Web designers come up with new techniques and trends every year. Few techniques and trends that have been dominant all through the year 2015 will be seen in 2016 too. There is quite an increase in the popularity of vertical patterns, videos, slide styles etc and it won’t be a surprise to see them recurring in the future. We are going to discuss the following patterns that will be seen a lot in the year 2016.
Scrolling and Vertical Patterns
With the huge influx of mobile users all over the world, designing for mobile users have surely become a priority now. This means that there is more emphasis on vertical user flows.
Card Style interfaces
Card style interfaces have been emerged from Material design and have become quite popular. You find them almost everywhere right from apps to printed pieces to websites. They are a fun to create, user friendly, engaging and very helpful in keeping the information organized. The primary benefit of using card interface is that they flawlessly work across all devices as the cards can be “stacked” across or down the screen.
Hero Video Headers
The latest web design trend has also influenced the cine screen too. Today, we have very high speed internet connections along with a superior video plug-in integration that is actually giving the users an impressive movie theatre kind of experience while surfing the websites. Earlier, people used to add small video snippets, whereas, they are now including full length preview video clips. All images are in high definition with clear, crisp and sharp display. When users watch such HD videos on their display screens, they feel as if they are watching it a theatre or on their HD televisions.
Tiny Animations
Inclusion of animations in the web pages has become a mandatory step in any web design. Right from super size animations to tiny divots, the idea is to bewitch the visitors and keep them hooked to the site. The popularity of animations seems to only grow bigger in the future. Animated user interface elements add an element of surprise to the user. They actually help the site visitor to find what they are looking for and keep them happily engaged. However, the designer should be clear in his mind about why he wants to include animation. Merely filling up the page won’t work.
Focus on Interactions
Interactions go really hand in hand with animations. These are quite a staple in the world of apps and mobile interfaces as they create a link between the app users and the device. The quality of interactions can be measured by how big or how small they are in nature. The good ones are really small, almost micro in nature but providing value to the user. You see these interactions in the form of a bleep or notification alarms or a text message to let you know your status in the game apps.
Beautiful typography
This has come up in the picture as a result of streamlined interfaces. The latest trend is to create big and bold typefaces as they complement other trendy elements. The lettering concept offers more room for other elements during a text communication with a great display. There is a simple design trick which says that use a pair of a readable typeface and fun novelty option.
Illustrations and Sketches
Illustrations and sketches add a lot of fun and whimsy to a normal looking website. Interestingly, they can be used in designing of any site, be it a website dedicated to children or a business website. Because of the fun element, this style of design has grown in popularity. The catchy element of this trend is that it gives a personal feel to the website. For example, a sketch type icon looks as if it has been hand drawn giving a real feel to the user. These sketches create a kind of connection with the users giving them a more realistic feel.
Bolder, Brighter Color
Use of brighter and bolder colors in web design is a rage these days. This is something that has come into the picture with the flat design trends. If you take a look at Google’s material design documentation, you will find how and why colour is and will always stay big in the coming times. Change can be seen as the type of colours being use. Year 2015 has seen the usage of monotone big colour designs. In 2016 and the coming years, more usage of brighter colour palettes are going to be seen in web designs.
More Hamburgers and Iconography
Iconography has become bigger and better than ever. Designers are releasing more and more fun UI and icon kits that are easy to use and pretty affordable at the same time. Experiments are going on with oversized icons in SGV formats.
Reality-Imagination Blur
Designers want to create websites that actually blurs the line between the reality and imagination. They want the user to think whether what they are seeing is for real or just a mere animation. The images look real which they are not! Results are really stunning and users can actually make a choice of the content they want to see in a customized manner.
Websites with Slides
Earlier, sliders are used to let the images move in a frame to display the content. Today, full screen slides are used for the display. So, as a slide moves, the entire screen gets refreshed displaying new content. The slides can work with clicks or scrolls. Users get a more realistic experience as they can navigate forward or backward through the pages.
All the aforesaid trends mentioned in the article can give you a fair idea about what is hot and happening in the world of web designing. They all are actually evolved from all the trends we have seen in the past. The quest is to build more interactive and engaging websites for the users so that they happily stay hooked in the fantasy of the virtual world!