Top Design Trends 2014: Part 2
Top Website Design Trends for 2014: Part 2
Having looked at some of the web design trends that are driven by the massive growth in mobile use in Part One of our recent blog series, in Part Two we explore some of the larger shifts in website aesthetics.
Use of colour in website design
Now that websites are mobile, colour is one of the elements web designers have identified as a potential communication tool. Rather than simply using complimentary or analogic colour scheme that works with branding, designers are increasingly keeping sites and apps monochrome or white and reserving colour to aid communication when the space that instructions and words take up could be better used for something else (or simply isn’t available on the small screen).
Red for stop, ‘are you sure’, delete, close. Green for go, ‘yes’, next and OK. More designers are using colour in a meaningful way to help make sense of things, simplify and improve usability rather than merely make things pretty. The Blue weather forecasting app is a great example of mobile application design that uses colour to communicate efficiently and effectively. Hot colours are hot, cool colours are cool.
Colour can also be used to delineate groups of content. Our own logo and website is based on the 5 key iFactory services, each represented by their own colour. The Elevatr app which is designed to help entrepreneurs take an idea to execution, uses colour to magnify the urgency of tasks as a project nears completion.
Integrated design
One of the Apple design philosophies is unobtrusive, almost invisible hardware and operating systems, allowing the user to be completely immersed in their experience. And since we can pretty safely assume anyone with an ‘iDevice’ is also conscious of design and aesthetics, we’re seeing a trend toward mobile apps that integrate with their device environment.
Some mobile apps already allow users to select their colour schemes to match their smartphone or tablet. It’s likely there will be more ability to customise the look of apps in the future and we may even see apps that automatically detect the device and adopt the most complimentary colour scheme straight out of the box.
Web design visual trends
With the multi-layer nature of iOS, some clear trends with backgrounds and images have begun to emerge.
Generally, images are getting larger – both in blogs and in the background. With image backgrounds relatively commonplace, now we’re starting to see a move toward dynamic backgrounds like Spotify.
Making use of scrolling, parallax, dynamic backgrounds and well considered transition effects, news sites such as the New York Times and The Guardian are creating compelling single use pages dedicated entirely to stories like the Avalanche at Tunnel Creek, and the Dunalley bushfires.
In 2014 we can probably expect to see more single-use pages and specifically-styled mini sites like these pop up as companies see the potential for landing pages and branding.
Grid or card layouts popularised by sites like Pinterest are also likely to grow in popularity throughout 2014 for specific kinds of sites and content.
There’s no better feeling than creating a beautiful-looking, on-brand website that’s a pleasure to use – that’s what iFactory designers are all about. iFactory full service digital agency with a skilled team of web designers, developers, copywriters and digital strategists. From creative to commercial, we make sure that your website ticks all the boxes. If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with web design, mobile app development or developing a digital strategy that supports your business; ask us here or call us on 07 3844 0577.
