Web design is an industry that is constantly evolving, changing, and growing in consciousness. With 2018 expected to be the year of artificial intelligence, the release of the first mass produced electric only vehicle, and numerous other futuristic scientific breakthrough’s, the design industry is no different. Based upon our teams research, below you will find the top 10 things to expect coming down the pipe in the digital world that may directly effect your business, your conversion rates and your Google rankings.
1) The death of marketing automation pop-up’s and interstitials
The search giant Google just announced that it will start punishing sites that employ these marketing strategies by lowering their search engine rankings, so if search engine rankings are a priority for you then we recommend eliminating pop ups or interstitials from your website immediately to avoid any loss in SERP ranking.
2) More subtle micro-animations and lazy loads
Recently, micro-animations have bloomed due to the popularity of CSS3 and jQuery, however most design agencies have gone overboard with micro-animations. This has not only caused websites to load slowly but it had now been proven that the distractions reduces conversion rates. For 2018 you will be seeing more simplistic, clean animation with a minimalist yet elegant effect.
3) Sharp gradients are back in style
They are back! Back in a new way. Gradients have evolved and we are starting to see major brands use sharp gradients to add visual interest to a website. Seeing these new gradients are a very 2018 approach on the traditional gradients that were popular in 2015. Check out how design pioneer sketch has recently updated their website.
4) Round corners are in again
For years sharp corners were the jam, but we are starting to see major brands such as sketch above among numerous others re-introduce rounded corners throughout their styling. This is a departure from the very clean, modern squared layouts but again like everything in time they become popular again.
5) Bringing back the Serif Fonts
I have never personally been a fan of Serif Fonts but they are back in style, so we will adapt. In the past designers were pushing flat designs really hard, and with the desire to create those flat designs they virtually eliminated Serif Fonts but for 2018, expect to see those back in the web design trends to watch out for.
6) Visually light, bright and in your face color schemes
Creating new color schemes is hard work. Since there is only a limited number of colors and even fewer colors that have traditionally worked together, it doesn’t surprise me that brands are trying to come up with new strategies that are bold, in your face, traditionally would not go together yet somehow work. Take a look at the masterpiece Spotify has crafted.
7) Visual interactive story telling
As brands are always trying to get their point across in an effective way, we are seeing a huge push towards visual interactive story telling. This is a rather new phenomenon that we are really liking. It tells the story in a visual manner that guide the user through meaningful content in a way that is pleasing to the eye. A great example is the recent article that CNN did on global warming, in which you can see the cutting edge way they have told their story.
8) More diagonal sections breaks sitewide
The image above says it all. Not only are we seeing stripe use diagonal section breaks to divide their content they have also implemented sharp gradients into their design strategy. There are a lot of highly effective ways to implement both and we are excited to see these trends coming to the forefront of the marketplace.
9) Multi-split screen on desktop displays
Multi-split screen design trends started in 2017 but expect this to really ramp up in 2018. Not only are major brands using this cutting edge design style but we have already designed some of these for our clients as well. Usually brands that opt for this design are companies that want to be different, design firms, architecture firms, agencies of all types but don’t be surprises to see this utilized elsewhere also.
10) Unique and unconventional grid layouts
Designing using grids such as the 12 column bootstrap grid has been popular for years, so don’t expect it go anywhere anytime soon. However for 2018 design trends, expect to see leading edge designers start to push the limits of the grid system implementing designs that are out of the box and continually pushing boundaries like what the prototype giant invision has done.
While design trends are always changing, you can expect DIGITECH Web Design to be consistent in providing you the most current, up to date information on design trends in the industry.
