Design Trends
Although it is very important to stand out from the crowd, it is always useful to understand current trends for web design so that you do not create something outdated. The reason something becomes a trend is because a large number of people enjoy it, this is why it is crucial to incorporate some aspects of it into your design. That being said, it is easy to fall in the trap of creating lots of designs based off of one current popular trend. The issue with design trends is that they pop up as quickly as they disappear and a page can fall from being very cool to a hot mess. This is why we must constantly keep up to date with current trends, both so we can incorporate them into our own designs to stay relevant but also to ensure you are not including something that is old and boring for users.
Illustrations
Illustrations have always been a very current form of design, the style of it is constantly changing but it will always be one of the most important trends to pay attention to. I find this style of graphics most interesting as everyone illustrates differently and that is never out of fashion. However, specific styles do come and go frequently. Vector illustrations have been popular for a while now with varying results, I plan on using this style in my own website as I have not really tried it out yet but am always intrigued by the look of them. Vector style can range from very detailed work to very basic blobs of colour that create a recognisable image as shown below.
Multiple Brand Colour Schemes
Dropbox was one of the original logos that really got this trend started due to how successful it all was. This way of designing emphasises the importance of having an instantly recognisable pictorial rather than relying on colours for people to know it’s a specific company. It basically stripped away one of the most important factors of logo design — colour scheme. I really appreciate this trend as I think it opens a lot of opportunity for brands to be more adventurous and unique.
