Web Design Trends for 2018

This is a list of the web design trends we expect to emerge in 2018. Most web designers believe that following design trends is a crucial part of their job. And the one’s that do not…well let’s just say they should probably catch up to the rest of us. Website design is constantly evolving. New trends emerge each year and, some grow stronger from the previous year and 2018 is no different. New web design trends, technological advancements and new tools lead to new exciting possibilities for designers. However, they also bring along new obstacles and challenges for web designers to continue building user-friendly websites, while utilizing the new tools, and trying to stay fresh with new trends and innovations.

2017 saw many interesting web design trends emerge including the introduction of big, bold text and many, many more SVG’s (if you’re not using SVG’s at this point, something is seriously wrong!). However, the most important trend that emerged in 2017 was mobile usage finally surpassing desktop usage for the first time. With the expectation of mobile usage continuing to grow, 2018 will be the year where designers must learn to fully utilize mobile functionality in ways we’ve never seen before. And at the same time, designers must continue to evolve desktop usage, so it can remain relevant.

Let’s look at some notable and exciting web design trends we should expect to see in 2018. This is a list the magnificent team of web designers at MB Creative have put together for you showcasing our top 7 web design trends to look out for in 2018.

7 WEB DESIGN TRENDS FOR 2018

• Vibrant Colour Schemes
• Particle Background
• Mobile First Design
• Custom Playful Illustrations
• Innovative Typography
• Asymmetric Design
• Integrated Web Animation

VIBRANT COLOUR SCHEMES

In 2018 designers are taking colours and colours schemes to new heights with the use of dynamic gradients, vibrant and sometimes even clashing colour schemes! Technological advancements in device screen resolution and new tools like Khroma (The AI colour tool for designers) have given us designers the ability to be more creative and adventurous with colour schemes. In the past designers we’re stuck having to use web-safe colours, but now the possibilities are endless and already we are seeing a rising trend of vibrant and even clashing colour schemes. 2018 is the year for super excess and bold colour usage for online design.

Over the past few years, flat design had become a more preferred web design trend over dimensional colours, but in 2018 we feel gradients are making a big comeback, with the introduction of dynamic gradients. Last time gradients were the hot trend, they were seen in subtle form to convey the message of something being 3D. Think of Apple’s iOS icons. Nowadays gradients are big, loud and full of colour. The most recent trend emerging from gradients was to overlay colourful filters on images. A simple gradient background can also be the perfect on trend solution if you don’t have any images, videos, or animations to work with. Colours will be taken to new heights and we expect this web design trend to emerge as one of the bigger web design trends of 2018.

Via Rentberry

Via HR Contact

PARTICLE BACKGROUND

2018 is seeing rise to the particle background and we have already seen many beautiful uses cases thus far. Just check out the MB Creative home page to see the particle background in action. Many websites run into performance issues due to video backgrounds and a particle background can be a great alternative. Though they do not serve the same exact purpose, the visually outstanding particle backgrounds can really catch a visitor’s attention are a great solution to performance issues. The particle backgrounds are lightweight JavaScript cosmos-styled inspired motion graphics that load very quickly.

Motion graphics like these are also becoming increasingly popular on social media as they provide astonishing leads back to your brands website. Particle backgrounds allow you to create motion graphics that will attract a user’s attention allowing you to create a memorable, lasting impression of your brand in seconds. Another major advantage to particle backgrounds is the “newness” factor for your customers. Typically, users expect to see a slider, hero image section or video background on your websites landing page. A particle background is something users have never seen before and If you happen to be one of the first brands in your industry to implement this new trend, you should reap the rewards of engaging users in your experience. There are many customizable options to make your particle background unique to deliver the message for your brand in a unique, visually appealing way.

Via Sift Agent

Via MB Creative

MOBILE FIRST DESIGN

Mobile usage has continued to grow every year and for the very first time, in 2017 mobile usage surpassed desktop usage for websites. Designing for a mobile device is a whole different ballgame then designing for a desktop. As screen resolutions continue to get better and more people use mobile devices to access your website, more importance must be placed on mobile designs. We are seeing a trend of mobile first design versus the classic model most designers have become accustomed to. Rather then designing for bigger screens and then adjusting down for smaller screens, designers are starting with mobile screen sizes and scaling their designs up to desktop. Designers must continue to put a heavier focus and emphasis on mobile first design and all the while keep desktop usage relevant.

Almost everyone and their grandmother is using their mobile phone to order products, take in news, listen to music and basically everything in between. Seriously if your grandmother has and is using a mobile device, you have a cool grandmother! In the past mobile designs would be clunky and hard to use. These days those issues have been cleared up allowing designers to create beautiful menus with submenus with submenus. Any web designer reading this article will understand exactly how big this seemingly silly issue of menus and submenus was.

Mobile first has become essential in designing websites. It’s not a principal that should be taken lightly, instead it should be engrained into the core design process. Designers need to consider how heavy animations and large graphics will translate into browsers and devices like mobile, where there is no hover states and content needs to adopt to the screen sizes.

Via Etsy

Via Google Maps

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CUSTOM PLAYFUL ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustrations are a great, fun way to display images, that really catch a user’s attention. Illustrations are a great way for a designer to show off his or her skills coupled with wherever their imagination may go. Illustrations require an experienced designer to create unique images. They are customized graphics that are tailored and unique to your brand. With markets becoming crowded and competition constantly increasing, having unique illustrations customized to your brand’s tone will allow your brand stand to out from the competition. In 2017 we saw the rise of the illustration trend, beginning with brands trying to convey a fun and energetic message.

In 2018 we will see the web design trends creeping into more industries including those with a more right-brained approach to their customers. For a serious brand, illustrations can be a terrific way to spread a message and really show customers a different side of your company. Brands want to stand out and in this digital age having a website that stands out is crucial. Illustrations are a fantastic way to inject personality into a website. Illustrations are extremely aesthetically pleasing pieces of content. They are extremely lightweight and come in infinite shapes and sizes. We believe 2018 will see illustrations become an even larger part of web and mobile design and could potentially be the biggest web design trend this year.

Via Dee Zaster

Via Teatr Lalka

INNOVATIVE TYPOGRAPHY

A big design trend we saw emerge in 2017 was big, bold typography in websites. We can expect this bold trend to continue and thanks to the advancements in screen resolution designers now have more freedom then ever when it coms to typography. Screens are getting sharper and as a result we are seeing a huge rise in the usage of custom fonts on websites. This is a design trend we expect to see grow in 2018 and beyond with the utilization of new, creative custom fonts. Typography is a powerful tool in design, allowing you to convey a strong message while evoking emotion from your customers. Aside from Internet Explorer most modern browsers support hand-made custom typefaces enabled by CSS for web browsers.

Back in the days of non-retina screens and awful font support, sans serif fonts made a lot of sense and dominated the web. But as screens and font support become more robust, and of course custom font support becomes more robust as well, we are beginning to see more elaborate typefaces take center stage. The MB Creative design team believes 2018 will see many websites begin to utilize custom fonts, serif fonts and more websites that combine serif and sans-serif fonts together. There are already some websites dominated by serif typefaces and others who have combined serif and sans-serif fonts in a beautiful way. And there is no shortage of amazing examples of custom fonts already in web design.

Via One Last Beat

Via Paper Tiger

ASYMMETRIC LAYOUTS

The day and age of box designs are over, and designers have begun to break the traditional rules of design. We started to see designs that pushed the limits of asymmetry back in 2015. It was in 2015 that Spotify used an asymmetric design to deliver its ‘Year in Music’. But it was not until 2017 in which we started seeing the real introduction of asymmetrical and unconventional “non-boxy” or “broken” layouts. In 2018 we will continue to see this design trend take center stage. Asymmetrical designs are unique, standout, and can sometimes even be experimental.

Typically, we have seen the big brands with tons of content steer clear of these new, innovative asymmetric layouts in favour of the traditional grid layout style, but in 2018 we will start to see more begin to experiment with asymmetric unconventional layouts, to create unique experiences that set themselves apart from competition. While traditional brands may elect for traditional approaches, bigger brands can afford, and are generally willing to be a little riskier with out-of-the-box ideas from their web designer.

Broken grids and asymmetrical designs does not mean that we are ditching the concept of grid layouts altogether. Instead they allow images and text elements to be laid out in new, unique ways. Another emerging trend within the asymmetrical design approach is the use of more organic and oblique shapes. We are seeing websites utilizing dramatic diagonals and as mentioned earlier, unique Illustrations. But designers aren’t just limiting themselves there. Many web designers are simply putting a unique perspective twist transforming elements from their typical 90-degree angles to freshen up their designs. A great use case of a change in perspective is presented on the Stripe homepage.

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INTEGRATED WEB ANIMATIONS

With advancements in browser technology more websites are moving away from static images to more unique methods. Obviously, we have discussed illustrations and now we’re going to talk about animations. Taking those illustrations and bringing them to life to engage users in your brands communication approach. Unlike particle background animations we discussed earlier, which are generally used as large backgrounds, web animations are helpful for engaging the user throughout their entire experience on your website. Web animations can be utilized in endless creative ways, for example a simple use case like animating the page while it is loading. Most of us have seen the use cases of the loading animations and the many different creative techniques designers have employed for them. Web animations are a very interesting web design trend we see emerging in 2018.

Animation is a wonderful tool for engaging users in the story of a website, allowing them to immerse themselves fully in your creative world. Animation can play a massive role in making ideas and interfaces easier to understand. In a world where everyone is in a hurry and you have a short time available to capture a customer’s attention, animations can convey complex messages in a short amount of time. Thus, engaging the user in an interactive and fun experience.

What specific animation trends do we expect to see rise in 2018? We believe animated logos is an obvious trend which will emerge. It’s an opportunity for companies to further enhance their brand. 2018 is also seeing the return of the GIF, part in thanks to the fact that GIFs can now be read by almost any device. The rise of animation in web design can be thanked largely in part to the amazing new tools available to designers. Finally, the tools available to designers are beginning to catch up to the wonderful imaginations of experienced designers. These are just some of the web design trends we expect to see in 2018. Check back in a few months to see another list of more web design trends for 2018.

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