Geek Speak: 2016 Web Trends

1/4/2016

Move over mobile responsive design!  We are ready to share some new and exciting web trends that you’ll be seeing more of in 2016.

1.    Effective Animations

Motion is a big attention grabber, making animation a great way to bring life to an otherwise dull website.  Whether it’s hover animation to show that a link is clickable, loading animation to entertain a user while they are waiting, or a fly in menu, a little movement can go a long way when it comes to spicing up your website.  A few examples of effective animation in action can be found here.

2.    HD Backgrounds

As more consumers use high definition devices (resolution greater than 200 ppi (dpi)), catering graphics to this group is becoming more relevant.  While images designed for standard definition look blocky on HD devices, those that are designed with HD still look fine in SD.  This makes HD graphics the obvious choice for web designing for the present…and future.

3.    Dynamic Typography

What is dynamic typography anyway?  It doesn’t necessarily mean anything too wild or elaborate.  Often, simple typography does the trick.  It’s really just any easily readable text that does a great job of drawing attention, which can be text that’s small, large, colorful, or not.   If done well, typography can even steal the spotlight as the central “image” on a page. 

Word of warning: More fonts is not always better. Two fonts per site is usually plenty!

4.    Card Layouts

Made popular by Pinterest, displaying content in “blocks” has evolved as a nice way to display content for an organized view on mobile devices.  Each card has precise information on a topic for easy scanning.  Their rectangular shape also makes for easy breaking points of content to nicely fit a variety of device screen sizes.

5.    Fewer Photos/More Illustrations

After several years of heavy emphasis on featuring larger photo headers, many web designers are making the move toward using more illustrations and fewer photos as a way to engage users in a more personal way by allowing the viewer to interpret a scene and connect with it more than they would a specific staged photo.

6.    Fewer Pages

Yes, less is more!  While a one page website may be perfect for some organizations, that’s not quite the right fit for all.  Regardless, simplified content strategies are the way to go when it comes to capturing the attention of the viewer looking for a quick piece of information (often from their mobile device).   Another shift seen with this trend is that page scrolling is no longer the enemy!  A little (or a lot) of scrolling is seen to be more friendly on mobile devices.  Knowing your audience and what they are using to view your website is key with this trend!

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