Are you a designer looking for a fresh new approach to crafting websites or a business owner with a website? Web design is a dynamic field, and designers have to constantly be on the lookout for new trends on the horizon if they want to stay relevant. What users are captivated by now is a definite shift from what they were craving last year. Let’s take a look at some of the hottest web design trends, and how they’ll improve the effectiveness of your site in the modern day web design market!

1. The rise of CSS3 and HTML5
CSS3 and HTML5 basically offer simpler ways of incorporating modern web elements into your designs. CSS level 3 supports stimulating elements like border effects, gradients, animations, media queries, multi-column layouts, and more. Development of CSS3 began years ago, but designers are just starting to see what a powerful tool it is for simplifying certain Photoshop-level tasks.
Now, Flash is still king when it comes to creating stunning design elements, but HTML5 is making a steady rise as well, as it offers some of the same tools and functionality of Flash, without Flash’s incompatibility and SEO interference issues.
2. Large Backdrops
Huge backgrounds = huge trend. Massive, high-res images, either illustrative or photographic, have recently been adding to visually striking online experiences. Of course, the background photo or artwork must be content appropriate, in order to grab your audience without disrupting the user experience. The key to creating an impacting design that incorporates this trendy element is to make sure the imagery is in harmony with the content, and doesn’t overpower it. Take a look at this stunning example.
3. Simple Color Schemes
Simplicity is always in when it comes to modern design, but the key to achieving it without ending up with lackluster designs is to go for daring colors like green or red. The use of shades of black, white or grey in a layout has been exhausted — it’s time to experiment with more inspiring color schemes, while limiting the palette to two or three colors to keep it tasteful. Collision Labs’ website features such a simple, yet powerful use of color.
4. Mobile Compatibility
2011 marks another year of continued technological change. Users need to experience not only more magnetizing online environments, but also formats that are still comfortable to use on smartphones, netbooks, and tablets. Expand your audience by keeping your websites touchscreen friendly — they can no longer rely on information from hovering or drop-down menus. Think outside of standard web browsing. For example, mobile technology makes people more receptive of unique browsing setups, such as horizontal scrolling. Lastly, if you want to keep your iPad and iPhone user audience intrigued, your design must be flexible enough to accommodate to both vertical and horizontal viewing orientations,
5. Depth!
With the increasing demand for all things 3D — movies, TV’s, even smartphones, it’s not surprising that users are developing a craving for more depth perception. Despite the inexistence of actual 3D Technology, a real sense of dimensionality can be achieved using blurred background layers, skillfully paired with shadowy, jumping-off-the-screen foreground elements. Visit this amazing 3D flash website.
6. Parallax Scrolling
As mentioned above, creating a sense of depth in a website design is extremely visually pleasing and trendy. A super-hot web design trend that can help make this happen is Parallax scrolling. Some might recognize this effect from its use in old school video games, but now it’s a popular way of amplifying websites to their ultimate three-dimensional potential. A parallax scroll can be achieved through either CSS or JavaScript methods: layers are used to give the illusion of a 3D space. You have to see the Parallax effect at work for yourself to comprehend the unique user experience — check out Old Pulteney’s website featuring Parallax scrolling.
7. Typography
Each year we see shifts in typography trends. Primarily, it’s the growth of font-replacement technology (Cufon, Font Squirrel, or Fontdeck, for example), paired with a bigger, more daring aesthetic, that characterizes the most current typographic tendencies. The influence of traditional print design in the realm of web design is a hot trend as well. More and more websites are typographically driven — the key is to focus on relaying your message, in a highly legible way, through words and images.
8. QR codes
QR, or Quick Response codes are popping up everywhere! They’re on business cards, signs, buses, magazines, and anything else that an owner of a camera-equipped mobile device might need more info about. When users take a photo of the unique barcode with their camera phones, the websites associated with that code will be called up. Featuring this code on your website, your print material, or as your avatar would be a handy way of providing site visitors with a shortcut to your mobile site.
9. Social Media
Social media is a huge marketing tool, but in what way can web design cater to this? Visually, you can incorporate eye-catching social media icons, or even feature live twitter feeds, as many websites now are, to create a sense of intimacy. For businesses, though, the rise of social media demands changes in strategy, more than design aesthetic — it’s absolutely crucial in this era to rely on a separate social media site. This is simply because it’s so much more likely to get people to discover you through Facebook or Twitter than your own separate domain.
Skybox Creative is a brand consultancy with an emphasis on web development and technology solutions. Get in touch today! info@skyboxcreative.com or call us at 619.381.3825