10 Web Design Trends You Need to Be Aware of in 2017

By Stephen Palacino  in Design Trends

 Let's look at some of the trends that will become more important as the year progresses, never too late for read this :

1. Move Over Raymond, Everybody Loves Video

Let’s all agree on one thing first: car karaoke videos should go in 2017. Please? Okay, so karaoke aside, videos are literally flooding the content space. A recent report from Google predicts that 74% of all web traffic in 2017 will come from video. Yes, that’s right. Practically three-quarters of ALL web traffic will be generated through video content. Such an increase is reminiscent of the dot com surge. Back then, if companies weren’t online, they were scrambling to get online. Today, those companies that haven’t adopted video as a part of their ongoing marketing and branding efforts are scrambling to create shareable content. Websites will feature more full-screen glossy videos, as well as bite-sized pieces aimed at educating, sharing, and enticing.

2. A Deeper Understanding of “Mobile-First”

Entire agencies were made overnight under the banner of “mobile-first” design. Mobile traffic has increased so dramatically, though, that mobile-first is no longer a feature. It’s vital. Major brands have already adopted this, but smaller companies are still coming on board. However, what exactly mobile-first means is an area for further study. Simply designing a website with mobile accessibility in mind isn’t an automatic ticket to increasing conversions. Sure, NOT having a mobile ready site already leaves you missing all the action, but simply getting to the party doesn’t mean people will engage. With major dollars for large purchases still done via desktop, developing deeper mobile content and design strategies in order to increase customers will be phase two for mobile-first.

3. Magazine Worthy Typography

While typography has seen a much-needed renaissance lately, these trends have been most notable offline: think wedding invitations, packaging, window graphics, and magazine spreads. Recently, however, this focus on beautiful type has finally reached the mainstream online community. Pretty fonts really do make a difference, so why should they be confined to their offline counterparts? The lines between offline and online marketing are starting to blur as brands adopt a more holistic approach to their image. Websites featuring bold, custom text will continue to increase with dramatic headers and impactful content blocks. There’s also been much debate about font sizing in general. I think we’ll see a slight uptick in body copy size, but nothing outlandish...yet.

4. Increased Negative Space, A Positive?

The negative space around content blocks has been getting larger. Long, sweeping scrolls have been taking over the internet thanks in large part to our mobile browsing habits. We’re accustomed to giving a big sweep of the thumb in order to find our content. Though once reserved for fullscreen images, more sites are giving ample room to let beautiful typography breathe, as well. For the most part, this trend is great when browsing on any large screen. However, if not downsized appropriately, those long sweeps can seem a bit much on smaller laptops—almost like the information is hiding. I’m generally a fan of negative space, so it will be interesting to see how far designers push this boundary.

5. More GIFs, Please!

When my wife worked as a designer at an agency, it seemed like every other assignment was an animated GIF. Clients loved what could be accomplished through their simplicity. But advertisers aren’t the only ones cornering the market on these goldmines. Sure they make for great comebacks with friends in a text message, but they’re also extremely practical and expressive. More homepage GIFS from major brands? Sale banners with pizzazz instead of the standard slideshow? I’m expecting more of both in 2017.

6. Photocentric Menus

I’m sure we’ve all noticed the hamburger trend. No, not the bistro-cafe gourmet burger trend (though that is also a thing...and tasty.) But the hide your 526 options in a bite-sized hamburger menu so it doesn’t appear overwhelming trend. Once clicked, there’s so many plus signs and dropdowns, that the hamburger becomes not only useless, but frustrating. Instead, brands are moving away from collapsible options for everything, into a layout rooted in visual design and flow. Why are people visiting your site? What are they looking for? Who is the main person that visits your site? Answering these questions helps to organize content in a more logical way, as well as eliminate clutter. Target (sorry, I talk about them too much) and also Old Navy moved to a more photocentric grid layout a while ago, and while there’s much room for improvement, it’s a step in the right direction towards more visual menus.

7. Authentic Photography

This post is not just about removing cheesy stock images. More companies—even small brands and brick and mortar stores—are opting for authenticity when it comes to product photos. White backgrounds are giving way to magazine worthy product shots with a focus on natural lighting and product integration. It’s not enough to show the product. We want to see it in action. Close up. Every detail. We want to imagine ourselves using the product. I’ve been so encouraged by clients who are automatically asking about photos in conjunction with a website redesign. If content is king, photos are its queen.

PS—is anyone else amazed that we’re still having discussions about bad stock photos? People, please use a good photo!

8. Vibrant Color Combos

Turquoise and gold? Yes. Purple and yellow? Sure thing. Subtle tones may make for great living rooms, but in the sea of websites, standing out is becoming a challenge. Websites, after all, are a visual media, and it’s exciting to see the color combinations that are hitting the stage. Together with big typography, bold colors are popping up and demanding attention. And it’s not all for show, either. If users can’t find what they need quickly, they’ll abandon your site. With all the information housed on websites, grabbing a user’s attention is necessary in order to guide their experience.

9. More Duotone

Ever since T-Mobile hit me with that duotone hot pink branding, I’ve been wondering how long they would keep it up. And the more they use it, the more I love it. There’s something so edgy, yet timeless (thanks to their black and white photos) that makes it feel continually fresh. While duotone everything may not be necessary—or even work for some brands—a little goes a long way. We’ll see more websites combining their authentic photos with punchy colors for visual impact.

10. Faster Load Times

This may seem like an odd one (especially after writing about more video and glossy photos) and a given (since load times are so important) and even more techy than design focused. But the reality is that many sites in all their glorious efforts, have become bloated with too much beautiful content. Yes, that’s right. You’re too beautiful, Internet. As internet speeds continue to increase, we’re pushing the bandwidth with more and more heavy content. If left unchecked, some sites end up with preloaders, multiple homepage background videos, parallax scrolling, and a barista waiting to hand you a latte through the screen. (I do love lattes.) These elements individually are wonderful, but when combined often lead to poor user experience. It can be tough to push back—especially when a CEO wants to see the latest and greatest—but I’m excited to hear more designers trumpet the mantra: just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.

Designers Are More Important Than Ever

They say necessity is the mother of invention. But I say we change that in 2017 to: necessity is the mother of design. All of these elements are reflective of a design culture increasingly in-tune with its audience. As you look ahead to your clients for 2017, what, if any, of these trends do you see yourself implementing? Are there other ideas you hope to see gain traction?

source: creativemarket blog

The 9 Graphic Design Trends You Need to Be Aware of In 2016

by Janie Kliever

More than the patterns that emerge from the Popular feeds on Dribbble and Behance, design trends can be a mysterious thing.

They’re influenced by culture and media, past and present, technology, fashion, and other industries.

They come and go, but it’s hard to say exactly when.

Madeleine Morley at The American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA) says:

“A trend never simply emerges for a single year and then disappears in a puff of smoke. Instead, an aesthetic becomes popular gradually, even mysteriously, over time before fizzling out slowly without much notice at all.”

The design trends we’ll be covering here didn’t magically materialize in late 2015; trends take time to peak, and you’ve likely seen many of them in one form or another during the last couple years.

But even if you’re not one to follow the trends, as a designer, it’s smart to be aware of the shifts going on in your industry—if only to avoid them before they become overused, or to have the opportunity to twist them into something new and interesting.

While forecasting trends with any certainty is a tricky business, many members of the design industry seem to have developed a consensus as to what styles and approaches are most likely to take off in 2016.

We’ve rounded up nine possible trends to keep an eye out for:

01. “Modern” Retro Style

As opposed to vintage or “old” retro—styles that draw from the early 1900s through the 60s—“modern” retro takes its stylistic influences from more recent decades, the late 1970s through the 90s. Think early PCs and video games, pixel art, and space themes: nerdy is the new cool.

Let’s look at some examples:

This illustration and t-shirt design by Ralph Cifra has all kinds of nostalgia going on. The technology theme also ties in nicely with modern-retro influences.

And The Welcome Branding Group’s ad designs for a music store have a retro yet contemporary feel, complete with vinyl records and a solar system:

Some distinctly 80s style from stationery brand Write Sketch & andOfficemilano:

And lastly, some limited “pixel edition” packaging designed for Coca-Cola byErin L. M. McGuire. It features space invaders from the arcade video game of the same name released in 1978.

02. Material Design

Google made quite a splash in the design world when it introduced its material design guidelines. This visual language is characterized by “deliberate color choices, edge-to-edge imagery, large-scale typography, and intentional white space” for a bold, graphic look, according to Google.

Some are referring to material design as “Flat 2.0” because, in many ways, it’s an update to the flat design trend, adding light/shadow, depth, and movement for a more tactile sense of realism.

Though Google created it for web and mobile, you’ll see material design principles popping up in all kinds of design formats.

This website concept from Balraj Chana incorporates many material design principles, including bold colors, large type, and light and shadow effects. Card- or tile-based layouts (see the menu elements to the left of this image) are also part of material design. For more on that, see trend #6.

Some Flat 2.0 illustrations for a weather app from Disky Chairiandy that integrate light and shadow effects for a sense of depth:

Here’s another website, designed by Al Rayhan, that features bright, contrasting colors and some card-based navigation, but with a more traditional design—a good compromise between conservative and trendy.

If you’re looking to try out one material design’s vivid color schemes, check out Material Palette. It’s a color scheme generator that can help you quickly and easily choose a versatile selection of hues.

03. Bright, Bold Colors

Fitting in with both 80s/90s styles and material design, vibrant hues should continue to prove popular picks into 2016.

This trend would be a move away from the more muted, 1960s-inspired palettes to favor bright pastels, neons, and richer, more saturated colors.Pantone’s Spring 2016 Color Report falls right in line with this prediction.

A nearly neon shade of green paired with golden yellow really makes this poster pop. It was designed by In the Pool, a Paris-based studio.

Here, Michael Fangman applied some bright pastel gradients over the imagery in his landing page design:

Finally, a clearly 80s-inspired design from Tron Burgundy with electric colors and geometric shapes, which brings us to our next trend:

04. Geometric Shapes

Geometric shapes and patterns are a motif that aligns with some of the 80s-era trends we’ve already looked at. This one can be applied in all sorts of ways—as individual graphic elements, as backgrounds, as an illustrative technique.

Also keep an eye out for a style known as “low poly,” which got its start as a 3D modeling technique for video games. This angular, faceted look will continue to show up outside the gaming world, in web and print projects (such as the design below by Vivek Venkatraman).

There are plenty of tutorials out there for creating a low-poly effect, either from scratch or taking a shortcut with a tool like this one. Or just pick up a selection of free low-poly textures to try out the trend the easy way.

Here’s another take on geometrics from Tank Design, with layered shapes forming a colorful backdrop for a business card.

Kyle Anthony Miller uses hexagons to liven up an email template and even crop photos into matching shapes:

Colored triangles on this chocolate packaging by Bag of Bees create an eye-catching background and symbolize the products’ flavors:

Lastly, in the following branding package by Simeon, simple circular and rectangular shapes combine to form a versatile visual theme:

05. Negative Space

Negative and/or white space is an essential part of any good design. But used strategically, negative space can be a clever way to add deeper or double meaning to your designs, particularly for logo and branding projects. Or it can simply help give your composition a more minimal look.

In this design for a restaurant called “The Swan & Mallard,” John Randall has creatively managed to fit a swan, a mallard duck, and an ampersand all into one logo though the interaction of positive and negative space.

In a different way, the negative space in this logo by Sameer Ahmed lends movement and context to the word being spelled out:

Look closely at the shapes and spaces created by the violin in Sam Hadley’s concert poster. They form a series of numbers—1, 2, and 3—which are part of the event name.

And a couple more abstract, but equally effective, designs. Both work to support a theme in an unexpected way.

The first, by Andrea Minini for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), takes a minute to appreciate fully. At first glance, you see some abstract, ribbon-like shapes, but then you notice that the negative space formed by those shapes look like animals.

Now you can see that the ribbons themselves also look like animals, and the interaction of the positive and negative space creates a series of figures that blend seamlessly into each other (from left to right, a bird, cat, rabbit, gorilla, dog/wolf, and bear) to form a sort of optical illusion. Can you see them all?

The next, a book cover design by Jason Booher, takes a concept from the title (immersion) and uses only curving lines and the negative space they create to suggest (in an abstract way) the image of a person immersed in water or some other substance.

06. Modular Layouts

Modular or card-based layouts have been adopted by some of the biggest brands for their websites and mobile apps. But organizing designs (of all mediums) according to a grid is nothing new.

It’s the self-contained modules or cards used as the primary organizational principle that has created the twist of a new trend.

This website layout from Balraj Chana fully embraces that trend, including card-style graphics and navigation in multiple configurations:

But layouts don’t have to follow a strict grid where everything is perfectly aligned. They can be a little looser or more freeform and still serve as an effective organizational tool. For example, this design from Natalie Armendariz:

Or this one (sporting material design colors) by Julien Renvoye:

07. Dramatic Typography

According to this trend, typography isn’t just for reading—it’s for making a statement. Look out for big, bold type that’s the center of attention. You can create drama through size, but also through color, texture, or arrangement.

SNASK’s design may use all those qualities and more for its loud and lively typography. The agency handcrafted a series of letters to create the cover art for a magazine.

Though more subdued in style, this entirely type-based design by Brendan Prince juxtaposes different typeface styles and sizes for an engaging, eye-catching composition:

In contrast, this much more minimalistic approach from Ben Schade depends largely on color and shape for its drama:

As our last example in this section, Julie Joanny’s typographic poster features a freeform arrangement of some of the letters plus textures and linear elements to enhance the type:

08. Custom Illustrations

It’s been said that stock is dead. But even if it hasn’t quite breathed its last breath yet, stock photography and graphics are more frequently being replaced by custom imagery or illustrations.

After all, no designer wants their work to look generic, and no business wants elements of their branding to show up on a competitor’s website. So many designers have been putting in the extra work to create one-of-a-kind solutions.

As brands continue to embrace design thinking and other design-centric approaches, this tactic of making imagery more personalized and relatable should continue to grow.

For example, Vlad Shagov at Railsware has updated his company’s website for the new year with a cheerful, custom-illustrated header:

Dropbox also takes a personalized approach to its homepage imagery with friendly, casual illustrations—more like doodles—that support the information being communicated:

Saudade Tea’s packaging takes this tactic in a more traditional direction, with beautiful watercolor illustrations:

09. Abstract, Minimalistic Style

In contrast to the more flamboyant, 1980s-inspired design styles we’ve seen so far, this trend relies on minimalism and deconstructing or distorting recognizable forms.

For instance, Aurėja Jucevičiūtė’s identity for a music school picks apart some of the shapes associated with musical notation and puts them back together in a unique way:

And here’s an album cover designed by Lukas Haider that does feature vibrant colors, but text is kept to a minimum and the primary visual is a blend of abstract, vaguely organic shapes:

Lastly, these two designs from StudioBrave and Kajsa Klaesén integrate geometric shapes and bright colors like some of the other designs we’ve looked at, but do so in a simplistic way, with plenty of white space and a seemingly random layout.

To get started on your own minimalist design project, make sure to browse through our selection of 60 Free Fonts for Minimalist Designs.

A Closing Note

Following trends just for the sake of being trendy usually isn’t a good idea. If you do decide to try a trend, make sure it’s a good fit for your project and audience. Or just save most of your experimentation for personal projects.

Do you plan on jumping on board with any of these trends, or perhaps combining them like many of the designs featured here? Or do have any predictions of your own? Let us know in the comments!

articel source by Design scholl Canva