6 Things We Predict Will Trend in Web Design in 2017

Here are six things we predict will trend in web design in 2017.

Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

More Eclectic and Experimental Typography

In the days of old, website design was limited in terms of typography. What mattered the most to web design clients was getting their information out there and not necessarily how the information was displayed. Nowadays, a website is a work of art that allows an organization or individual to distinguish themselves from everyone else. It gives business owners an artistic advantage, but it hasn’t always been that way. Even in the past year, major advances have been made in regards to typography and we’re all here for it.

Traditionally, we’ve seen websites use two primary fonts: a header and a body. In 2016, however, designers began experimenting by adding accent fonts to create an artistic flair. Three, four and even five fonts are now used at any given time, but as 2017 approaches, we predict that this kind of practice with typography will become more prevalent.

Note: Proceed with caution. Graphic designers are trained in the arts of magic and should be the only ones wielding this kind of typography power.

Push Notifications

We’re all familiar with the standard smartphone push notification. You receive a message from a friend. Your phone pushes out the notification to alert you that you have an unread text. Another example of this is when a news app pushes out breaking news notifications as the stories unfold.

Apps on both computers and phones send us notifications, but we’ve begun to see subtle glimpses of websites utilizing this useful tool. For those of you who are interested in staying up-to-date on the latest musings from your favorite writers, this is a definite plus. Websites like ConversionXL have introduced an ability to enable push notifications when a new article is published on their website.

Our prediction is that designers will employ this tool more and more throughout 2017. 

Video Backgrounds and Assets

Some may say that video backgrounds started trending in 2016, but in our opinion, they are just beginning. They originated as hero section backgrounds to convey movement and have transformed since then. When done correctly, a high-quality video is a great artistic asset that utilizes the flow of movement to keep visitors engaged and interested. 

We predict that this trend will only continue to build. Not only do we see this being utilized more in hero sections, but in other areas throughout the website. Videos may be used to bring photos to life. This effect activates when a visitor hovers over a button or image that plays a video.

Another element that may just peek its head into the trend zone are cinema graphs. 

Thinking Beyond The Grid

Most websites adhere to a strict formatting grid with set margins on either sides.

It is our prediction that in 2017, you’ll see more and more websites thinking beyond the structural grids to introduce a more free-flowing and loose structure. We feel, however, that we should issue caution with this one. When done well, it can work like magic, but it should be treated with meticulous thought and architecting because this can end in a hot mess.

Longer Pages

In our line of work, we’ve heard a lot of sayings, but one of the most common phrases we hear is, “People don’t want to scroll!” By monitoring the analytics and heatmapping of the sites we’ve designed and launched, we’ve seen statistics that prove users are experiencing quite the opposite aversion to scrolling. In fact, users do want to scroll down. Not only that, but they expect to scroll.

We aren’t the only ones who have encountered this phenomenon. According to Chartbeat, 66% of the average page visitor’s attention is spent below the fold. It should be noted, however, that it’s important to consider accessibility and the end user. Although we can naturally assume people expect to scroll, it’s still important to signify movement to get people to do this as naturally as possible. Try a button that leads downwards or an iconic symbol like an arrow.

Full-Page Forms

Forms, forms, forms! Forms equal conversion. 

Typical forms are on-page mixed in with a bunch of advertisements or articles. They are usually off to the side or within those content areas, but we’ve seen a trend pop up within the last year. Forms are now beginning to take up the entire page. Designers are creating links that lead to a one-page form that makes it easier for the user to focus on answering questions and gathering information. One-page forms eliminate distractions and allows for a smoother conversion.

As we swing into the New Year, we predict we will see this trend being used more frequently.

What trends do you think will popup this year? What would you like to see more of?