10 Web Design Trends in 2018
It’s that time of the year again. Businesses throwing Christmas parties, people connecting with each other near water coolers, talking about the year behind us and some of them probably trying to guess the web design trends that await in the next year. I’m not the one to shy away from such predictions, so I’m giving you (*fanfare music please*) my prediction of 10 web design trends of 2018.
Design is always a personal, almost intimate thing, so it will be good to come back at the end of 2018 and check how this list went. Did my predictions come true or did I completely miss the target? Some of the things I’ll mention were also part of the trends in 2017, so in the next year they will be even more prominent and adored by designers and users.
So let’s start the countdown, in no particular order…
1. Storytelling
Product or service, it doesn’t matter. Everybody loves storytelling. You scroll down a web site and you experience its story. In this crowded digital world we are attacked from all sides with a huge amount of data and information, but storytelling keeps users in focus and leads them through the most natural way of exploring your web site.
2. Gradients and Live Gradients
The 2018 will still be alive with colors and yes, gradients will be all around us. As more and more companies include “how to use gradients” instructions in their brand manuals, in the following year you can expect gradients to be even more present and have greater impact in web design. Icons and big fonts with gradients, gradients over images, even animated gradients, they will be all over the web. :)
3. Big Fonts
Typography is important and it will be an even bigger hit in the following year. To make a bold statement in your web project, go with a powerful, big font and just wait to get attention. It could be a sans serif font like AxiForma, Nexa and Gotham, or a cool serif font like Abril Fatface, Yeseva One etc.
4. Mondrianizm or “Squares Around Us”
Mondrianizm is a thing that went crazy during the Q3 and Q4 of 2017. It’s clean, it makes you calm and doesn’t stress you out trying to figure out where to look. Mondrianizm will be a huge thing in 2018 as well, since now you have the possibility to easily show more information on the first page fold than you could before. This type of design structure also requires amazing photography and typography, so make sure you combine all three into a neat package.
5. Going minimal, but not necessary flat
Well in fact — drop shadows are back. :) Not in the way we were using them back in 2010, but subtle shadows on images and buttons are back to make a statement and stand out from the rest of the elements on a website. Since most of the websites in 2018 will be minimal and simple, some of the call to action elements will deserve a proper focus.
6. Three.js & Canvas
Better smartphones, faster laptop and desktop computers, and browsers that support Open GL are all available now, so even in 2017 we have already experienced some truly immersive websites. Background particles, flying through a 3D world, 3D shapes and other such elements have a huge advantage over static images and icons. Check out some of the following links to see what’s coming in 2018.
7. Page transitions & Animations
This simple but powerful addition is already used by many websites and will continue to grow in 2018. Classic page refresh or classic jump to a different page will be replaced by smooth transition animations that will guide you to a subpage. Such animations create a more comfortable browsing experience, making the users feel like they never even left the home page.
8. Design For Voice Control
I’m almost certain that voice control will be a huge thing in 2018. Siri, Watson, Google Assistant, Alexa, you name it. All the major players in IT have presented their own personal assistants, who wait for your commands and obey them. I don’t see a reason for not implementing voice controls on websites. Speech recognition could have massive potential on complex e-commerce websites, as well as product customization actions or big data searches.
9. Fast and Web Oriented Design Tools
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Photoshop, really. It’s an amazing product for design, photo manipulation and retouching, but it starting to act like an old diesel car when it comes to adapting to modern design trends. Photoshop is big, slow and expensive, so many other competitors jumped on the opportunity and started grabbing more and more attention. It’s still not clear who won the race, but one thing is for sure — Photoshop will no longer be a go-to tool for websites and apps.
Sketch — first of the kind to take that role. Fast, optimized and smart tool for building almost everything you can imagine when it comes to web related design. The only big disadvantage is lack of a Windows version.
Adobe XD — Even Adobe seems to think that Photoshop is no longer a primary tool to use for web design, because in 2017 they introduced Adobe XD, which is similar to Sketch, but lacking in features and plugin support. Adobe is updating its new tool almost every month, so there’s certainly more to come in 2018.
Invision Studio — A new tool will kick off in January 2018 and we’re expecting a lot from this piece of software. From the makers of planetary popular Invision collaboration tool comes a new dimension in web design called Invision Studio, which will be closely integrated with all their products and could be a real hit in the web design world next year.
10. Getting Personal
You think we got it all covered? Nope. There’s still one more, really important spice when it comes to digital design and it’s called personality or authenticity. Just take a look at the websites around you. Most of them are minimalistic, using similar structure, which makes you feel like every site is the same or like you are seeing a template. In 2018, we as designers need to make visitors catch the look and feel, the personality of the client’s website, something that is truly unique and cannot be applied to other, similar websites.
From us at Euroart93, we wish you all the best for the upcoming holiday season and happy designing in 2018!
Jurica Vuković is creative director at euroart93 agency.
