Winter is coming to us, we drink last pumpkin spice latte and reflect on how to complete this year. I can already give a characterization of the current design trends and predictions in practice: what trends will stay in 2014, and what will continue in 2015? In “Web Design Trends 2015: What Trends Will Stay in 2014, and What Trends Will Continue in 2015” article you will find those answers. And since our site exists at the intersection of two themes: web design and WordPress, I paid particular attention to how these trends have affected and still affect WordPress community, from ready-to-use plug-ins and to the new opportunities arising from the development in connection with new trends in web design.
1. Adaptive design forever
Of course, you can not take for granted adaptability/usability. You can even have a good reason not to follow the rules of the adaptive design for your website, although, frankly, I doubt it.
In recent years the adaptive design strengthened its position as the standard in the interaction site with user devices in general and as a basis for constructing WordPress Themes in particular.
Of course, the methods of implementation of adaptability are still under debate, but no one has ever said, ” Let us finally get rid of this unnecessary adaptability! “- on the contrary, many long-established sites accept this concept at the next redesign. This process takes place in 2014, and it will continue in 2015. The adaptive design ceased to be a trend of fashion and now it has became the norm.
2. Phantom Button Design
The buttons do not have a background implemented in themes. And you have to understand why I love these topics. Minimalist, stylish and unobtrusive effects when hovering …
Using them is a pleasure! This trend I expect to see in the next year. Especially since it goes well with large images as the background of the page and videos, which we’ll talk to in point 4.
3. Emphasis on Typography
Previously web typography tools were expensive and difficult to use. This meant that the only big-sites could pay much attention to the development of typographic design. Small sites which used WordPress were out of luck. Now everything has changed.
There are free or inexpensive (for example, Google Fonts ) font sets that are optimized for the web. This allows the designers to pay more attention typography.
Finally, it made the developers for WordPress ensure their product is no longer a font flexibility, which, in turn, make a quality and stylish design, text-oriented, accessible to almost any user to WordPress .
4. Lovely Background Images and Video
Another cornerstone, which will certainly be in demand in the coming year, is large images or videos with high resolution that are used as the background page.
The easiest way to create a great site is to emphasize the dignity of its original content design. Scenic background draws attention to the content and looks powerful and elegant – but only if the other elements of the design are in harmony with it.
5. Scroll Functionality Instead of Links
If the growth trend of the share of mobile devices in total web traffic to continue in the future, at some point, as a method of scrolling navigation will become more common than click on the link.
Scrolling is done easier on the touch screen and is more intuitive, which allows without additional tweaks to download content while watching. This is more dynamic way users interact with the site.
6. Modular Design: There is Something to Strive For
Modular design is not new, but at a certain point it became clear that its principles perfectly aligned with the requirements of adaptability. Cards – rectangular blocks of standard size, filled with arbitrary content can flow from one column to another, without creating chaos and without changing the overall impression of the style of the site.
They give the user a good overall plan, while emphasizing the opportunity to delve into the details. In short, the modules are clear and understandable concept with great flexibility. Exactly what you need for the modern web! So expect more modular websites with a card feed material at the end of this year and throughout the next.
7. Sleek Design Matures (or grows into the Material Design?)
Sleek design was at the peak of popularity in the past year, and it will remain an important trend of the next year. But as we can see, flat design evolves appreciably.
Perhaps the new flat design will be the so-called material design. What is the material design? Google called it a promising new direction in interface design, in particular – the interfaces of mobile devices.
” A material “- said in the announcement of Google, – «metaphor is the unifying theory of a rationalized space and a system of motion. Our material is grounded in tactile reality, inspired by our study of paper and ink, yet open to imagination and magic. ”
Putting aside the marketing message of meanings ( as well as the notorious simplification consisting in the fact that we are talking about something like “almost flat design” ), we can see that the designers of Google mean the same slim design, but with light Skeuomorph elements: barely noticeable gradients, unobtrusive and modest animation layers that remind us of the space and objects of the real world, without violating the ” flat “feel of the design.
Moot point, but I think that the flat design in general is already moving in this direction, I expect that more and more designers are inspired by the concept of Google in the next year.
8. Microinteraction
Microinteraction is a question that has been very useful to touch behind the material design. Microinteraction has solid elements of the functionality of the site or module, a limited use case. For example, the behavior of the widget newsletter.
It can shake slightly, recalling the appropriate capabilities. This widget is not only better fulfills its function, but also help revitalize the seemingly static Web site.
Microinteraction designed to strengthen the involvement of the user, in this example, affect the number of subscriptions. I’ll just be happy if the theory behind microinteractions will increasingly spread across the web space.
This will mean that the plugin developers will begin to think more, not only about a specific function, but also about the experience, which will attract visitors to the site in general. I want to see more plug-ins that add not just functional but also easy to use capabilities.
9. Narrative Web Design
What happens when you combine all the above ingredients together? Then it becomes the best platform for narrative design!
No, when I talk about the narrative web design or that a good website should tell me its story, I do not mean the synthesized voice, read out at the opening page any fairy tale or fiction. I mean, what concepts or values that define your brand or your personality, should determine the selection of all components of the website, from fonts and finishing elements of microinteraction.
All these elements are narrative instruments to create a visitor whole impression of you or your project. An excellent example of narrative approach to web design is a website of Tesla Motors , which I will talk about later.
10. Personalized Interface
The idea to use cookies to help frequent visitors to select a more relevant content, is not new. But as some of the “gray “methods of interaction with the user, such as pop-ups, unable to clear its reputation through the use of new practices of designing interfaces, but cookies can be used for something more useful than the spam and the imposition of additional services.
Netflix uses cookies to remember the place where you left off last time. So does YouTube .
Would someone be worse if known blog or news site will take advantage of little-used space on the sidebar to remind the visitor of the articles he had read in the last time? Or, conversely, remove already read the article from the list of new products?
No, these things are made only for the better, and I believe that in the near future we will see more examples of such technologies. And I would like to see all the plug-ins for WordPress , implement the personalization of the site in such ways.
Some fantastic examples
Sometimes, reading about all these great concepts and technologies, refuses to believe that someone is able to get them to work together on this site. So, I will introduce you to three real-world examples that embody all of the concepts in this article.
No need to be a fan of ” bitten apple “, to evaluate the wonderful design of this web site. It is based on the traditional Apple simplicity. However, designers of Apple managed to apply a significant number of existing and prospective trends in web design.
This is a great subject for study, but remember, what you have to learn from the creators of this site, first of all is their sophistication, which allows the entire set of fashion trends to not slide into self-parody.
This is one of my favorite sites. And not just because I like their cars. Web designers put all of my favorite concepts in one-piece and an unmistakable feeling.
I especially like the page ” Go Electric “, which uses a large illustration, scrolling navigation, built infographics and narrative outline to answer five questions about their products, which most often people ask.
This design is a mix of pleasure and shock, which turns the traditionally most boring part of the site (FAQ) in an unforgettable performance.
The last example – not from the category of those that need to look from the bottom up, dropping salivating. This is a product that you can take and apply right now.
Divi is undoubtedly the best theme for WordPress , which can help the webmaster with low (down to zero) programming ability to implement all of the fashion trends, which we discussed today. .
This theme is fully adaptive, ie, looks great on any device. A built-in constructor with Drag-and-Drop interface will help you design a page of any length and functionality with interactive modules.
Conclusion on Web Design Trends 2015
It seems that the prevailing trends in web design in 2014 to continue its way in 2015. However, some of them are older and have increased in importance, as was the case a year or two ago with an adaptive design.
As we recall, the adaptive design of the possible solutions to a particular problem in our eyes turned to the new standard. The same path soon will do a design and material micro-interaction.
By the way, I purposely did not include in this article point about the parallax effect, as I consider it a special case micro-interaction. Parallax can go out of fashion, but the concept behind it, undoubtedly, will confirm its viability.
As to the meaning of these trends in WordPress-life community, I would like to see more developers take the example of the Divi in terms of creating a simple and comprehensive way to use their plugins without the need for programming.
I also hope that the idea micro-interactions helps developers build “turnkey” solutions for problems that previously required individual performance of the encoder.
I think that the future of many technologies will be determined in the coming months. How much effort we can spend on emerging issues? What are the technical limitations force us to reconsider the concept or change course? I look forward to the development of these stories.
If you have other thoughts on the web design trends 2015, or do you think that I missed something important, let me know about it in the comments.
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