The New Year has arrived, and as the Christmas period begins to feel further and further away, we’re cheering ourselves up with the many exciting things to come over the next 12 months. Here we dig into the upcoming trends, design approaches and changes that are soon to come to the world of web design.
1. The rise and rise of animations
Animations are going to be harnessed in ever more inventive ways this year, as brands come to understand the power of product and service explainers and demonstrations.
2. Typography for brands with personality
The past few years have focussed on big, beautiful fonts – and 2017 will be no different (only this time, more diversity is going to be seen, as more brands opt to commission their very own fonts for a completely unique typography style).
3. A continuing rise for parallax
Parallax was revolutionary for web design (you’d recognise this effect as your scroll, with content seemingly ‘floating’ above the background image).
2017 will see these effects becoming more sophisticated, including parallax that reacts to mouse movement; effects that rise up (rather than down) and backgrounds that incorporate more layers.
4. Content has always been king, and in 2017 this king is going to get a brand new cloak
Content. You likely already know just how important it is – vital for your search engine position, essential for building your brand image and critical for helping your target customers through the sales process.
2017 will be the year that you must go beyond exceptional content creation – to provide it with the presentation it demands. Cluttered sidebars, disruptive popups, bulky social share buttons and banner ads are going to be increasingly thrown out, in favour of a simpler design that truly showcases the content that is placed before an audience.
5. Going starkers and the continuing minimalistic trend
The trend of minimalism will extend beyond the blog to every other page – homepages will become simpler and more imagery based, whilst a focus on clean, uncluttered and concise design will represent a stripping away of all non-essential design elements.
6. A serious shift toward authenticity
2017 will be the year that the token stock image of that receptionist dies a death. Out with the stock images and in with genuine photos of your team, products and premises (and it’s not before time!).
7. Geometry that introduces sharp, angular style
With a cleaner design comes the freedom to selectively choose which elements to draw attention to – and geometry is going to play a big role in framing images and content, beautifully.
8. Imagery that becomes more colourful – with duotone gradient effects
Duotone gradient effects made their debut last year, and since then it seems that visitors, web designers and brands alike have been mesmerised by the impact they can create.
This trend will gain real traction in 2017 – and whilst the world-wide web becomes a more minimalist a place, this introduction of vibrant colour will become quite the stark contrast when paired with sparse, pale colour palette designs.
9. Navigations that are stripped back
In line with many of the other trends we’ve already spoken of, navigation systems are also going to feel the minimalistic effect – becoming leaner, cleaner and the simplest version of their former selves.
10. A growth in the use of landing pages
Alongside the change we’ll see for content presentation, will be an increase in the number of landing pages. This trend shouldn’t be so surprising, as content marketing will become ever more important and landing pages provide the laser precise tool for capitalising on your content assets.
So, there we are – quite the number of changes that are soon to be seen gracing the pages of brands throughout the word. These shifts can seem intimidating (and, let’s face it, the pace of change in this realm can make your head spin), but at Squibble, we embrace change – tapping into trends and running with them. We must confess, we’re super excited for all that’s to come.
