1. The Future of Web Design is Simplicity
Well proportioned whitespace, carefully selected color schemes and elegant typefaces are going to be the key three ingredients to web design perfection in 2017. While not necessarily a design trend, simplicity is where UI and UX design has been moving towards for quite some years now, and the new year promises to make simplicity even more simple.
2. A Minimalistic Year for Print Design
At first glance, minimal design may appear easy. In fact, it takes a master of craft to know how, where, and when to place each element to create an effective template of visual beauty. I highly recommend checking out this guidebook to understand how minimalistic design will influence your next project.
3. Better Usage of Elegant Typography in Video
Simple titles combined with negative space and subtle animation can play a huge part in the video storytelling process. Next year, we will see more videos making use of this undervalued, yet easy to implement, typographical component of videography. Watch out for Youtube’s biggest content developers to see how they are integrating great typo.
4. Material Design Continues to Evolve Beautifully
You have probably already fallen in love with Material Design and the consistent UI it brings to mobile and web applications. Next year, that love affair will continue to grow as material design language will be updated and will continue to evolve into mobile application perfection. It goes without saying that this guide will be your savior when working with material components.
5. Memorable Duotone & Double Exposure Images
The one trend that does typically change from year to year is the style of images used in web design and social media. Colored Duotones, Double Exposures, and movie-style effects have rapidly risen in popularity and that’s not about to change next year. And, there’s no easier way than using Photoshop Actions to add those stunning effects to your images.
6. Microinteractions will Increase Engagement
Carrie Cousins, a great freelance designer has a theory. She says that thanks to all of our digital devices, visiting the web is more than just a reading experience. Interfaces are essential parts of our daily lives, and what makes them work is constant feedback loops. These micro-interactions — from setting an alarm to toggling a Bluetooth device off or on – are what keep users connected to the design. They must be sharp, precise, and do exactly what the user expects (and when they expect it) to make user interfaces engaging on any device. The success of integrated micro-interactions will make or break almost any design.
7. Interactive Email & Embracing Scroll will Dominate Email
Jackie Roberts from the Envato shares that gone is the days where your most important content had to be included “above the fold” to maximize engagement. With a majority of recipients now opening on mobile and increased client support, the scroll will be embraced and drive the use of innovative interactive elements, like parallax. Marketers are always looking for ways to make their emails stand out. So in 2017, we’ll see more and more experimentation with interactivity and long-scroll content.
8. More Chatbots and Windows
Personally, I feel that chatbots and service workers will become a trend that will work as a service to help add a level of personalization to a website designed specifically to aid consumer behavior.
9. Better Google Algorithms
Search will continue to dominate the webspace and while Google introduces more bot architecture to read page CTA’s, marketers are going to need to build better content converting pages. So, it’s time to say goodbye to those annoying dialogues.
10. Do not Ignore Security
HTTPS is a mandate and you will be a fool to ignore it. DDOS vulnerabilities are only going to increase and therefore it makes sense to invest in great backup and redundant systems that take care of attacks. Providing clients with tools to review general and site-specific security issues will be a greater requirement in the near future for web developers, as well as an understanding of what those tools are saying. The web site owner’s administrative experience will be designed with this in mind.