An evolution of responsive design

We will see responsive design continuing to evolve now that everyone has grasped how to tackle such a beast. We think this will become a lot more creative and of better quality as many have stuck to basic principles. We will still see more modular/card style designs (Pinterest style) as these are easier to control and stack.

We also hope to see a move towards bespoke or curated content for mobile and tablet. Instead of just responding visually why not respond in smarter way? Obviously this wouldn’t be the right decision for every sight but in a lot of cases mobile, tablet and desktop users may be looking for different things. But at the same time you cannot deny any one of the devices content that they would find on another sized device.

Video; a more engaging tool

Visual content will dominate in 2015 and this means more video content and with this will be more creative uses of video with the use of HTML5 and with the ability to now apply masks to video (currently using firefox) and use it in ways we haven’t seen before on the web we think its going to be an exciting year for this.

Examples here:
sortieenmer.com
www.lifeofpimovie.com
outofthedark.tv

Interface and micro interactions

Interactions with elements of a web page will continue to develop in 2015. People have almost begun to expect interactive elements and why shouldnt they, web is the perfect medium for this. Interactions will escpecially make a big splach in interface designs with the rise of SVG elements that can resize for all devices being vector based. Small interactions help elements become more user friendly with animated elements within forms and more inviting CTA’s. All in all it will help the web become a more fun place to be, across all devices.

Typography is king

Typography has been and always will be a key element in design. Typography can convey a message/feeling all on its own and having the right font is key to projects. Now that web fonts are more accessible than they have ever been its time for typography to take centre stage on sites.

With web fonts becoming cheaper and with free alternatives (with google fonts) we can say a long overdue goodbye to system fonts on sites, and a big hello to a world of beautiful web typography.

Bigger is now better

Bigger and better imagery/photography thanks to the ever expanding size of screens ( with 4k monitors becoming more common) means having great imagery is more important than ever. There has been somewhat of a focus on small devices in the past year but we think 2015 will be a new focus on the big screens. A responsive site that is full of delights even for those with the biggest of screens.

Parallax and scrolling animations:
More scrolling, less clicking

We’ve seen quite a few of these in 2014 but we think we’ll see even more in 2015 as they become more and more popular. Some of our team have a bit of a hatred for parallax sites due to it being used ‘just because they can’. For a parallax site to stand out from a crowd it does need to be more considered in its approach. We see these being strong styles for narrative and product driven websites otherwise it can become more of a hindrance than something that can make your site stand out from the crowd, so a good story is key. These types of sites are becoming popular due to scrolling being a far quicker process than clicking and is much easier to keep a user engaged. Not to mention it can work across touch devices too. We see the one page website being more commonplace in 2015 but with better execution and even more creative — with or without parallax

Infographics / data visualisation
“web graphics”

Hopefully we will see an end to the stock infographics that seem to have infiltrated the web and we’ll see a rise to smarter and more interactive versions with infographics that can visualise live data. We’ve seen this stuff before on native apps with live data being visualised in a graphical way that is more interactive and engaging and we think this will make more of an appearance on webpages to come.

And some things we would like to see more of…

Desktop and mobile syncing

Thanks to Google and their Chrome experiments that have often delighted us with new ideas. With little games such as Super Sync Sports. We are hoping to see more clever uses of multiple devices that connect as this becomes more mainstream. This could create a really rich experience for users and used correctly and creatively it can be amazing.

Making use of device features

And theres always the webcam. Making use of the features of modern devices will also be a trend with many devices supporting camera capabilities the webcam is making a resurgence into interactive websites.

Examples:
www.justareflektor.com
www.sennheiser-momentumduo.com.cn