows and gradients often seems like a good idea in some cases to give a more updated look to things, Apple took it to a whole other level by dropping pretty much any design element it could. iOS7 has been out for a while and already there are a flood of sites coming online every day with new “flat” designs. We don’t anticipate this trend ending in 2014.
Large hero areas quickly killing sliders!
Large hero areas would be the #1 trend in Web design today. Large hero areas (the “intro” area, often an image with a little amount of text, at the top of a website – a borrowed term from print design) on website home pages are running rampant – and it is a trend that we don’t see going away in 2014. They are quickly taking over real estate on websites where sliders used to reside.
Heavier focus on mobile!
Now that responsive Web design is becoming more common place, we are starting to see websites dig deeper into our mobile lifestyles. Designers are increasingly working on keeping their sites functioning on mobile devices, but developers are taking it a step further to help along with the fact that so many more devices are accessing the Web, and so many more users are using their phones to browse the Web.
Videos in place of text!
Why read about it when you can watch it? Something else you will start seeing all over the Web (especially in hero areas) are videos. Videos are becoming easier to produce, and easier to share not only on your website, but on social media as well. Some may argue that videos don’t belong on a website home page due to the large amount of data they take to load and run (especially on mobile devices and internet with data caps), videos are an effective way to communicate something technical or new when words just don’t cut it.
Long scrolling sites!
Several years ago, it was common to have long scrolling sites that where slammed with content. Well, now we are seeing long scrolling websites but the content is more organized and in a much easier format to digest. Long scrolling sites are starting to appear again.
Simple color schemes!
In 2014, we will see a lot more website with very simple color schemes. And by simple, we mean really only one or two colors. Some websites being launched now are using very little color, or even forgoing color all together.
Simplified content!
2014 will keep the king humble and down to earth. Simpler content will dominate 2014 and beyond as we design our websites. Simplified content means short bursts of content, a la Twitter style.
Dropping the sidebar!
Manipulated imagery!
While it is easy to just throw any old photo on your site, it is a little more difficult to manipulate it into something different. In 2014, we will see more images that have things such as color overlays, blurred images, or even images that are reminiscent of Instagram images with filters.
Expect to see many more things hit the Web in 2014, such as the use of HTML5 to animate different parts of a site.
For example, Tobi’s Story’s website (image above) is a great use of really cool things done in a great way. The subtle scrolling timed in tune with animation is the cool stuff we want to see.
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