PLOP!!!
That was the sound of my car keys falling into the toilet bowl of my favourite cafe.
It was New Year’s day. I was slightly worse for wear after a very “festive” evening the night before. I stood there in shock staring at the toilet bowl which contained my keys. Then instinct kicked in. I launched my hand in after it and grabbed it.
After a 5 minutes of scrubbing my hands, I sheepishly walked back out to the car on the street and with baited breath pressed the unlock button.
Beep, Beep.
You little ripper! They weren’t water damaged. I would be able to drive home to nurse my hangover in peace.
The gods had been kind. After all, it could have been my new phone that had fallen in the toilet. Perspective is a wonderful thing.
Not the way I wanted to start the New Year, but hey, it could have been worse. I couldn’t have predicted fishing around in a toilet bowl.
Speaking of predictions, here are some that are emerging in the web design world for 2016.
Zing! See that segway? So damn smooth. Here are the predictions:
ANIMATION
Gone are the days of boring blocks of text. Presenting content is about rich story telling. Enter interesting animations. And no, we aren’t talking about Flash (remember that!). We are referring to slick jQuery style animations (scripting).
Animations work really well as they grab the user’s attention through movement. The key is to use them subtly and minimally without overdoing it. These may take the shape in the form of:
- Loading animations
- Hover effects
- Motion as the user scrolls through the page. Load on scroll content animation
- Video background animation loops (check out our homepage)
The key is interaction and differentiation of elements/content. Getting a user interacting with the interface so they are guided to specific information or a certain call to action.
MOBILE FIRST DESIGN
Mobile phone internet penetration is running at around 56% (and growing rapidly). Designing for an easy mobile experience is imperative. This means:
- Simplifying navigation to only focus on a few key actions
- Using navigation such as the “hamburger” menu to remove clutter
- Big fat bold buttons
- Quick load times
- Embarrassing vertical space and not being afraid to scroll
It is all about the user experience. Don’t make it hard as users will move on as quick as you can say “hey siri”.
CUSTOM ILLUSTRATION, ICONOGRAPHY & BOLD COLOURS
Also tying into the “storytelling theme” is illustration & iconography. The great thing about custom illustration is it gives the site that handcrafted effect making the site unique and giving it a real personal touch. One thing to note with custom illustration is that if you are going to do it, do it right, approach a professional illustrator/designer who has a solid portfolio of work, the last thing you want to do is slap together some flimsy drawings of cats and fireworks thinking that this will do the trick.
Custom icons are also great way of having a big of fun. With the abundance of icon kits out there, it has never been so easy to get your icon on. Instead of being so literal with your iconography, mix it up. Make the user think and try to put a smile on their dial 🙂
Taking the lead from fashion, bold colours and saturated gradients are making a resurgence also. Think rainbows of bright fluoro 80’s legwarmers and you are on the right track.
IN SUMMARY
Design is ever changing and websites are no different. The key here is to be bold and creative yet focused on user friendly conversion focused layout.
Is there such a thing? We think so.