As lovers of all things web-related, we’re fascinated by the latest trends—as long as they pertain to the Internet! This summer, we’ve got our eye on new designs cropping up all over town, and we’re crazy about the futuristic focus of so many recent web innovations. Below, we outline the year’s hottest ultramodern design trends—skim through for easy ways to reinvigorate your web presence.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Some things never change, even as we look to the future. More than ever before, today’s most successful websites depend on high-quality photography to enhance their users’ experience by eliciting trust and cultivating engagement. The booming success of photo-based social media sites, like Instagram and Snapchat, prove that photos are the way of the future, and we’re only going to see more and more user-driven photography in the digital realm. Our take? Embrace the trend!
Let’s start with ditching stagey, framed stock photos. These tend to look generic, and if you’re getting them for free, everyone else probably is, too. Forward-focused brands are looking in-house instead, stocking their websites and social media accounts with photos of their own teams. Whether they’re catching the breeze at the corporate softball game or sharing a laugh over the conference room table, images of your colleagues will add a human element to your brand—and a refreshing alternative to stodgy stock photos, which your viewers and followers won’t miss one bit.
Bold is Beautiful
As marketers clamor for space on the web, it’s critical that your brand stands out above the rest—and sometimes, all you need is a bit of bold. This season, bold fonts are in style, so don’t be surprised if font, not color or graphics, catches your eye during your next browsing session. From news to technology, fashion to consumer reports, the trend is bold—at least as far as fonts are concerned. Catch your viewer’s eye with a forward-thinking, minimalistic font—and keep in mind that fonts free of serifs tend to be easier to read.
Splashy Color: In!
For decades, minimalist aesthetics have dominated the Internet, with gray, white, beige, and black as a backdrop for so many brands. Monochromatic palettes have always been associated with the urban, the modern, and the hip—but it looks like things are finally turning around, at least as far as the web is concerned. Where simple, muted colors once dominated, bolder, brighter hues are stepping forward in unexpected ways. These aren’t your flashy colors of the seventies; modern “bold” means accentuating just one color, like red or green, while muting the rest, creating an alluring, unexpected contrast.
Or, consider pairing two bold hues to amplify your website – think duotones. Which colors do you gravitate towards naturally? Which evoke the best qualities of your brand? Free color schemes online can give you a sense of what works, what doesn’t, and what’s been done already. Out with the old, in with the fresh! Bright colors might just be here to stay.
Simplicity Wins the Day
In the end, we can’t help but notice an obvious trend: the minimal seems like it’s here for good, and web design only seems to be getting more simplistic – at least as it appears to the user. Behind the scenes, technologies are advancing in complexity; paradoxically, more intricacy on the back-end means a simple, pared-down user experience. As you proceed with a design or redesign of your web and social media presences, keep it simple. Leave your user with only what he or she will need, avoiding clutter and clunkiness at all costs. Today’s user, after all, is already accustomed to simplicity—think of the minimalism inherent to such giants as Instagram or Apple.
How might your own site benefit from the minimalistic trend? After all, it’s the way of the future.