Web Design Trends 2018

Creativity is a conversation. A conversation that’s been ongoing since we first learned to recreate elements of our world in ochre and charcoal on cave walls. Since we learned to turn abstract marks carved in clay with sticks into packages full of meaning — i.e., language. Trends are just the main threads in that sprawling, chaotic, polyphonous conversation. Whether we choose to adopt or resist them, our creative choices exist alongside these trends. They provide context. Because what’s innovation if not a break from the normative? And what’s the normative but last year’s trends? Just because something is popular at the moment doesn’t mean that you have to jump on the bandwagon. Performing your own analysis and using your best judgement will make you a trustworthy source of information for clients (not to mention a better designer).

Are Trends Risky when
Designing for a Client?

Do you really need to follow trends? Isn’t the tried-and-true the better way to go?
Let’s look at the benefits and risks of using trends for a client.

Risks

Blending In

Following a design trend can become boring because you're following the majority. Doing something trendy can be considered the easy way out and not very challenging or rewarding.

Distracts from User Expirience

Trends often do little to push design forward or improve user experience. Designers have to consider whether trends are a primary consideration, or whether the user experience should define the styles and direction.

Trends Come and Go

Following design trends can be a slippery slope because trends are constantly changing. If you adopt trends too quickly, your brand can come across as inconsistent. If the trend is short-lived, your brand can go from lovable to lame in a matter of months.

Benefits

Staying Fresh

Simply put, keeping your design skills fresh is an essential part of being a successful web designer. That’s a nearly impossible task without taking a look at what’s going on in the world around you. This is why you need to at least make yourself aware of the latest design trends.

Enhancing Designs

If you can truly see the benefits of a new layout technique or style of typography then maybe it’s worth your time to explore. As long as the trend is enhancing your user expirience, go for it.

Keeping Up is Worth the Effort

Web design, more than just about any other profession, is constantly changing. Whether it’s the software we rely on, the content on our websites or the design techniques we use. Everything’s in a constant state of flux and part of our job is to keep an eye on it all.

Trend Types

Design Trends

Trends having to do with the visual aspects of a website — i.e., typography, color, page layout etc...

Tech Trends

Trends that have to do with the way a website functions.

2018 Trends

It’s 2018, a new year to explore more in Web Designs.
You’re a designer looking around for inspirations and trends? Then you have come to right place.

This year will bring bold vibrant color schemes, bold typography choices, asymmestry,
sticky elements, hand drawn elelments, and fliud shapes. Read more about them below and look at examples to figure out how
you can use these design trends to keep your work fresh.

Upcoming Trends

1. Vibrant Color Schemes

When Google came out with Material Design in 2014, it pushed the boundaries of what web designers had been willing to do up to that point, especially when it came to color. Thanks to the success we’ve seen with Material Design and what it’s enabled designers to do with bright colors in a controlled setting, 2018 is giving designers the thumbs-up to experiment with it even further. Vibrant color schemes are perhaps the tamest part of this trend as we’re also going to see more experimentation with double exposure, gradients, and photo saturation.

View Example

2. Rebellious Typography Choices

First off, let’s be clear that this one isn’t about anything other than header text. The rules established regarding the readability of standard paragraph text are ones that should never be broken. That said, header text–especially on the top of a home page–is a different story. In 2018, we’re going to see a major shake-up in how this header text is styled. It’s going to be: Bolder, Oddly spaced, Transparent, Weirdly misshapen, Haphazardly placed, And who knows what other techniques designers will come up.

View Example

3. Asymmetry

Users have been trained well to understand how websites work:

• Use the top navigation to find other pages.
• Scroll down to read more.
• Click the flat, colorful buttons for more information.
Now that they’ve got the basic principles down, designers are free to experiment with layouts and grids, using unexpected changes and asymmetrical balance as a way to surprise and delight users along their journey.

View Example

4. Sticky Elements

It’s nice to see that not all web design trends for this year will be as disruptive as shocking amounts of color, unexpected movement, and even typography that requires them to work a little more than usual. Take the sticky elements, for instance. Sticky navigation and hello bars are not new concepts in web design. That said, designers wisely recognize the benefits in making certain elements “stick” to the sides of a website in order to reduce friction while sharing messages in an unobtrusive way with visitors.

View Example

5. Hand-Drawn Elements

In the not-too-long ago days of early web design, stock images were the hot thing. They were easy to find and didn’t require you to do much work other than search, purchase, and download. Then there was custom photography. It gave designers a chance to put a personal spin on a website’s design. Obviously, neither of those design options will go away as stock and custom photography still have their place. However, for designers that want to put a creative spin on a website and make it uniquely their own, you can utilize the hand-drawn trend.

View Example

6. Fluid Shapes

If you want to know where the fluid shape design trend comes from, all you have to do is look back at the geometric-focused designs that dominated websites the last few years. Basically, this trend says that geometry rules, but it needs to not be so severe all the time. Oh yeah, and it’s okay to give your shapes some depth and movement if you want, too. So, basically, moving into 2018, you’ll want to round some of those sharp edges on your websites. And bring back the 3D layering of Material Design.

View Example

7. Dynamic Gradients

Over the last few years, flat design has been a much preferred web design trend over dimensional colors, but gradients are making a big comeback in 2018. Last time gradients were around, they were seen mainly in the form of subtle shading to suggest 3D (Apple’s iOS icons were a great example). The most popular recent incarnation is a gradient filter over photos—a great way to make a less interesting image look intriguing. A simple gradient background can also be the perfect on-trend solution if you don’t have any other images to work with.

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8. Animations, Gifs and Cinegrapghs

Motion catches a user’s attention faster than anything else. Users love to see stories, don’t want to read. The reason behind Instagram’s success. Use animation, Gifs and cinegraphs to create eye-catching landing pages, banners, newsletters and more. You will be familiar with these three terms as you already use social media. Use Integrated Animations to guide your users through navigation, loading screens, etc.

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9. Minimal and Comfort

Less is More: Minimalism trend continues with even more blank spaces. Especially white spaces for a clean, multipurpose versatile design. Comfort is achieved through slow but detailed Animations. Short but Focused bold content on the screen. Essentially, minimalism is about breaking things down to the barest elements necessary for a design to function. It’s about taking things away until nothing else can be removed without interfering with the purpose of the design. As you already know — First impression lasts longer.

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