Each new year bring innovations within the web design industry. This year, we are excited to see more trends for mobile and web design overlapping. Here are our top 9 web design trends that we believe will continue to emerge in 2016. If you are looking for a web design agency, visit http://fusionvegas.com.
1.Mobile-first approach
As mobile responsiveness continues to advance, it is rapidly becoming the main approach to reaching consumers digitally. The influx of mobile users each year is leading towards the “mobile-first” trend for web designers. Now, the focus will be on developing sites for mobile devices and tweaking the design as the screen size becomes larger. This puts mobile devices at the focus of web design for the first time ever.
2. Hamburger-style menus
Have you ever stumbled upon a website and found that you couldn’t find the navigation menu? Well, most likely, it is right in front of you, but you just can’t see it because it is now in the form of a tiny icon that resembles a style similar to a hamburger. Web designers from InSync Media Web Design Agency are beginning to adopt this trend, which began as the universal menu for mobile sites. As mobile and online websites begin to merge, using the hamburger style on both screens provides for more consistency for both devices.
3. More animations
Every great website is one that not only tells a story, but shows one as well. Incorporating animations into the online narrative helps create a more entertaining experience on your website. However, we must be cautious of where we place these animations. Even if you just have pictures on the homepage moving consecutively, this is enough to grab the user’s attention. Always remember– simplicity is key.
4. Micro-interaction
A micro-interaction is any engagement we have with a device. When we like a post on Facebook, turn off our alarm on our iPhones, or simply reroute our direction on our GPS, we sending a communicative signal through our devices. Micro-interactions are great for exchanging information, seeing the result of an interaction, and helping users change something on their devices to fit their needs. Micro-interaction provides for a more humanistic approach on the website, allowing the user to become more engaged in the content, by simply responding through an action.
5. Reality or imagination?
Pheonix Web Design tools continue to progress, the line between reality and imagination becomes fuzzier. This blurred distinction fascinates users because the dreamlike pictures they are witnessing looks real, but the truth of the matter is that they actually are animated.
6. Long scrolls
Long scrolls are popular on mobile sites, and it has now shifted to websites as well. Long scrolls help to tell your story even more fluidly by keeping all the information on one page instead of breaking up your content on multiple pages. Both mobile and website trends are continuously overlapping, and long scrolling is just another technique to add to the list.
7. Sans-serif fonts
As we have stated before, simplicity is key– especially with the fonts used on websites. Take Google for example. They moved away from the curvy, serif font and now their logo is in sans-serif. This helped them to increase the visibility and readability of the logo at smaller sizes. Using a flatter, more clear font has enhanced Google’s logo even more.
8. Movie-style experiences
On the homepage of websites, web designers are beginning to use video headers to enrapture the visitor’s attention right at the get-go. Usually, these headers simply consist of a video before entering the homepage, or a moveable, no-sound header at the top of the homepage. Using multimedia helps to tell your brand’s story even further.
9. Card layouts
You’ve seen this layout on Mashable, Pinterest, and even CNN. It’s the card layout. All the big players are using it, so why isn’t everyone? The card layout makes it more visually appealing to look at lots of information at once, allowing users to see what “card” seems most appealing to them, and then diving down further on it to learn more.
Whether or not all of these trends will be adopted in 2016, we guarantee that they will continue to be implemented in new web design and web development projects that will be occurring in the upcoming year. And here are even more Sandcastle Web Design & Development tips.