Let’s face it. Just because you spent a fortune on your amazing and cool website that’s getting a lot of views today, doesn’t mean it’ll still get you the same volume a year after. What’s cool today could easily go passe in the next year, month, week, day, or even on the very next hour! And sadly, it is true even for the best, most elaborately done websites.
2015 marked the year of parallax effects and full screen images. Do we expect the same trends in 2016? Of course not. Here are some of the web design trends we see coming in the year 2016:
Motion Animation
Attention, Harry Potter fans! If you loved the moving portraits across the halls and on other print media in the Wizarding World, the concept on your own website will definitely be exciting. This trend is foreseen to be a hit next year, so make sure to crack some knuckles now and work on getting ahead of the game. Remember, if basically everyone else is already doing it, it won’t be as cool anymore.
Illustrations
Who doesn’t awwwe at the sight of cutesy, charming, hand-drawn scribbles and illustrations? These things can be pretty nostalgic (probably why they are seemingly timeless and never get old), and in 2016 they are seen to make a glorious comeback. In this age of photos and digitized-everything, this does look like it’s going to be a breath of fresh air. Don’t you think?
Split Content
Imagine the boxed-images layout popularized by Pinterest? Nope, that’s not even close to what split content really is. With split content, designers can get a wider space for creative freedom as the half-pages that vertically or horizontally transition don’t necessarily have to be on the same (aesthetic) page — pun intended. In 2016 though, we can expect to see more websites trying out this trend.
Mobile optimization
Come on. Laptop and desktop devices aren’t as cool as they used to be anymore — at least in places where work isn’t involved. Today, mobile device searches comprise a great fraction of the total cyber population — which means a lot of the people who are viewing your site could have stumbled upon it while they were fumbling with their iPad or iPhone. And chances are, if your website isn’t as responsive or as easy to use as it should’ve been when using a desktop browser, you’ll be losing a great chunk of potential viewers, buyers, or clients. Ouch.