We’re not much for wish-casting here at Tom&Co., but hey – why not put some skin in the game and take a chance by making some bold predictions for the next year? Now mind you, these are trends, not fads as trends tend to stick around while fads are only hot for a few months at a time. We’re talking things that are emerging and should continue to experience success for some time to come.
Let’s dive right in…
We love ourselves some typography and it’s great to see more designers experimenting with it now more than ever. We’ll make a bet that you’ll see more fonts that feel like they can stand on their own two feet rather than just being a small piece of a big pie. That mean a lot less Helvetica and a lot more dynamic, compelling designs and fonts.
If you asked us what the biggest emerging trend in web design would be today – it’d be the death of the slider. What we’re beginning to see is hero areas moonlighting as sliders and allowing you to mouse over certain design elements and navigate a website that way. Sliders are fun and sure – they’ll be a thing for a little while longer, but they’re also on the clock. We think hero areas will be the new trend.
I know, we’re SO going out on limb here. And while you’re sneezing thanks to our sarcasm, please sneeze knowing this is really an emerging trend that’s going to keep on emerging. With responsive web design emerging as standard-issue for any web design. In fact, mobile designs are increasingly becoming the norm. Everyone’s consuming content on the run, so be prepared to make the mobile jump if you haven’t already or risk getting left behind.
Video’s been emerging for a long time, but when you think about it – it makes sense for it to start to take over for copy. I mean – why would you read anything you can’t already watch, right? Truth be told – videos are becoming easier to produce, easier to share and are taking half the bandwidth they used to So yeah – move over words and make way for video.
We ARE talking design here, so we can’t talk design without talking about color, right? We predict that in 2014, we expect most leading websites to only employ one or two colors in their design. In fact, most sites now are being launched with little to no color at all; instead opting for simple white and black while adding only a few hits of color to add drama and impact. Talk about the right way to garnish your website!
