As every year, there is speculation again this year about which trends await us in the coming year. To stay current, it is important in the design field to be aware of new developments. However, it does not mean that one has to immediately implement everything that is currently popular.
Trends that remained & remain
Anyone not completely new to web design will be all too familiar with the terms that have repeatedly cropped up for quite some time: Responsive, Flat, and Material Design. They will be with us for much longer. Even the much-loved Hamburger Menu will not disappear from the scene anytime soon. And that scrolling is the new clicking, we've known ever since one-page sites with parallax scrolling mushroomed and, though no longer used as excessively, continue to appear in new variations.
Trends that shaped 2015
Much of our forecast from last year proved true: Animations are no longer exceptions but have become a prerequisite for contemporary design. Typography has grown in size, as have background images. And full-width videos adorned many award-winning sites this year. However, this also brought about a new, albeit not so pleasant, trend: intro pages. These contain nothing but a (usually creatively designed) loading bar. Even if these loading animations are often super entertaining, they lose their appeal at the latest by the fifth visit to the website. We therefore hope that this trend does not last long (and hereby send all representatives of this nuisance on a content diet!).
Trends coming in 2016
Trends don't follow the calendar year, and some can already be found. Split content, for example, is currently very popular. The website is divided into two columns, and the content swaps, usually inversely, as you scroll. This also shows: animations are and remain arguably the most exciting topic. Previously, much work was done with micro-interactions that provide small feedback on status changes. But now storytelling is also coming into play. Users are interactively guided through processes and stories. Often, a style resembling a storyboard will be used: the user can click through individual elements or be guided from one scene to the next by scrolling. This provides a welcome change from mere text with images. To show even more individuality, there will be an increased focus on hand-drawn illustrations again in the future. However, loading times should remain short, which is why there is growing interest in short animations, known as cinemagraphs. These are still photos with a small, repeating movement. They are currently embedded either as GIFs or as short animated videos. It will be interesting in this context whether the BPG format will find its way onto the web. The lightweight counterpart for animated vector graphics, SVG, is already becoming increasingly popular.
Trends nobody talks about
But there are also trends that are quietly assumed without ever being discussed. These include aspects such as usability, accessibility, and user experience. These topics are precisely why some trends endure and are considered desirable, while others are only used due to a lack of alternatives. The latter includes – obviously – intro pages. They emerged because many embraced the trend of large images, videos, and elaborate animations, thereby creating a content overload. From my perspective, the most important thing as a designer is never to prioritise the hype around a new development over the usability and accessibility of a website. A way must always be found to ensure both. If this is not possible, the user's experience always takes precedence – and a loading bar that makes the user wait for more than ten seconds clearly stands in the way of that.
This small example aims to show that despite all alluring new trends, we must not forget the essentials: easy usability, accessibility for all, and – partly as a result of these – the positive user experience that encourages them to perceive the website as pleasant and therefore enjoy visiting it.
