The Web Design Trends You’ll Want To Use in 2019
The theory and practice of web design have changed substantially since the early days of Web 2.0. With the evolution of web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, it became possible to develop and design websites that work faster, look better and are genuinely enjoyable to use when contrasted with their predecessors. Gone are unformatted walls of text, obtuse navigation menus, and kitschy color schemes that make your eyes hurt. Modern websites have a different kind of problem – the sheer number of available design options is enough to cause choice paralysis. And making the right design decisions is what determines whether a website is going to fail or prosper. So in order to help you narrow down your choices, we will try to bring you up to speed with what’s current in the world of web design. Whether you are creating a blog, an ecommerce store, or a company website, these are the trends to watch out for in 2019.
Mobile Focused Design
Back in 2016, the mobile phone became the device of choice for browsing the web for the first time. The percentage of mobile web users has kept rising since then, causing web developers to adopt a mobile-first approach when designing websites. If your website is not ready for mobile, it will limit your growth opportunities online. There are two main factors to consider when designing a mobile-friendly website. One is a focus on speed – mobile users can’t afford to wait all day for a web-page to load, so websites should be light on resources. The other is responsive design– a set of principles that specifies how to create websites which render equally well on devices of different screen sizes.
The Return of Vibrant colors
Flat design has been one of the more popular design approaches in recent memory. Its focus on minimalism and function-over-form aesthetics have been a boon in the current mobile-centric climate. However, flat design has its downsides as well, specifically its reliance on a small palette of colors. As a result, a counter-trend is starting to emerge, one that is abandoning the monochrome and pastel of flat design in favor of more exciting color choices. Supersaturated primary colors and vibrant shades are now being combined with headers reimagined with slashes and hard angles. The web is once again starting to look as colorful as it did during the 90s, albeit this time designers clearly know what they are doing.
Asymmetrical Layouts
Symmetrical, grid-based website layouts have been a staple of web design since the early days of the web. Such layouts were initially adopted because they enabled web designers to quickly and easily arrange the elements of a web page. But as more advanced tools became available, sticking with symmetrical layout design was no longer a necessity. As a result, a new trend came about, one that explores the possibilities of asymmetric design. Web designers are now creating websites with uneven distances between web-page elements, using whitespace more extensively, formatting text into irregularly-shaped boxes, etc. This focus on “broken” layouts is quickly becoming one of the hottest trends in modern web design, and it is scheduled to grow even further in 2019.
Typography In The Limelight
High-resolution images look great on modern desktop PCs, and while they can be resource intensive, this is usually not that much of an issue on a home internet connection. This is not to say that high-quality images can’t be appreciated on smaller devices such as smartphones and tablets, but the trade-off is that they take more time to load, and they can consume a lot of bandwidth. A more resource-friendly alternative to images for web design is typography, the art of utilising fonts. The design impact of a font has often been underestimated, but it looks like things are about to change. Designers are starting to realize that an easily customizable, inherently stylized, lightweight design elements such as a font can do wonders to liven up a website. And as a result, bold, contrasting fonts are becoming the new norm in 2019.
Custom Design Solutions
In order to meet the rising demand for new websites, web designers started to rely on stock content to supplement their designs. Unfortunately, this approach has led to the creation of websites that utilize the same stock images, layouts, color schemes, etc., thus reducing their unique appeal. As a result, a counter tendency has emerged, one that puts a premium on custom designed content. Web designers are now beginning to implement custom logos, site mascots, comic-book-like site guides, stylised illustrations, etc. in order to set their websites apart. And as more and more websites keep flooding the web in 2019, the importance of custom design solutions will only increase.
Conclusion
Browsing the web is quickly becoming an indispensable feature of everyday life for many people. As the audience for web-based content grows, so does the demand for new, well-designed websites. If they wish to stay ahead of the curve in the new digital frontier of 2018, designers would do well to keep track of the trend such as ones mentioned above.
About the author – Angelina is a writer over at Design Rush – when she’s not writing she loves spending time with her friends and family, and learning more about all things digital marketing.