Last year we looked at some of 2013’s top web design trends. The top trends were highlighted, illustrated and briefly explained in an infographic. While in the blog content, I briefly discussed potential trends for 2014. I pointed out Flat Design, Responsive Design and Infinite Scrolling as my top trend picks for 2014.
Responsive Design is, of course, an obvious one. I would actually hesitate to call it a design trend, because I believe it is here to stay. But at of that aside, now that we are well into the new year, let’s see how things are going thus far.
Flat Design
Flat design is as minimalist as you can go, while still creating effective designs. Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, are just some of the major brands that have changed the look and feel of their interfaces/personas to Flat Design.
Responsive Design
Responsive design continues to pave the way. There is no better way to serve your website across multiple devices and operating systems. Don’t count on this “trend” going anywhere anytime soon. Even most free WordPress themes come out of the box as a responsive website.
Mixed Typography
Headers using bold and normal weights, using both serif and sans-serif font faces. Mixes type faces are very trendy at the moment, but this is one of those trends that require finesse when executing. If poor choices have been made in selecting the type faces, it can look very amateur.
Simplified Design
Simplified websites that focus on content rather than being overly designed and full of images. This offers a better user experience and allows users to focus on reading the content rather than distracting them with unnecessary images and the like.
Fixed Navigation
Fixed navigation is very advantageous, especially on websites with very long pages. Your users will have access to the main menu at all times, regardless of how far they have scrolled down on the page. This keeps your most important pages (these should really be in your main menu) close at hand.
The Rise of SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) has long been hailed as the next big thing in web design, but it has not really gained the necessary momentum yet. But 2014 might very well be the year that changes that. We’ll have to wait and see.
What is your opinion on these Web Design trends, have you used any of these before? Do you plan to use them on your next project? Add your comment below and let us know what you think.
Tags: Responsive Design, User Experience, Website Design
