As 2014 draws to a close, it’s time for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses to prepare for the coming year so they can gain a head start over their competition. The same can be said of web designers who want to cut through the job market by preparing for the popular trends of 2015. That said, here are five most important design trends that they should watch out for.
HTML5 videos
Unlike flash-based media and GIF image format that can display animated graphic images but take time to load, HTML5 video is a native media player straight from your web browser that achieves the same things as the file types above but loads at a faster pace. Given that site speed is one of the most important factors in web design, it is best that you acquaint yourself with this fast-rising technology so you can integrate dynamic media into your web pages.
The decline of web design as a service
Designers may have earned a living by creating business websites from the ground up for different clients. However, with premium and easy-to-use website builders that enable non-designers to create a stunning website using their drag and drop feature, the web design profession is no longer as lucrative as it was. Not to mention, soon-to-launch websites like The Grid that uses AI to automatically create a website design for you given the elements you’ve included seem to render web design service obsolete.
The solution? Develop skills to supplement your knowledge in web design. Learn programming, mobile app development, and different online marketing techniques on top of your web design skills to remain competitive in the job market.
Flat design
The minimalist approach that most websites take to accommodate both desktop and mobile viewing has stripped away textures, bubbles, gradients, and other design properties to images and buttons in a page. Due to this mindset, the flat design, which uses a more simplified design look without compromising quality, has become more popular than ever.
Much of a flat web design has to do with the colors used. Instead of using colors from the color wheels, creating a flat design requires people to choose a primary color and mixing it with black and grey to achieve different hues which will then be used for the text, link, headers, and others. To better understand this approach, you can refer to Flat UI Colors and Flat UI Design as resources to see the kinds of colors you can use to achieve a flat look for your web design.
Related: 10 HTML 5 Video Players
CSS3
While most features in this style sheet language is still in development, CSS3 is something to keep an eye on as you start working on your next design projects. However, unlike the upgrades and new features made with CSS2 as opposed to its previous version, the changes in CSS3 work differently. While there are plans to add new text formatting features such as text shadow and multiple column properties, CSS3 also enhances existing properties such as border radius, multiple backgrounds, and more.
Again, some of the features as of now are not compatible across all browsers, so it’s best that you oversee the development of this language until all features come to full use. For now, here are some CSS3 commands that you can use for your website.
Awesome hosting
Websites tend to cut corners by choosing run on the mill hosting service providers just so they can save a few bucks. This will come back biting them in rear especially if their websites keep experiencing downtime due to overload in traffic and a host of other excuses made by their shoddy hosting.
While paying for a premium hosting, in particular a dedicated hosting services like the ones offered at 34SP.com, has been an option ever since, this doesn’t mean websites are taking heed of this issue. Simply put, you will need to get a head start with choosing a great hosting providers to prevent technical difficulties from happening with your site, which then lets you lose customers and damage your brand.
