No doubt, fashion is quite transient. The same can be said about the fashion for web design: many of the trends that have been at the peak of popularity 2–3 years ago, no more exists. Yet it would be foolish to say that trends are unpredictable at all. Actually, they can be predicted if one closely monitors the needs of the audience along with the latest technical developments and progress in general.
So let’s move on to the main design trends, which will be in the foreground in 2016.
"Old" is in Fashion Again
Good news for fans of retro: vintage will be one of the central design elements in 2016! You’ll be able to feel the unique atmosphere of 70s and 80s…era of airbrushing and stencils along with pale colors is reviving!
“Almost Flat” 2016
One of the key advantages of a flat design is that simplicity makes the interface more intuitive for visitors without distracting attention to details. Flat design suits modern frameworks perfectly, as well as looks amazing by itself.Now and in the near future, there will be the further expansion and development of flat design that is sometimes called Flat 2.0. Trying to keep the best of what is in the style of flat, designers presented a balance between completely flat and art design. The first is effective, the second is attractive: it seems the balance is found!
We can name 2016 as not completely flat, but "semi-flat", or even "almost flat design" year.
Readable Typography
It’s natural that the typography in a flat design will remain simple and easy to read. Sans serif fonts, equal in width, will be in favor in 2016. The emphasis on readability ensures that flat typography is becoming popular among the other types of web design.We should also note the popularity growth of simple and pleasant fonts with meaningful and easily readable writings. The font size will also increase in order to focus audience’s attention on what’s the most important. With the exception of fonts used in logos, most of the modern design text is published the same or similar type.
So the main point in 2016 is to focus visitors on content that worth rather than on the letters.
Creative Icons
Being one of the most important elements of the website, icons are in the need for more attention from the visitors. Thus, they will become an increasingly important element of the art website: they’ll grow in size to include more details and give greater expressiveness and originality to the entire site.
Ghost Buttons
Although this is not an absolute novelty, "ghosts" are in trend. The transparency of these buttons allows you to use them almost anywhere, without prejudice to the overall design. They do not distract visitors’ attention, but at the same time they are easy to recognize.
Accent Colors
To compensate lack of visual effects, flat design uses dynamic colors, especially bright ones. Exciting colors contrast with one another, and only a few such elements do not allow the site to be boring. Bright colors, unlike the muted colors of background and surrounding elements, give the designer more control over what should and what shouldn’t be seen.
Although bright palette will never go away from the flat design, it seems that the standard palette will be in trend in 2016, while bright colors will be used just to make accents.
Background Videos
In 2015-2016, the background video will be a central point of the entire design strategy. It’s expected that this feature will be a new and very exciting tool that will be used to create a specific atmosphere on the page and will help to convey the basic idea of the brand.The presence of background videos evidences of the high quality and value of the site, which in turn creates a positive brand reputation. Current technologies allow the use of not only videos on the background, but on the main image block as well.
The fact that the majority of modern smartphones, not to mention the existing browsers, easily copes with such a background video encourages web designers to use it in the design.
HD Images
Flat design allows you to significantly reduce the weight of the website pages. This advantage allows the use of static pictures of high quality in hero shot. And it seems that in the near future this trend will not disappear. After all, a good quality image across the entire width of the screen can create a good mood and affect the internal psychological mechanisms of a visitor to force him to the target action.
Animation
If you find it difficult to decide whether to use photo or video, then maybe you will give preference to the rising trend of animation.
image credit: Sproutsocial.
A moving picture is much more expressive than a static one; moreover, it does not weigh as much as video and it can revitalize the background of your site and facilitate the perception of the text content.
According to the researches, animation keeps the visitor on a website 15% longer than usual. In addition, there’s a steady trend of the broader use of animation, e.g. in such site elements as icons and parts of infographics.
Card Design
The popularity of Pinterest throughout the world attracts many web designers to its typical card design. Although today we are seeing the classic card design, it is expected that in the near future it will grow and develop rapidly. This contributes to wide popularization of card design through Facebook, Twitter, and some other social networks.
Like the flat design, the card design not only looks good, but it is also highly functional. Its specific structure is ideal for call to action of any type, as well as for dissemination of information, advertising and sales of goods and services.
Adaptive Design
As mobile gadgets have filled the universe, the task of designers now is to adapt their products to the needs of users. Sure, it’s much easier to interact with adaptive websites. This technology means easy navigation, intuitive page elements, clear and understandable content structure. Actually, there’s no need to convince you that the adaptive design is a trend not only for 2016, but for the distant future.
Graphic courtesy of: ernestoolivares.
By the way, forget about high ranking in Google if your website hasn’t passed the check on easy viewing on mobile devices: Google penalizes websites that are not adapted to mobile devices.
Interactive Stories
People love stories. Moreover, they want to be participants. We tend to curiosity and, therefore, from early childhood to old age we’re longing to get an answer to the question of what will happen in future.
Therefore, try to tell the story of your brand, which will lead to the advertised product. Use the interactive tools for engaging and intriguing questions to entice visitors to read, to scroll, and to click. Let them to get satisfaction from the fact that they’ve learnt something useful. Kindle the inner desire to get more!
Minimalism
The success and effectiveness of card and flat designs is in their simplicity and ease. And what goes hand in hand with the web design styles is minimalism. It’s a modern trend, but you need to have some reasons to use it. The main of them are ease of perception, high functionality, and suitability for landing pages.
Advantages of minimalism are evident when using the adaptive design, since simple website structure is much easier to adapt to different screen sizes. But one can mistakenly conclude that minimalism is not a big deal. In fact, you may need a lot more efforts to include a set of options required into the small. You should clearly understand that each element and its location must be perfectly crafted and must be of absolute perfect.
Bonus Infographic:
Design Trends 2016
Courtesy of: CoastalCreative
What’s the TOP Advice for 2016?
Summing up the review of upcoming and already existing trends, we can say that the main focus in 2016 will be made on interesting and useful content along with functionality and intuitive navigation. Try to stay simple, but fun.Want to know more trends, visit these website and blogs Design Contest, Canva Design School, Creative Bloq, Awwwards.
