Every enthusiastic web designer is keen to stay in touch with the latest web design trends to keep their creations looking fresh and modern. And, with the year 2018 approaching, it’s the best time to think about what’s “in” in the world of web design. Keep reading and discover some of the web design trends we can all expect to rise in popularity in 2018.
1. Mobile-first websites
It’s pretty much obvious that every web should be responsive or at least have a mobile version nowadays. Mobile users have already outnumbered desktop users in the majority of the internet. What’s rising in popularity, is the phenomenon called mobile-first.
Mobile-first is not a technique or a special technology. It’s a design strategy. It understands that mobile users that are already predominant have different needs, requirements and simply use websites differently than desktop users. Web designers will prioritize mobile users more and more in 2018, which will result in higher number of website implementing the idea of “mobile-first” into their design.
2. Clean and minimalistic layouts
With the increased focus on mobile devices, clean and minimalistic layouts are gaining a lot of popularity. Clean layouts that focus on the text content of the website are simply easier and faster to load, because they are not bloated by numerous images and other things that slow them down.
Of course, beautiful pictures will still play a crucial part in web design, however, their use is more through-out and they are not just “thrown into” the website just to spice it up. What’s becoming increasingly important, is the “raw” information presented in a beautiful way which is easy to load and gives the users everything they need and want.
3. Typography
Typography has, of course, always been one of the most popular aspects of web design. Websites have always been centered around their written content. And web designers have always wanted to make websites with beautiful typography. However, now, with the focus on minimalistic layouts they can fully express their creativity using the typography of their websites.
The thing is… Pictures are great, but slow down the websites. Fonts are light-weight, while their creative allows web designers to create a great user experience that doesn’t lack anything when compared with beautiful websites with a number of colorful images. What’s more, with less images and graphical elements being used, the CTAs and the elements web designers want to highlight really stand out.
4. Cinemagraphs
Although images are being used less and less in general, there is one type of images whose popularity is heading in the opposite direction. Cinemagraphs hit an amazing sweet-spot between still images and animations or videos. The combination of a still picture with a minor movement works wonders to capture the user’s attention and helps fulfil the purpose of the website.
performance in mind, cinemagraphs are not just mindlessly thrown into the mix. On the contrary, they are used thoughtfully to draw attention to critical parts and elements of the website, which may be helpful for increasing conversions and possibly all of the measurable metrics important for the success of the website.
5. SVGs
When it comes to images, graphics and visual content in 2018, there is one file format that is going to take off eventually – SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). SVG files are vector images, in contrast with all of the other file formats used for graphics, such as JPG, PNG or GIF. That’s especially beneficial in the era of smartphones and other devices with extremely high resolutions, as SVGs look great every single time.
The popularity of SVGs is fueled by the new version of the language almost all websites are built on, HTML5, which introduced the support for SVGs. HTML5 is now supported across the board, which means that SVGs will be displayed correctly basically to everyone.
One possible advantage or drawback of SVGs has to do with their file size. The file size of SVGs depends on the number of paths and points necessary to create the graphics that’s being displayed. That means that some images might have a smaller file size in the SVG file format, while other can take up less space (and bandwidth) in PNG, for instance.
6. Asymmetry
Web users are quite used to websites being symmetric. Symmetric things generally look great, however, it seems that we need a little break from it. In a world where most of the elements are symmetrical, it’s refreshing to see something that goes out of the box and does things differently.
What’s more, it can be getting increasingly difficult to keep websites symmetrical. In the past, the majority of websites looked very similar to one another, as they had a fixed layout with a horizontal or vertical navigation bar and were optimized only for desktops. Now, in the era of a plethora of different devices and screen sizes, it’s easier to use web design practices that steer away from the symmetry and try to create something different.
7. Bright colors
This article can’t end without talking about colors. We will keep using bright and really bold colors to capture users’ attention and to keep them interested. The trend we all witnessed in 2017 will keep growing in 2018 and we can expect to see even more interesting use of color and contrast to make each website special and unique.
Source: apollo13themes.com
