shopify agency of the year

Jan 01,2013 Shopify API

Web design trends for the year ahead

Happy New Year! We hope you all saw in 2013 properly, so whilst you’re taking it easy we thought we’d take a look at a few web design trends we’re expecting to see over the year ahead…

- Advancements in responsive design. Responsive design really came into the foreground in 2012, but considering how quickly technology changes we’re expecting to see an even bigger responsive revolution over the next 12 months. Breakpoints will be a key point of consideration and mobile optimisation will be contemplated earlier on in the design process for a better user experience across all devices.
- Flash will be no more. Flash has been on the way out for some time now, largely thanks to a combination of poor SEO benefit and a lack of devices supporting it, but we predict that 2013 could see the end of it for good.
- Typography, layout and images will become more important. Content needs to take centre stage, and that means any way of making an impact will need to be taken advantage of. Advancements in typography could be the result, along with more emphasis on proper layout (particularly for mobile devices where simplicity is key), but a lot of sites will continue to use images as a high-impact visual to really grab attention.
- More white space. White space has always been important for effective web design, but it’s only in the last few months that it’s really come under the spotlight. This trend will continue in 2013, with clean, professional aesthetics being the order of the day.
- More social media integration. Need we say more?
- Subtle colour schemes. Whilst colour blocking is the hot trend of the moment, the last few months have seen some designers shift to a more muted, gentler colour scheme for a calming yet professional finish.

So there you have it—a few web design trends that could be making their way into your designs over the next few months. Of course, these are just predictions so it’ll be interesting to see what 2013 will actually bring, but in the meantime we hope you enjoy the new year!