The total number of people using and accessing websites are increasing every day. Growing use of digital gadgets like smartphones and tablets have confirmed this fact. This demands designers and developers to create functional websites with eye-catching design.

Being a web designer, you must understand the dilemma of designing websites. Design that looks trendy and fresh today, can become outdated after some time. This is because the landscape of designing is changing and evolving.

Technology becomes so advanced and offering more tool than ever. Nowadays, designers can access these tools to create versatile designs. The wide availability of technology has made it easier to trend new techniques in short time. Design and development professionals adapt these trends to stay on the top. Here I am sharing a few web design trends you should follow in 2017.

Design and development professionals adapt these trends to stay on the top. Here I am sharing a few web design trends you should follow in 2017.

Neutral Color Palettes

A suitable color choice is undeniably important for a website. It has the power to influence visitor emotions and total conversion rates. Last two years color trends showed the use of several bright and bold colors.

But, this year it is expected to shift to natural and neutral shades after the announcement of Pantone that revealed green the color of the year. But, this is not true for all cases.

You can’t totally drop bright colors from design theme. According to Google’s Material Design guidelines in 2017, use of bright hues is likely to trend.

Gradients

Having been missed for a couple of years, gradients are back with the bang with slight changes in the color blurring techniques. Currently, gradients use plenty of colors to create a big and bold effect.

Designers are using two colors gradient either to cover a photo or as background to attract the human eye, especially when they don’t have other. Gradients can be used and convert a less interesting photo into a captivating image.

GIFs and Cinema Graphs

GIFs and cinema graphs are both alluring. They have an unexpected capability to gain not only the maximum user engagement but also increase conversion for business. This is because human brain love watching visuals as compared to watching still images and reading a text.

Despite showing movement, cinemagraphs, and GIFs can be conveniently used anywhere on the website without affecting the speed of page load. If used with sophistication, they can emphasize over important aspects of a website.

These design components can be efficiently utilized on sales pop-ups, best-selling products, and free trail pages to create a difference. However, abusing animations can hurt UX of a website.

Video with Audio

Advancements in the fields of graphics and animation have increased the production of visual content and animated videos. People have become more habitual to watch these videos more than ever. They love sharing and discussing videos they like on social media sites.

This significant interest of viewers to watch short films on their devices has dragged attention of web designers to include this cinematic experience in a website. Nowadays, it is trending to use a full video with sound on a homepage. To avoid annoying those who don’t want to watch, videos should not auto-play. Video must have the option to regulate sound accordingly.

Bold Typography

Typography is the major component of web design. If you compare the use of fonts in 2016, you can easily identify, the primary focus was creativity, which is expected to continue in 2017 with significant attention on the font size.

Large and bold typography is the latest trend, designers are following. More websites are incorporating big and bold typography on home pages. Huge fonts work best with clean and minimum graphics. Use of bold text is totally in this year, as it can quickly grab the attention of readers and increase the duration of their stay on the site.

Modern Retro

Modern retro web design incorporates computer effects from 1970 and 1990s. From pixel art to vintage typography and imagery, designers are creatively using these design components with a modern twist. Modern retro designs are extremely appealing to grab user attention immediately.

However, designers and business owners should consider their business niche and audience while using this design factor. Being quirky and funny, modern retro will not look great on governmental and professional websites.

Use Real Images

Authentic photographs of real humans and sites have become so common these days. People love watching high-quality genuine pics as compared to stock images. Use of stock images reduces trust.

Whereas, featuring real people images significantly increase the conversion. Nowadays, brands are using real-life images to provide a real story to their clients, which will help them to create a credible image in the industry.

Virtual Reality

Initially considered as a buzz word, virtual reality VR has now become a reality in 2017 and has impacted website design this year. As the market is receiving more devices at affordable prices, VR is going to rule the design world this year.

Game designers will make the most of VR technology, but website designers can also integrate it in design in the form of 360-degree video and other three-dimensional effects to deliver a highly interactive experience to their users.

Summary:

These are few latest webs design trends, which are expected to be followed in 2017. Every professional web designer should learn to efficiently use them while styling their client’s websites.

Contributed by https://www.designbackoffice.com/