There’s always been a lot of fuss around web design trends. Some of them live for 2 – 3 years and fade into oblivion. Others don’t die out completely: they evolve and make a comeback in a couple of years. What’s the role of them? Why are they so important?
The answer to these questions is quite simple. The trends are best indicators of the current web design state. They reflect the changes that the industry undergoes and let us make further predictions. Most importantly, trends are the ledger that lets innovative web designers make it to the top. Are you among them? Then, it’s time to learn our best predictions for top web design trends 2018.
In 2018, web designers will have to open their minds and embrace the new technologies and approaches. The web space becomes more immersive and engaging. VR and chatbots enter the mainstream. UX gains even more power and determines the way websites are created. In 2018, web designers have to balance the tendencies and find the happy medium to deliver state-of-the-art creations.
To dive deep into 2018 web design trends, we share with you the Space Odyssey Infographics that identify the main planets of 2018 web design solar system. These upcoming trends were hand-picked by the experienced team behind TemplateMonster Digital Marketplace and are currently incorporated to their WordPress themes and other templates. Today, they’re ready to share these insights with you, so that you join them on the verge of innovation.
It’s time to begin your space journey!
AI & Machine Learning
Thanks to the active investment of giant corporations (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.), AI has left the realm of sci-fi. Next year, you’ll see the rise of the software that thinks and acts like humans. Such software is capable of understanding the user, getting to know their preferences and giving them personalized suggestions. For example, machine learning lets Facebook personalize your newsfeed to bring you the most relevant content. Next year, AI is predicted to get even smarter and find numerous employments.
Chatbots
Chatbots have become an integral part of modern messengers. They satisfy users’ requests by reacting to the keywords within the request. In fact, chatbots are the smart search systems that quickly find the needed items for you. Chatbots dwell in Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Kik, Skype, WeChat. You won’t be able to count them: there are more than 100K bots just in Facebook Messenger. Moreover, this number is predicted to multiply next year.
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
NLP is a new benchmark in machine-user interaction. NLP conversational bots can understand what users say and follow any conversation path. Some of NLP bots can even handle typos, spelling and syntax errors. What’s more, NLP can be combined with machine learning. In this case, the bot has the potential to learn from the user and get smarter over time.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
Progressive Web Apps combine the features of websites and mobile apps. Similarly to the websites, they have URLs and are crawled by search engines. At the same time, PWAs deliver the light-weight experiences, similar to mobile apps. Moreover, users can save them to their home screens and load offline. That’s why, PWAs are as accessible as regular websites, but, at the same time, as quick and user-friendly as mobile apps.
Seamless interactions
With seamless interactions, you don’t have to wait till the page reloads after you interact with it (e.g. press a button, submit a form, etc.) Being a powerful UX-booster, seamless interactions will turn into a standard web design practice next year.
Scroll Triggered Animations
Scroll triggered animations engage users when they scroll and emphasize conversion points. They shape the user’s journey on your website and ensure that the user is following the mapped-out journey. If you implement scroll triggered animations the right way (keep them minimal, but captivating), you’ll see that your website’s bounce rate decreases and the number of conversions grows.
Virtual Reality
VR enters the mainstream and taps into web design. No doubt, VR experiences are highly engaging, immersive and personal. Therefore, the shape lasting impressions and increase conversion rate of your website. At present, creating pseudo-VR experiences for your website is simple thanks to such services as A-frame, PlayCanvas, SketchLab, Visor, etc.
Internet of Things
In 2018, the devices, home appliances, vehicles and gadgets will all connect to the Internet and exchange data. This means that we’ll spend more time interacting with digital devices that make our life simpler. The new opportunities that this trend opens are literally limitless. So, if you use a Phillips Hue bulb, this is just the beginning!
Security
The more we rely on digital technologies, the more vulnerable to cyber-attacks we are. That’s why, in 2018, people will be double-careful in choosing whom they trust. Therefore, updating your security certificate to SSL for all website pages becomes a prerequisite for prospering the next year.
Extensions
This year, it’s easy to get lost in the motley crew of file formats. In 2018, be ready to cast JPG, PNG and GIF aside and go SVG-only. SVG is the graphic file format of tomorrow. It makes scaling simple and does not jeopardize the image quality.
Typographic Explosion
Next year, you’re no more limited to big, bold typography and sans-serifs. Thus, choose your way to make a statement using fonts: be it word art, underlining, serifs, text/image overlaps, semi-transparent captions or whatever… Moreover, with scalable fonts, the freedom of typography choices will not harm your website performance.
Cinemagraphs
In 2018, cinemagraphs take a new spin and become even more engaging and impressive. The shift is toward more dynamics and impact. For example, going for a 360-degree product preview or spinning/dancing imagery will be the in-thing next year.
Get ready for 2018!
It’s time to cast the outdated designs aside and embrace new web design trends. Choose a couple of trends that appeal most to you and re-think them the way they most effectively boost your business. We hope, you embrace these predictions and make it up a notch by incorporating them to your website design.
May good luck and fortune follow you this New Year!