We’re officially into spring (hooray!), and with the first part of 2014 behind us, now is a great time to look at some of 2014’s biggest web design trends. As a professional web design and web development company, we’re often thinking about and analyzing these sorts of things, but this list is not intended to be comprehensive or scientific, it’s simply a look at what we feel are three of 2014’s biggest web design trends.
Here goes…
Mobile Responsive
If your website is not optimized for mobile, you may be missing out. With the ever-increasing popularity of smart phones, tablets and other handheld devices more and more people are surfing the web via a mobile device. For example, here are some key mobile statistics from 2013:
- There are over 1.2 billion people accessing the web from their mobile devices
- Global mobile traffic now accounts for 15% of all internet traffic
- One in three mobile searches have local intent versus one in five on desktops
(Source)
We could go on and on, and of course, this isn’t breaking news. Mobile growth and the development of Responsive Web Design or RWD have all been big stories over the last few years, but crucially, mobile use is here to stay and in all likelihood going to continue to rise at a fast pace, which means a mobile friendly site is becoming increasingly important for all businesses and organizations.
Indochino.com is a great example of a RWD site:
Big, Beautiful Images Front and Centre
Presenting large visually appealing images front and centre on a site is a growing trend. Expected to continue in 2014, this is a way of presenting users with something striking, enticing and memorable. It is effective for (and at least partly popular because of) RWD and the minimalist trend.
The official Guns N’ Roses website features this trend:
Minimalism
Clean, minimalist design is another trend that has been gaining in popularity over the last few years. Mobile usage is certainly a factor in this, as a site has to be easy to navigate on both mobile and desktop. A minimalist design is a way of achieving this. We expect the focus on minimalism to be around for the foreseeable future.
Createthebridge.com has a minimalist design:
Of course, the goals of every website are different. At Media Button, we build websites that are specifically tuned to the wants and needs of each specific client. Whatever your web needs, we’ll work with you to provide you with an effective solution. If you have any questions or would like to talk about your web design/development needs, please contact us.
