1. Minimalism
Minimalist websites embody one of the main ideals of modern web design. By keeping only the essential elements and removing unnecessary ones, the website looks elegant and also reduces loading time, which is an important advantage in mobile browsers. Fewer elements also mean simpler, more responsive design. You can save space on your website by using drop-down menus and various sliders. Graphic designers often use asymmetry, which prevents the website from looking boring.
2. Flat design
Flat Design is a minimalist and simple style of design for objects. The concept of "flat" design is based on the rejection of "three-dimensional" elements. Instead, an elegant and aesthetic visualization of objects is chosen, applying simple solutions instead of three-dimensional images using shadows, textures and gradients.
Over the past few years, many popular application interfaces and websites have changed, abandoning "realistic" graphic elements and replacing them with flat ones. When creating such a design, only visually flat (two-dimensional) objects are used without volume or depth effects. Fonts should be simple and correspond to the overall design style. Simple shapes with clear contours and bright colors without additional shades are used. The color palette is usually limited to two or four primary colors, which is especially often found in logo design. Flat design conceptually coincides with the trend of minimalism and does not admit any unnecessary complications.
Graphic designers may have to face a problem, because it is quite difficult to clearly distinguish interactive symbols here. Therefore, one of the most important tasks of the developer will be to make all elements active or visually highlight them. Experienced website designers are not inclined to completely switch to the concept of flat design. Currently, it is quite popular to use the so-called “almost flat” design, combining flat elements with three-dimensional ones, which allows you to identify and highlight the smallest details.
3. Long scroll
Small screens inevitably create long scrolling of the browser window. In rejecting page flipping, designers and users recognize that “endless” pages are convenient: more creative freedom, clearer storytelling, more interaction and simplified navigation (if the site does not have a lot of content). Long scrolling works best on sites with a large proportion of mobile traffic or frequently updated content, but is less effective on sites with “heavy” content, such as videos or high-resolution photos, which increase loading times.
4. Animation
Because movement attracts attention, animation can influence the visual hierarchy, which is what we notice first. In addition, animation also shows a connection: a gradually decreasing window, a rising menu - all this confirms the success of these actions, and also shows the user where they can find these elements later.
In addition, movement gives “life” to website elements and provokes visitors to take the desired action: users click on links that use compelling animation more often than those that are distinguished by a simple change in color.
5. Bright Colors
Previously, designers were limited to 216 colors suitable for the web, but now there are millions. Since last year, along with flat design, bright colors have become especially popular, and they fit in well with other current trends. Colors attract attention and reduce the likelihood that your websites will look boring, which is a natural drawback of minimalism. Used extensively in conjunction with fonts, colors can draw attention to certain words or phrases. They can also perform other functions and improve usability: think of blocks that change color when the mouse cursor is hovered over them - a clear indicator of interactivity. Each color evokes a certain emotion, so you need to choose the right one so that it reflects the essence of your product.
6. Expressive Photos
The increase in screen resolution is forcing web designers to use higher quality (and sometimes more artistic) photos. This is especially important when using full-background images, which are ideal for landing and login pages.
Use commissioned photos, or choose ones that match the theme and plot of the website. See how the image looks with a color filter. For example, a yellow tint on a gray photo will make it more optimistic.
7. Dynamic Font
Website development is not just about graphics and programming – text is also important. With the advent of many new and free fonts, they no longer pose a challenge for designers, and have started to play a particularly important role in web design. Dynamic does not always mean a fancy or complex font. In fact, it is usually a simple typography that adapts to the latest trends, such as flat design and minimalism. The dynamic typography trend refers to any text that attracts attention, whether it is simple or complex.
In most cases, two fonts are enough for a website. Remember that the main task of typography is legibility and clarity. No matter how impressive the font, if it is not clear - abandon it. Properly chosen typography can make the text the main focus of the website and improve the overall impression.
8. User Interaction
Advances in HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery are now allowing for user interaction that drives business growth. This trend has seen an increase in clickable and swipeable elements, pop-ups, personalization tools (e.g. geolocation), scrollable navigation, and intermediate and cyclical features. This year also saw more micro-interactions, such as the “jin” sound when an email is sent, or an animation that draws attention to a new message. Such elements explain how things work and make the interaction more understandable.
9. Card layout
A card layout helps websites and applications present rich content in an organized and neat way. The blocks arranged in this way can be adjusted automatically to fit different screen sizes, making this layout ideal for responsive design. It is desirable that all cards are interactive and have clear boundaries so that the user does not have to guess where a particular element ends or begins.
Finally, we would like to emphasize that the most important thing is how you use trends to improve user needs, not the desire to be trendy. Not all of the trends mentioned will work for every website, so always work with user feedback.