Things on the internet move fast, especially when it comes to website design trends.
Here are a few top web design trends to watch for this year:
- Be careful using stock photos. Not every school can debut a new website that doesn’t contain one or two stock photos in the design. But, the key to deploying stock photography responsibly is to save it for more generic uses (i.e., a background landscape). When possible, use photos of your actual campus, classrooms, and student body.
- Bold and highly saturated color. Design trends are pointing toward brighter, bolder colors, and schools are following along. Don’t abandon your favorite navy tone altogether, but try integrate a more eye-catching color in your navigation bar or as a font color in your headers.
- Better use of typography.A change of typography in a logo or in website content copy can improve the look of an entire website. Choosing typography and Internet fonts is an art, which is why it may be best to consult with a designer. But, for a quick refresher on typography best practices, click here.
- Long Scroll. In the good old days of web design, you were supposed to place all important information above the fold. (The fold means the area of a website that can be viewed from your browser without having to scroll.) But with the rise of smartphones and mobile browsers, the public has become accustomed to infinite scrolling. Responsive websites that have a long scroll, even when viewed on a computer browser, are good at luring users through strategic storytelling.
- Continued use of flat design. Flat design is a design style that embraces minimalism. The design tends to be cleaner, with fewer, but bolder colors. For an example, check out how Google made the transition to flat design below. (Old logo on the left, new logo on the right).
