Web design is a dynamic and ever-changing field. With new design trends appearing each and every year, web designers must stay up-to-date on all of the latest design trends in order to make their client’s sites as dynamic and appealing to users as possible. Whether you have a web start-up or a local brick and mortar store, it’s imperative that you choose a web design geelong company that stays abreast of the latest design trends. Let’s take a look at the top web design trends of 2013 so your site performs to its fullest potential in 2013 and beyond.Minimalism
Interior designers are well-familiar with the term, but minimalism is a growing trend that is taking the web-design world by storm. A minimalist approach to web-design can result in highly effective landing pages that appeal to users and keep them on a site. These days, less is really more. Rather than complicating a web site with an abundance of options and images, a site should only focus on a primary product or service, with all of the others being secondary and hidden under seamless navigation tags.
Content First
Web designers have been increasingly designing around content rather than the other way around. Instead of simply dropping content into a design that is already finished, web designers have been taking Google’s cues and begun designing sites that revolve around the content. By taking this approach, designers are able to provide visitors with quick and easy access to exactly what they’re looking for. A website that is built around content is able to drive traffic and experience conversions much easier than sites in which content was added as a design afterthought.
Bold Colors
Bold and vibrant colors make your site stand out from the crowd and leave a lasting impression, which is exactly what you want your business website to do. Bold colors create excitement and spur interest, whereas muted colors are bland and easy to forget. Premier web design geelong companies understand this and frequently incorporate bold colors into their site design.
Responsive Design
Responsive web design was a trend that began in 2012 and has continued to thrive throughout 2013. Responsive web design uses CSS to re-style a simple design in order for the site to be properly displayed on multiple devices with varying screen sizes, such as tablets and smart phones. The rapid rise in popularity of tablet and smart phone browsing has resulted in the need for web designers to identify new ways of delivering the same content to numerous devices without the need for separate mobile versions of a site or app downloads. Since nearly 84 percent of smart phone users browse the web, responsive design is clearly an important focal point of modern web design.
CSS3 Effects
Thanks to the increasing ability of browsers to support CSS3, top web design geelong firms are now able to take advantage of this updated powerful scripting language. Rather than using Flash or PNG transparent images, which take up valuable space and cause slow loading times, this lightweight scripting language provides designers with the ability to create animations, transparent elements, and shadows while still achieving optimal loading speed.
Infinite Scrolling
Initiated by Pinterest and used by other social media sites like Facebook and Tumblr, infinite scrolling is quickly becoming the most popular method of delivering a sizable amount of page content without increasing the initial load time. With infinite scrolling, a site automatically loads additional content whenever a user scrolls to the bottom of a page. Additional content is able to be loaded through the detection of a user’s current scroll position. Of course, there is a slight delay, but infinite scrolling drastically decreases the initial load time of a page. This is especially apparent when a site with infinite scrolling is compared side by side to a standard site.
Parallax Design
Parallax design provides business owners with the ability to deliver content in a unique and visually interesting way while still maintaining a professional presence. As one of the year’s hottest web design trends, examples of parallax design can be witnessed all across the web. Parallax design allows the background of a site to move slower than the foreground when a user scrolls down the site. This gives a 3-D sensation and allows designers to show multiple content, images, and background all on the same page.
Photo and Video Backgrounds
Oversize background images were extremely popular in 2012, and their popularity has definitely continued into 2013. However, this year we have begun witnessing the emergence of full video backgrounds as well. Many companies have begun incorporating videos into their background designs to whet the visual appetites of Internet users.
Due to the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the Internet, web designers must stay on top of all of the latest design trends. What is trendy one minute can easily become outdated the next. These design trends represent the hottest design trends of 2013, but savvy web designers already have their eye on what 2014 has in store.
About the Author
With more than a century of experience, Snap is Australia’s leader in all things print. From digital and quick printing for business cards and business stationery to offset printing for Flyers and Direct Mail, you can trust Snap business printing to know what it takes to deliver on a promise. Visit us at www.snap.com.au