2017 was a big year for web design where a shift in UI (User Interface) design principles worked efficiently in blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. One of the key highlights of last year included the rise of smart tech which made UX design more inclusive, thereby encouraging even more personalized experiences.
We also saw popular brands such as Microsoft and Dropbox making more accessible interfaces and some of their best UI designs sporting bold typefaces, contrasting colours and clean lines. And let’s not forget the performance of mobile devices which was also given special attention in 2017.
With all this happening, it’s safe to say that in 2018, web designers had a lot to live up to. Fortunately, our today’s post is all about exploring the new web design principles and opportunities ranging from vibrant visual design to dynamic interaction that are on their journey trends by the end of this year. Let’s look at 5 such effective principles.
Storytelling
Storytelling is something that almost everybody loves and creating visually engaging stories with the potential to captivate the audience is the dream of every web designer. Luckily, data visualisation has made this dream turn into a reality, all thanks to the latest developments in web technologies which have uplifted data visualisations from being used for infographics only to an effective tool for telling stories.
Whitespace
White space is a necessary ingredient that gives your users a break from straining their sensory organs while picking up the information to be processed into receptors which eventually gets picked up by brain’s sensors. The end result? The user finally realises what they are viewing is what they want. In simple words, white space works like a magic that ensures that its relationship with other elements on the page is well synchronized.
Animation
Animations have represented and will continue to represent the brand’s strength in the digital world not just in 2018 but for years to come, making the brand less static and more dynamic, in short, giving it a strong personality. For now, animated logos are the hot trend along with GIF (yes, it has returned). Though both of them does require some mastery but once done well, it has the potential to transform a good project into a great one.
Minimalism
Minimalism has been something of a web design trend since 2000 and its influence will continue to rise in 2018 as well, though with a small twist. This year, white space will blend effectively with bold graphic elements and animated CSS to create that perfect minimalist design. The central idea behind it is to reduce cognitive overload and make UI more usable by removing superfluous elements and emphasising simplicity.
Broken Grids
Until recently, the grid that has always brought logic and harmony to our layouts has become a kind of constraint in 2018. The idea of a broken grid layout isn’t to ditch the concept of grid altogether but to allow text elements and images to overlap and converge, to drift in and across the gutters (usually serving as hard stops in more sober layouts), often creating beautifully unexpected juxtapositions of letterform and bitmap.
Typography
Replacing traditional fonts, highly visual and supersized typography will reign supreme in 2018. Typography, as we know, has always been an important part of UI design and web designers till now have tried to play it safe and mostly avoided experimenting with different fonts. This year, however, the rules are changing with simple and clean layouts featuring bright, bold layouts taking the centre stage throwing image-heavy designs into the back seat.
Illustrations
It’s no coincidence that last year we have seen a lot more illustrations on websites, every brand wants to stand out and illustrations offer a fabulous way to inject personality into the website. How? Well, first of all, they come in infinite styles, shapes and sizes and are a dynamic element to look out for this year. Secondly, illustrations work in extremely practical ways when it comes to explaining or presenting information.
Conclusion:
The primary focus in 2018 has been on designing simple yet powerful websites that are heavily focussed on user experience and well optimized for mobile devices. These sites have featured not only new types of formats but styles and technologies as well. 2018 has been a year of change and transition, where component-based systems and mobile designs have come into their own whereas older styles like image-heavy designs and busy pages are retiring.
So whether you are creating a new website for yourself or your client or simply redesigning an existing website, these principles will come in handy both in the end of this year and as the New Year rises in a few months.
