We love to push the boundaries with our designs when we can
To inspire you here are some of the website design trends coming through for 2015.
1) Longer scrolling one page sites
I am a fan of the one page site. It’s nice on the tablet and phone. Even better on the new range of iPhone and S and Note series Samsungs. All the information is there for search engine results.
There are some really cool effects available that I can’t wait to use with a willing customer.
2) Storytelling and interaction
These site often work perfectly with the longer scroll it’ll be nice to see some more. Not to much call for them in our business website world. However, I’d love the chance to sneak one through, we would smash it. Example Space Needle Website. Credit to r/webdesign
3) No more headers and large background images
I think this is more about doing the opposite of the current status. Though the background images are rare to see now days. It will be interesting to see if the last after site converstions drop.
4) Removing all non-essential design elements for favour of simplicity
Awesome our style is in fashion. I don’t think this is anything new. But now I believe users are driving this trend a little more. Users are sick of bamboozled and hit of the head when they visit a site. Also site owners realise with less clutter it is easier to control where the user goes and what they see.
5) Full width images and displays
I’m not sure if this is a trend or a whole generation of website designers coming into the responsive age. I consider this a must now rather than a trend.
6) Professional high quality custom photography
I think this is being pushed from developers and designers. Photographers are fairly affordable why have a fantastic looking site with rubbish product pictures. There is just no excuse for it.
7) Flyout/sliderout app-like menus
The side style app type menu would be nice to see more it really is pretty hand for all device users. Lets hope users adapt.
8) Hidden main menus
This sounds like website sucide for my clients. I won’t be recommending it unless its for something uber trendy. I have built some grounding breaking failure websites in my time. The one common factor was getting to tricky. Designers need to remember if a user can’t work it out in seconds they are gone.
9) Very Large Typography
I love this. I hate creating text wall sites and some interesting large fonts just make a site look so client and funky.
10) Performance and Speed
YES YES I’ve been preaching this for over two years hardcore now. No one wants to wait 30 seconds for your site to load on a desktop and forget it on a phone. Users want instant access. Everyone from ISP, Datacenters have been working hard to give you speed. It is there for those who know.
Bonus Google will rank you higher if you faster. Bad point if your slow you will not show on mobile searches in most cases and you will rank below your faster competitors.
Summary
I love that speed is in we have been gearing up for two years. Investing heavily into our own SSD based Servers/datacenters all round the world. This has all been to make our sites the fastest loading and best performance sites out there.
