Initially, it was planned to post a translation of an English-language article about web design trends in 2017, but after studying various sources, we decided to slightly change the concept of this note. It's all about what last month quite a lot of thematic materials about modern ones were published on the Internet, and opinions, as they say, differed. On the one hand, this is logical, because different authors have their own assumptions about what will be relevant for sites this year. On the other hand, these forecasts are very subjective.
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Trend forecasts have shown that the year will bring more "punk" design styles, though it may not have fully come through on that front. It's important to note that trends don't often just disappear with the calendar year. Rather, they come and go, taking root and becoming popular slowly at first, changing shape over time and adapting to new styles before eventually breaking out altogether. This goes to show that following design trends year after year is a great way to keep your brand up to date.
In general, we have collected all the options and compiled something like a digest of web design trends 2017. Let's start with the most popular trends that many experts note, and gradually move on to more "unique" ideas. By the way, if you have additions and thoughts on the topic, feel free to share them in the comments. Plus, we recommend reading about - also a useful post.
This style is defined as a modern flare added to retro typefaces, often evoking nostalgia in older audiences and providing them with a better emotional connection to the product being advertised by the design. This type of design often features fun, playful designs and geometric shapes.
Hand-drawn images used in design are making a comeback this year. It gives the design work a soft, nostalgic feel. Illustrations remind viewers of the human aspect of any design, often creating a bridge of understanding from concepts and topics that are generally difficult to understand.
1. Non-standard "abstract" design
The grid for sites is considered to be a certain well-established basic concept that helps to competently organize the space of a web page. At the same time, she drove especially creative designers into certain limits. However, there have always been daredevils who create original solutions that are not controlled by any rigid boundaries. Such works, as a rule, are found in image and creative topics, but in 2017 this website design trend will spread to strict corporate projects.
The clean lines, minimalism we've seen in many aspects of fashion and design in recent years seems to be here to stay for graphic design in minimalism, inspired by design trends in the early 20th century and connections in good to mid-century modern style. This year, minimalism will prevail in the form of generous white space and a further reduction in design foci, despite the use of bolder fonts that reflect current trend retro style.
Express, we pride ourselves on keeping a close eye on all the latest design trends and news. Catch with us or for help in any marketing plans print in the new year. Not all design trends are built the same. This year promises to create several trends that meet these criteria. The need to design for small screens, the use of natural prints in unexpected ways, cutting-edge technology, and the importance of self-expression and reflection are driving eye-opening innovation in branding, fashion and packaging.
The non-standard arrangement of elements gives more interesting opportunities: it allows you to use the entire space of the page, add layering of objects and a sense of depth to the layout. You will be able to realize a design that impresses users even without a colorful full-screen video or animation. Considering hundreds of thousands of classic layouts on the web, abstract unique solutions will almost always stand out and attract the attention of site visitors (like the WOW factor). And you need to use it!
Take a look at four cross-industry trends based on our main themes. Using organic materials in a new way is sure to be exciting, and it certainly has to do with wood. Get ready to recalibrate how you see this high school.
The expression "hard as nails" has acquired new meaning last year when a nail artist developed a wood nail design that mimics the natural pattern on the surface of a wood cut. What is the attraction of the tree? It attracts consumers' love for everything natural and eco-friendly.
In a world where so many sites "look the same" and "follow the same patterns", developers and developers are trying to find ways to break the mold and create something new. Combining stunning photography with bold, beautiful colors, designers create truly gorgeous ways to include photos on their sites, as well as match their branding - a perfect match!
Why we love this trend: When looking at a designer's portfolio, it can sometimes be difficult to understand what the entire design of a site looks like or what a navigation system looks like. If you're working with a fancy brand and looking for a way to include some photography, then look no further. Studio photography plus bright, flat backgrounds make for one surreal web design trend. Think less about the whole scene and specific objects, and then pair them with a flat bright background. The result will not disappoint!
2. New navigation options
Non-standard project - advanced menu. Today you don't have to put a horizontal one in the header. Due to the increasing popularity of responsive layouts, many users have become accustomed to the Hamburger menu icon (consisting of three horizontal stripes), which is increasingly appearing on regular versions of sites. The line between mobile and desktop design is gradually blurring. This year we will see a lot of experimentation with the layout and menu shape - this can become one of the main web design trends of 2017.
Why we love this trend: It's hard to describe bright colors and surreal designs as "minimal," when you're creating photorealistic flat designs, there's usually a lot of white space. This is a great way to keep the site design clean while adding that element of surprise.
Little moments of animation is one of better ways create a delightful user interface on your site. You can use smaller shapes in lighter colors for soft and subtle appearance or really make a statement with big, bold designs and a variety of colors. Geometric backgrounds are a great way to add some texture to your site without overwhelming the design.
Such solutions allow you to use page space in a different way. In addition to intuitive scrolling down and sideways, as well as a fixed vertical navigation block, various hidden moving elements will be popular. With their help, you can place all the necessary submenu items on one screen. In a sense, this makes site navigation more detailed and useful for users. It is only important that they are able to deal with your non-standard solution. Be sure to test its effectiveness in practice.
Why we love this trend: From simple stripes to crazy custom patterns geometric figures can only offer a personality that your site may have. They are also great for repeating your marketing efforts, such as on business cards or email designs.
Why we love this trend: Just experiment! We all come together to find best practices in designing for the next dimension. When you think of a particular font, your mind probably jumps to how it looks like a copy of the body or home page header. Seriously, the sky is the limit when it comes to typography this year!
Why we love this trend: Typographic shots allow you to fully unleash your illustrative creativity. By opening up the possibilities for a character to be more than part of a block of text, you step out of the box and find new ways to use typography to customize your site.
Get more design trends with our free email course!
We've rounded up the top seven web design trends here, but we've also put together a free 14-day email course on design trends. We'll dive into each of these trends to understand why they work and how you can implement them on your own site. We give you resources every day to help you do it!
3. Cards in design
Cards are far from a new trend in website design, but in 2017 it will continue to be relevant. This solution effectively presents information on different platforms: from mobile applications to viewing on large TV screens. Such a data organization format will allow users to focus all information on objects as conveniently as possible.
Thanks for these helpful tips. . Because fashion trends come and go, right? Well, it's no different from web design trends. As time passes, new trends creep into the picture. And as these new trends roll in, we end up with outdated web design trends that should make their way out. With web design alone, the process is about 10 times faster than clothing!
This post is dedicated to these trends - outdated web design trends that need a good kick to the curb if you want your designs to attract visitors. Fortunately, carousels have never been as common as they once were. But you still see them popping up pretty regularly, despite the fact that carousels have a contingent of detractors who feel confident enough on the subject to actually make the whole site a mock carousel.
This approach is used by many popular projects on the network: Facebook, Pinterest, Netflix. The latter option is generally a great example of the successful implementation of cards in a design that combines minimalism, navigation and efficiency.
Parallax scrolling for everything
There is a lot of data that supports this. They distract, confuse users and do not convert. And for these reasons, carousels are a poor design choice for the vast majority of websites. And that means he's abusing. But thanks, perhaps in part, to this ease, some designers get too big widget happy. So repeat it after me - just because widgets are available doesn't mean you have to use them. Adding too many widgets obscures your pages, so you should focus on making the widgets real.
4. Split layouts with split screen into 2 parts
This year we will see more layouts with double screen display of information. This trend of web design in 2017 will be especially active on home pages and. Visually, the implementation looks great in minimalist designs with contrasting backgrounds or images.
There are many great designers out there. This means that when it comes time to develop a website, it's easy to feel like a kid in a candy store. But just because a font is pretty doesn't mean it deserves a spot on your site. If, 2-3 different fonts can improve your design. But if you start going for three, you'll just make your site confusing and hard to follow.
You can find some sites that use more than three fonts, but most time will hurt you, not help your projects. Hopefully this post won't make sense soon as these outdated web design trends fall out of the public consciousness. But until then, we're stuck with them, even if it's just a small percentage of websites.
The designer will be able to use different visual design techniques in neighboring blocks within the same web project. And the result will look natural. By the way, split layouts work well for Call to Action in landing pages. More details about the method.
Now over to you - what's your biggest web design pet that you want to be kicked by the wayside? Websites have moved to focus more on their design and include custom illustrations rather than generic artwork. While it may be a little more time consuming and requires a bit more budget, your designs will stand out from the competition. Most of the custom illustrations are vectors which means your sites will have faster loading times which will make your users happy.
The web design trend is interactive storytelling. Through movement, your design can tell a story. Interactive storytelling can be done through. Rewards for this will make the site and brand memorable and interesting. Okay, so it's not new, but it's getting more important. With the rapidly increasing evolution of devices, screens are getting smaller or ridiculously large. This means that the interface of the site must adapt to any screen size. It is critical to create a flexible mobile design for all sites in the future, and not just rely on a fixed design.
Instead of strong shadows in your face, semi-flat design uses thin, opaque shadows - creating depth without sacrificing the appeal of minimal elements that flat design is known for. The subtlety of small movements in the background while scrolling up or down feeds the site and makes the movement almost “real”.
This effect is mainly done with the "layered" method, where the use of multiple backgrounds moves independently and one is "fixed". The key, like most trends this year, is to make users feel real, so adopting the parallax that brings the page to life will help engage your target audience.
5. Big and original typography
I remember that back in 2009 we published , where the use of huge fonts was one of the promising trends in website design. The same will likely happen in 2017 (at least most designers mention it). The main reason is, of course, to attract attention: someone needs to highlight certain objects on the page, someone wants to explain how to use navigation correctly, etc. Whatever the case, typography is getting thicker and bigger. When implementing, you may find blog posts about and.
At the same time, many sites get rid of standard system fonts, which allows them to significantly diversify their appearance. With the growth of free original web font services (Google Fonts, Typekit), their popularity will increase even more. It seems that in 2017 we are also waiting for experiments in the field of website typography. The main thing in this matter is not to overdo it - remember that the text should be well readable. By the way, if you work with WordPress, then the article How to connect a font in WordPress (including Google Fonts) may be useful to you.
6. Gradients and vibrant colors
Another web design trend 2017 is the use of bright color palettes for gradients (and more). The start of the era of flat design brought interesting features to online, but you need to work in this style very carefully, because. it can contribute to the depersonalization of the site. In order to solve the problem, some experts began to experiment with bright colors and gradient solutions. This year, the trend will continue to develop, and not only on the Web (for sure, everyone has already noticed the recent Instagram update).
This trend can be used not only for the background. One of the popular tricks is to create a transition between two colors and overlay them on the picture. This allows you to make the photo more interesting, and in general the effect looks unusual. Bright colors add depth, dynamism and pleasant energy to the design. They can well highlight the page and the elements on it.
7. Animation and micro-interactions
The animation itself on the site is not new, but every year designers learn how to implement it more beautifully and efficiently. Minor visual effects for images/objects/content can not only spice up your project, but also add an additional user feedback tool. In modern UI / UX interfaces, various micro-interactions turn routine processes into more fun ways to get information + allow the user to see and understand how one or another page element (menu, navigation, buttons) works.
8. Parallax effect
Another well-known website design trend in 2017 should open from a new perspective. By itself, Parallax is implemented due to the different speed of movement of the background and foreground when scrolling, which creates the impression of depth and dynamism of the picture. This year we are expecting much more complex work using several layers, different directions of movement and applying effects. Work with this technique carefully so as not to distract users from the content of the web page. Below you will find pictures with links to source sites.
9. Almost virtual reality
VR is one of the most relevant topics today, despite the fact that the real situation in this area is less optimistic than many forecasts. Of course, this feature could not but affect the designers. In some layouts you can find different tricks, which would create a “presence effect” for the user: 360-degree videos and panoramas, video inserts “like in a movie”, games, etc.
10. Tactile, natural design
This trend combines two directions at once - natural colors and tactile design. The over-reliance on flat solutions has turned many web projects into monotonous faceless Bootstrap layouts. Now some designers are trying to move towards more natural solutions, for example, they post photos and realistic 3D models so that the user has the feeling of being able to touch and touch objects on the site. Also they use natural materials as textures, illustrations and backgrounds + natural shades (green, brown, gray, neutral metallic).
11. Other Web Design Trends 2017
In the process of studying the main trends in website design in 2017, we met different opinions. You have already familiarized yourself with the most significant options, and now we will briefly talk about a couple of assumptions that turned out to be less popular. Some of them, by the way, were actively used earlier, but this year the trend will continue.
You can make the background even more spectacular by adding animation or video. Thanks to YouTube and similar projects, video content is now very popular, you can use this feature on your site. If you add sound, do not turn it on by default, the user himself should want to do this.
geometric shapes
If you look closely at the screenshots of web projects above, you will notice the use of different geometric shapes. These are often square/rectangular shapes, but curves, triangles, and circles are also found. Such blocks can contain content or be used to highlight the background.
Unique illustrations
We did not find many original works in the selection, but this web design trend in 2017 will still be relevant. Firstly, illustrations add a personal touch to your project (which is a big plus in the era of Flat layouts). Secondly, the method goes well with custom typography, allowing you to create even more unique layouts. This can also include the trend of using real photos in design / content instead of pictures from photo stocks - originality is always in demand.
Total
We have reviewed the top 10 web design trends for 2017, which will now be actively used by designers in their work. In fact, there are not so many original techniques, a significant part of the trends are repeated from previous years: cards, bright backgrounds, parallax, large typography, etc. By fonts and navigation, we will probably see original variants this year. Except for the point with virtual reality, we can say that the general trend towards simplifying the appearance of online projects continues, designers just continue to look for the most effective and interesting ways to implement it.
Some ideas and patterns are born within large digital communities such as Drebbble or Behance, but only a few specialists can accurately predict which trend will most strongly affect culture, fashion and all graphic design in general.
Trends in graphic design are not short-term and never disappear without a trace. They penetrate into our lives gradually, slowly gaining popularity. And also slowly fade into the background, becoming less in demand. All the main trends that will be relevant in 2016 did not appear out of nowhere. These trends have dominated over the past few years, changing slightly, but remaining absolutely recognizable.
Many graphic designers monitor what is happening in their industry and try to use new approaches in their work. This makes sense - trend analysis allows you to get rid of clichés and clichés. What trends will be the most significant in 2016?
MODERN RETRO
Unlike conventional retro, modern retro style focuses on the style of the 70s and 80s. This is the era of the first personal computers, video games, active space exploration and the rapid development of digital technologies. An example is the work of the Filipino designer Ralph Cifry - nostalgia for the recent past is very clearly traced in his work. In the Retro Technologies series, he collected many recognizable items and devices that almost no one uses today - these are film, audio cassettes, floppy disks, vinyl players, pagers and much more.
Designers at The Welcome Branding Group's also turned to retro style when they were commissioned to create a series of posters for vinyl record store MusicLab. As a result, the design looks like it was created in the mid-70s of the last century.
But in the design of the products of the Write Sketch & brand, the graphic style of the 80s is clearly visible.
Designer Elin McGuire, when designing cans for Coca-Cola, was inspired by the once-popular Space Invaders arcade game, which appeared in 1978 and was incredibly popular. The result is a fun pixel art that brings back memories of the very first computer games.
MATERIAL DESIGN
Modern graphic design and digital technologies are so closely related that designers are influenced by trends that dominate other industries, such as web development. When Google introduced its concept of Material Design, hardly anyone expected that it would have an impact on the whole design. This visual language features deliberate color choices, massive typography, and bold use of white space.
Material Design is similar to Flat 2.0 in many ways, but it's a completely separate design direction. It has more realism, depth, volume and movement. And although Google created its visual language for use in the digital environment, its principles can be used in the most different types design.
BRIGHT COLOR PALETTE
Trends such as modern retro and Material Design have in common the use of bright and unusual color combinations in design. Hence, designers will actively use bright colors in their designs. And despite the fact that the web is now dominated by the trend to use muted tones, in graphic design the opposite is true - colors are catchy and saturated in fashion.
- PANTONE 13-1520 Rose Quartz
- PANTONE 15-3919 Serenity
- PANTONE 12-0752 Buttercup
- PANTONE 16-3905 Lilac Gray
- PANTONE 15-1040 Iced Coffee
- PANTONE 16-1548 Peach Echo
- PANTONE 19-4049 Snorkel Blue
- PANTONE 13-4810 Limpet Shell
- PANTONE 17-1564 Fiesta
- PANTONE 15-0146 Green Flash
Obviously, there is a trend towards bright colors such as peach, yellow, deep blue and bright green. The combination of bright green and yellow colors was used by the designers of the studio In The Pool, who worked on the creation of a poster for the Paris Climate 2015 international conference dedicated to the problem of global warming.
The 1980s graphic was inspired by designer Tron Burgundy while working on a poster for the Walk The Moon show. Bright colors and geometric shapes bring to mind yet another trend in graphic design that is gaining momentum.
GEOMETRIC FIGURES
The use of geometric shapes is a noticeable trend, although the difference in approaches is obvious. Everything today more designers uses the so-called polygons, which are used in the creation of three-dimensional models and video games. Until recently, this graphic technique would have been incomprehensible to the viewer, but now everything has changed and illustrations that use geometric shapes in one way or another will appear more often.
NEGATIVE SPACE
Negative or negative space is an integral part of any good design. Using this technique allows you to add depth or double meaning to the design. Most often, negative space is used when creating a logo or in branding, but nothing prevents it from being used in other types of graphic design.
Designer John Randal has created a very interesting logo for The Swan & Mallard, which combines swan, duck and ampersand very well, all thanks to the skillful use of negative space.
Another example is the concert poster for the 123 Years The Best Of British Music event. The viewer first sees the violin and only then distinguishes between the numbers 1, 2 and 3, which are in the name of the event.
EMOTIONAL TYPOGRAPHY
This trend shows that typography can be used to create dramatic effect. capital letters attract attention, and you can enhance the impression through the use of bright color combinations, textures and an unusual arrangement of elements.
UNIQUE ILLUSTRATIONS
Designers are gradually moving away from using stock illustrations. The reason is too similar images and lack of individuality. No designer wants their work to look like a cliché, and the same goes for brands that struggle to stand out from the competition. The use of stock images in a design reduces originality and there is also the risk that some elements can be seen in the work of other designers.
So in 2016, the trend for custom illustrations will be very noticeable. They will be used in a variety of projects, from print design to website landing pages.
INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION
Of course, you need to follow the trends. But to use new approaches in design just because they are in fashion is not very good idea. And if you really want to try something new so much, it’s better to make sure that this or that trend fits well into the project and will be correctly understood by the audience. Still, it's better to stay pragmatic and only use elements or color combinations that will look appropriate in the design.