As the years pass, web design has morphed from changing fonts and background colors in a plain html page to extensive and complex designs that you would typically see in print design. And that’s not to mention the huge influx in interactive elements from videos to shapes and graphics.
To stay afloat on the ever changing landscape that is web design, it’s important to see what the newest and most experimental trends are so you can either adapt your website accordingly, or respectfully say that the new trends are too weird and stay far, far away.
Your choice.
Here are the latest trends that, for better or worse, are making a dent in the web world.
Illustrations
Illustrations, whether illustrative type or adding little drawn lines and funny doodles, are becoming more and more common in web design. This trend isn’t new, but the traction is gaining.
Not having access to an illustrator is quite a common problem, so the trend isn’t on every site (yet). But the design elements of illustration brings a human quality to the web, something with uneven edges and a little more character than square grids.
Type Used as a Graphical Element
Typography isn’t being taken for granted anymore. It doesn’t stop at illustrative typefaces (like Animal above), either.
Instead of type hiding behind pretty photos or graphics, the beautiful fonts are being shown off as graphical elements themselves.
In fact, some websites don’t even bother with pictures or illustrations anymore. There is no wondering where the content is, that’s for sure.
And although many sites aren’t going to the extreme like above, a very relevant trend is to pay more attention to the fonts you use and how you use them. Words are beautiful!
Bold Colors and Gradients
This trend isn’t new, either. But with so many popular brands adopting these kind of color schemes, it’s important to note.
Duotone color schemes, especially in photos, are becoming increasingly popular as well. This design style uses only two colors: like red and blue in the website below. Even popular brands like Spotify have been known to adapt this trend.
Bright and dramatic gradients used to be something that dated a website. But everything comes back in style, right?
Complex/Experimental Compositions
Are grids and easily distinguished ‘sections’ of a page too boring? Plenty of recent web designs are starting to throw the whole organized box models out the window (which leaves the CSS/JavaScript on a whole new level).
Layering boxes, patterns, colors, photos, and type is becoming a popular trend.
One Page Websites
Another popular trend has been to cut all the extra pages and have only one page for your site. Most of these sites still have traditional “menus”, but they just anchor down to a certain point on the page.
Don’t think it could work? Check out http://www.formationstone.com/ or http://www.davidebaratta.com/. These one page websites are usually restricted to sites with only a small amount of content.
All of the Above
No website is limited to the use of one trend. As you can see, all the examples I gave can be categorized in multiple ways.
Want to see more? To find more website inspiration, take a look at Web Design Inspiration or Awwwards. If looking at beautiful design work is a little addicting, Pinterest, Dribbble, and Behance all have endless awe-inspiring work to peruse!
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