At the beginning of each year, experts speak about the changes we will see in web design for the year ahead. This year, I decided to share my own list of web design and marketing trends for 2015.
Webdesign trends change as a result of how search engines rank sites, based on user experience. But user experience is not only important for search engines – ultimately, it is crucial for your site’s ability to convert. The key is to make your site as user-friendly as possible.
Let’s get right into the 7 biggest webdesign trends for 2015.
1. Web Design Will Become Simpler
While mobile devices make it easier for users to access websites anywhere, any time, it doesn’t necessarily make it easier for designers, or cheaper for companies paying for it. But the good news is that theme-based sites, such as on the Genesis framework, will become more popular. Responsive themes are no longer handy, but non-negotiable, and building such a site on Genesis is more cost-effective and allows designers to deploy clean, modern, and professional-looking websites with quality designs, free from unnecessary fluff.
2. Typography Will Be More Flexible
This year, fonts will be bigger, as will column width and line height. Bigger text is easier to read, and what better way to enhance user experience than to make sure that your text is very readable?
3. Images Will Be Bigger
As bandwidth becomes more freely available, the limitations on image size are starting to dwindle. This year, we will see large images used as background, with color filter and blur overlays, and text that floats to the top. Usability will not be affected by that, and we will see new and innovative techniques for optimization of images to reduce the server load, and responsive resizing.
4. Infographics Will Become (Even) More Popular
The infographic is here to stay. Research has shows that users absorb information better when it is presented graphically and it allows companies to convey huge amounts of data in a simple and easy way.
5. Scrolling Will Become Infinite
Many companies opt for longer, or even infinite, scrolling sites in order to appeal to mobile users. This minimizes the amount of clicks required to access the information you need, which increases the retention rate for companies who own websites. It’s a win-win situation.
6. Sites Will Be More Interactive
In a bid to present information in a way that is more appealing, yet unique, more companies will focus on interaction. If you want to use this to your advantage, opt for interactive elements that respond to hovering and scrolling, rather than clicking.
7. Main Navigation Will Be Hidden
In the last while, slideout or flyout menus have been popular, but in 2015 we will see more sites that hide their main menus, especially on first visits to the sites. This responsive design technique will make the menus available only when visitors show they are ready by clicking on the appropriate icons.
Many of these new design trends are probably driven by the need to enhance load speed and to consume less bandwidth, especially on mobile devices. However, it has turned into a win-win for both users and companies alike.
As a result of sleeker, faster, and more modern-looking sites, we are bound to see the emergence of a better user-experience, which must translate into more conversions.
Yes you are right Tara, infinite scrolling has become very popular these days in web design. Video background, parallax effects are very common now. Many websites are hiding their main menu and showing Hamburger menu icon instead of it. Hamburger menu icon has become very popular but most of my clients don’t like them.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and talking about these trends.