Web design is an ever-evolving medium; one which can be both creatively fulfilling as well as a powerful tool in the armoury for businesses in growing an online audience. This means that keeping up with the industry is important, because new trends can alter visitor expectations and subsequent behaviours in unexpected ways.
But as the year draws to a close, what are the trends which will make the biggest impact in 2016 and is now the right time to adapt?
Colourful Design Decisions
One of the results of the entire digital design community embracing a ‘flat’ look and feel for icons and interfaces in recent years is that colour has become a far more important factor. This goes hand-in-hand with the popularity of minimalist site designs, wherein a bold contrast needs to be struck between different on-screen elements in order to draw attention to the most important aspects of a site.
Insiders expect that 2016 will see the wider use of vibrant colours in web design for sites built for businesses in all industries. This means it will not just be fashion and food blogs which embrace this approach, but also mainstream media outlets and organisations of all kinds.
Vibrant colours have the added benefit of helping sites to differentiate themselves from the competition, even if a similar underlying template is being used. So to avoid the cut and paste, generic look it seems that flat, colourful web design is on the up.
Card Design Adopted
In the age of mobile browsing and adaptive/responsive sites (and search engine sensitivity to this), businesses must find ways of making their online presence flexible enough to cater to all visitors. And this is perhaps why cards are set to become more popular in 2016.
Cards create a site layout based around the grouping of copy, images and information relating to a specific product category or site section into an easily organised grid. This compartmentalisation helps streamline a site while making it visually engaging, especially in the world of e-commerce. Expect to see more of this next year as the trend gathers momentum.
Our website designers are experts in this field and can help companies and individuals cope with the changing landscape.
You can find out more about the services we offer by visiting our web development page.