Four trends that will shape web design in 2018
Today’s digital environment is all about constant accessibility and persistent flow of information, which puts the web-enabled interfaces under exclusive focus. The web-design trends and techniques have evolved massively over a period, and have lifted the web-browsing experience to a whole new level.
The advent of responsive design heralded the notion of mobile-first experience, and as a result, the design of apps and websites became more intuitive and navigable, while the conservative interactions became much more engaging.
There’s seems to be no let up in the evolution of these trends, and with new ideas and concepts pouring in, the designing experts have newer opportunities to explore. However, before they get to conceive the experience of the future, designers would have to improve the conventional methods of interaction. Enumerated below are some of the exciting trends in web design the year 2018 is predicted to have in store.
#1 Improvements in Haptics
Haptics is the tactile sensation an individual experience on touching a touch-screen button of a device such as a smartphone or a tablet. Usually, it’s a slight vibration, which indicates the button has been pressed, imitating the normal tactile response of an actual button. The technology is predicted to get more advanced by 2018.
The advancements are aimed at influencing the user’s behavior through subtle haptic cues, which would prompt the users to tap on the “Buy” button if they have halted on the on a product’s display page. The technology could also employ some pleasant textures to prevent the user from exiting the page.
#2 Advanced Interfaces for New Interactions
Everything we do with our Smartphones, and in turn, with the apps and services installed on it, can be broken down into interactions. For instance, a user is subconsciously engaging micro-interactions as well as micro-mini Interactions while using the LinkedIn app. The user’s action of connecting with an acquaintance is a Micro-interaction, whereas the action of tapping the ‘Connect’ button is a Micro-Mini Interaction.
These interactions offer huge scope for advanced implications and would add to the experience. Designers could integrate more minute receipt and response mechanism under every click, tap, scroll or a pinch to extract subtle feedback for every action, paving the way to consume engagement-rich content.
#3 Unconstrained Designs
The conventional pattern employed in a simple e-commerce grocery portal is to add the items to the cart, buy them, fill the contact details, choose the payment method and make payment. While this step-by-step process sounds simple, the users might feel subjected to constraints as simplicity does not always translate to ease of use.
Hence, an unconstrained interface would get the user’s exploratory instincts into the mix. It would enlist a considerable amount of options at each step, and let the users choose the ones they believe are right for them.
The future design would be about offering maximum agency to the users over their experiences and would honor their instincts and intelligence
#4 Better Workflows
The sophistication and maturity of designing tools can transform into the convergence of dynamic visualizations and highly functional websites. While the dynamic workflows can improve the deliverables, it can also maximize the design team’s flexibility by decreasing the feedback loop. Most companies are already adopting the innovative workflow that can help them improve the communication and coordination among the stakeholders, leading to better results that would explicitly cascade into enhanced user experience.
The newer trends in web design indicate some innovative approach that could dwell along the edge of perfect aesthetics and disruptive compositions. However, the result promises to be radically intense and beautiful. The heavyweights such as Google and Apple would surely play the part with their massive bandwidth and deep pockets, steering the trends to match their convenience and objectives. So, we cannot rule out the trends that are device-driven or just the recycled bits of things that already exist. Either way, the year 2018 could assure yet resurgence in web design with fresh elements that could pave the way for the future trends.