#design trends

By most terms of reference, 70 years is a long time…70 years ago, copywriter David Ogilvy decided to part ways with his former business partner, Edmund Mather; together, they had made up what was known as Ogilvy & Mather. This decision meant moving from London, where the company originated, to Manhattan, where the name of the company would change to just Ogilvy. Now, as of June 2018, Ogilvy has announced a complete rebranding. For a company...

Sometimes the most fun part of looking at design trends is when you start to notice subtle shifts in trends that create new design patterns altogether. Each of the trends this month is an evolution of something that’s been pretty popular, with an interesting spin. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1. Full Screen Photo The oversized hero image gets even bigger with full-screen photo displays. The key element in this website...

Every industry has its jargon, and almost its own language, in some cases. God knows web design has a lot of jargon, even if half of our made up phrases are fancy and nonsensical job titles. But for all of the silliness that comes with having to invent our own words and acronyms for things, jargon plays an important role: it allows us to communicate more efficiently with other designers and devs. Sometimes, the person who (more or less) comes up with...

Attention grabbing designs are a goal for almost any project. But there are some techniques that draw users in faster than others. Those are just the elements that this month’s trends are all about. From funky, tiny navigation, to fun cut out and layers, to fast movement that you can’t look away from, here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1. Funky, Tiny Nav For a while designers pushed mega navigation, then hamburger-style navigation...

After years of flat, material and completely minimal styles, the gradient has made a comeback. Everywhere you look, designers are using color fades to add visual interest, create user engagement and just design something that’s worth looking at. If you aren’t a fan of gradients, maybe it’s time to rethink your stance on the issue. To help convince you, we’ve got 10 reasons to love and use gradients in your website design projects this...

Shapes and typography are two elements that can add a lot of impact to a website design project even when they don’t always occupy the greatest amount of space. How to design shapes and typography with a little extra something is definitely on the trends radar this month, with plenty of projects using this concept. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1. Bubbles and Blobs Loose shapes without clearly defined forms are showing...

One of the best things about spring can be website design. Warmer air seems to put designers in a brighter bolder mood, and that shows in this month’s roundup of trends. From bolder color choices with a lighter feel—less heavy black and white—to images and type that draw users into a poster or movie-style experience, inspiration is abound. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1. Poster-Style Homepages Full-screen homepage...

Across all disciplines of design, from fashion to architecture, trends largely define the styles and directions of an industry at a particular time. Trends are often determined to be a reaction to a previous style. Whether that’s swaying from maximalism to minimalism, or colorful to monochrome, trends by their very nature focus on short termism rather than the larger picture. They also tend to be cyclical, meaning across design industries,...

Sometimes design trends are tough to see, even when you are looking for them. This month is no exception with trends that include use of circles in design, split screen layouts, and dark backgrounds with light text. These elements might seem like common design tools but when used in similar ways across the board, distinct trends start to emerge. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1. Circles The implied meanings and associations...

Happy New Year! At this time every January we try to predict what’s going to happen in our industry over the next 12 months. I hope that 2018 will be a great year for inclusive design, for standards-compliance, for ethical practices. I hope for those things every year, and annually it does feel like we’re inching closer. However this post is about unexpected trends, changes, and an attempt to predict the landscape ahead of us, because it feels...

I might have noticed a trend or two in web design this last year. Let me rephrase that: I spend the vast majority of my time online. I do my shopping, here, and my work, and a lot of my leisure reading. I browse the Internet mid-gaming, whether to look up information on the game I’m playing, or just to entertain myself some more because my ADD is really that bad. I even spend a huge amount of time browsing portfolio sites, where designers get to live...

All three of this month’s essential design trends have to do with typography. And the trends showcase some pretty stellar ways to use beautiful type to create user engagement and make a great first impression. One common theme among these designs is that all of the typography styles are highly readable. If you plan to work with a more trendy or funky text element, choose a typeface that users won’t struggle to read. The trendy technique is...

If you’re a fan of this monthly design trends series, there’s a strong possibility you’ve seen a trend or two that you just didn’t like. And that’s OK. This month, each of the three trends should be design conversation starters. While the visuals look cool, are they readable and usable? (Questions every website designer should ask when undertaking a project.) Take a look, see what you think about these trends and decide for yourself....

Hey WDD readers, it’s October, so you know what that means: it’s time for Christmas-themed websites! No, I wouldn’t actually do that to you. But I don’t have any Halloween-themed websites either. It’s probably for the best. What I do have is yet another almost-even mix of design trends and aesthetics. Could this be the end of bandwagon-hopping? Could we possibly be that lucky? I doubt it, but the last few months have been pure pleasure...