Here at Pumpkin Web Design we are Preston’s leading web gurus. From building innovative, exciting websites, to engaging and current marketing, we make sure our customers gain an unfair advantage over their competitors. As part of this, we stay on top of all the latest web design trends. From colours to layouts, web design is a multi-headed, ever evolving creature, and if you want your website to be a success, it needs to be up to date with the cutting edge of design trends. That’s why, as standard, every website we produce is responsive, and current, so your customers know that your company is trustworthy and relevant. But we don’t just blindly follow the trends, we push the boundaries too. And as the year is ticking towards a close, it’s time to take a look back at the top web design trends of 2017.
Will we be saying goodbye to these trends on December the 31st, or will they have a lasting impact?
Typography
Throughout 2017, typography began to become more important. Probably due to the huge improvements in screen resolution, colour and saturation, which means it’s now easier than ever to read those complicated, swirly fonts on any device. As a result, there has been an increase in the variety of fonts used, the use of custom fonts, and also the creativity with which typography has been used. Almost becoming an element in itself. In fact, companies and businesses during 2017 began to view typography as an extension of brand personality, as it can inject character into the web design.
Some typography trends we have seen a lot of this year include:
- Oversized font that is big and bold, usually in all caps, and is overlaid over the top of an image or video. This combination of typography and image usually takes up the majority of the landing page and is extremely visual. It also transfers well to mobile for responsive designs.
- Helvetica, the font, has been used almost everywhere…
- A rise in custom fonts. As discussed above, more companies are opting to develop their own typography to make their brand seem more unique and personable.
- Typography that crosses different elements. This trend began in 2016, but allowing your text to spread outside of its “space” and into an image or another box has stll been relevant this year.
Colours
2017 has been the year of the brave. Especially in terms of web design colours. Companies and businesses have taken a step away from the white, cream, pale grey, or pale blue elements that once defined almost the whole of the internet (thanks Facebook!) and have been using colour in a much more interesting way. We have seen:
- Companies opting for a whole new colour palette. Bright and bold have been the name of the game, often with a more intense background and flashes of a brighter, bolder secondary colour.
- The colours used as part of the visual imagery. As more and more companies opt for a large landing page image or video, visual imagery is becoming increasingly important. Check out on of our clients websites over at Glitzy Bitzy to get a better idea.
- Elements from this will often compliment or match the bolder colour schemes chosen.
Layouts
If colours have been bright and fonts have been bold, layouts have been focused on the minimal, relying on these bright and bold features to support what is usually a high quality background image and only a few buttons. Minimalism has been winning the battle across 2017, but as we all know, you can have too much of something. So will it still be as popular in 2018? Well, the chances are yes. This is because of the rise of mobile searches and the importance of fast loading times. Minimal layouts make for a more responsive mobile experience, which is better for users, and better for your Google index ranking.
Some other layouts that have been popular include:
- Split screen mobile stacking layouts. These are incredibly practical for responsive websites. Again these use minimalist principles, but designers have often applied a top level element that spans the two sections on the desktop view. This leads to a more interesting and unique final appearance.
- Scroll triggered animations. Although these technically aren’t a layout feature, they have used parallax layout tools to create scrolling animations.
If you want to start the New Year with a new website, why not get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design?