You never get a second chance to make a first impression about your website, so you better be sure that you deliver the right message to your users, connecting with them, in order to build trust and respect. Be sure you know the web design trends of 2017.
It’s time to take a look at your existing design because 2017 will be a year of new ideas and new visual concepts to explore. BootstrapBay prepared for you some useful information and trends. Let’s take a look.
Learning how to effectively communicate your message will never
go out of style – Kristi Dosh
Web design trend #1 – Conversational UI
The web design trend of conversational user interfaces (for example for websites) will become an increasingly important topic for most web designers in 2017. As messaging platforms (such as Slack, Facebook Messenger, or others) are overtaking social networks and app downloads, companies are starting to think about ways to utilize this change.
Web design trend #2 – Next generation of responsive design
Responsive design will continue to dominate because it is one of the most effective ways of achieving a good UX. CSS media queries offer websites flexibility and allow them to adjust according to the different devices the site is being accessed on.
In April 2016, Google changed its ranking algorithm to prioritize websites which have optimized content and throughout the next year, we’ll see companies hurrying to re-boost their Google ranks.
As website providers, we must accept the situation, that there’s not a one size fits all situation here.
Web design trend #3 – Minimalism
Minimalistic web design is being taken to a whole new level in 2017, so instead of being hit with a homepage, users are now presented with a ‘card’. These are entry points which act as the doorway to more information. Within a website itself, multiple cards can also be used to visually suggest a topic and entice users to click.
Web design trend #4 – Long-scrolling websites
There are a pro’s and con’s to long-scrolling websites. All in all, we do see more and more long-scrolling websites, mainly to the success of seemingly bottomless websites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. These social media outlets allow users to scroll for hours, constantly seeing new content.
As a human race, we’re used to the action now. Many sites are using menus and tabs, instead of putting everything in one, long page. The site can be broken up with images, typography, and videos to add some excitement to the experience.
More creative examples here: http://www.awwwards.com/websites/scroll/
Web design trend #5 – Color
The color choice for a website is incredibly important. It can influence the visitors’ emotions, thoughts, and conversion rates. So, what are going to be the color trends for 2017? Pantone has unveiled their 2017 color of the year – Greenery. It’s been chosen as a symbol of new beginnings; a refreshing and revitalizing shade. I don’t expect every website in 2017 to be green, but I’m sure there will be several web designs inspired by this.
Web design trend #6 – Cinemagraphs
Cinemagraphs are still photos with elements that have repeated movements. They have been gaining popularity recently, and rightfully so; a well-done cinemagraph can be visually striking.
Cinemagraphs can either be GIF files or videos. Both can result in rather large file sizes if the cinemagraph is high quality. Cinemagraph GIFs can easily be over 3MB, so you might want to consider streaming video instead.
Web design trend #7 – SVGs
Are you tired of logos and other images resizing terribly? If so, you should try out SVG files instead of the usual PNG and JPG formats. The SVG format isn’t suited for all images; they’ll only work with vector graphics, so you can’t go and infinitely scale any photo.
Web design trend #8 – Flexbox
Flexbox is a CSS3 layout mode that makes it much more efficient and predictable when working with page layouts that will be displayed using various screen sizes and devices. Flexbox has been steadily gaining interest, and with it now being supported by all modern browsers, it’s likely more front-end developers will be using it.
You can find a complete guide here:
Web design trend #9 -Video with Sound
People are becoming more accustomed to watching videos – from short bits from YouTube to entire movies – on their devices. Websites can mimic this cinematic experience as well with a full-on video with sound display on the homepage. (It does not have to be auto-play to be effective.)
Proceed with caution. Include an option to toggle sound off and on, because not all users will appreciate it. The content needs to be so stellar that users will demand sound as part of the experience. (This is a trend that can be tough to pull off but can work beautifully if you have the right video and sound content combination.)
Web design trend #10 – Super Simple Homepages
More designs will start to strip away the type heavy homepage styles that have been popular for a while. More designers are opting for design that features only a word or two on the first screen of the design.
And before you worry about SEO, these pages are often packed with plenty of information below the scroll. This is a great example of how user habits are changing web design as a whole. Thanks to plenty of scrolling on mobile websites, users are scrolling more on websites regardless of device. This makes it easier to design a light, airy hero area and pack the design with content on the scroll.
Here’s the trick: Just make sure to give users enough in this simple design to make them want more so that they will engage in scrolling behaviors.
Web design trend #11 -Custom Typography
Big, bold lettering never goes out of style. It is one of those trends that seems to just get better and better. Thanks to a growing number of web fonts and compatibility, more designers are taking typography risks with more novelty and interesting typefaces.
It’s a win for the design and a win for users that are likely tired of the same few sans serifs that seem to dominate design projects. From vintage type styles to retro looks to completely custom typefaces, designers need to think about how to add flair with type to create visual interest.
Just keep in mind, cool lettering still needs to be readable. So whether you are pairing it with an image or as stand-alone artwork, make sure users can understand exactly what you are trying to say at a glance.
Web design trend #12 – Micro-interaction
Micro-interactions, typically in the form of small, on-screen animations are playing a vital role in UI and UX design today, especially on mobile and smaller screen devices.
From a user-experience perspective, micro-interactions are not only small, entertaining on-screen animations or transitions, but are forms of visual feedback for the user and their actions. Micro-interactions let users know what is happening, what has happened, and what will happen next as they interact with the UI.
Feature photo courtesy of Ruslan Latypov, project UI/UX Tool for Web Services.
