6 Website Design Trends That You’ll See in 2014

In my last blog post I highlighted 3 digital “essentials” that your website must have in 2014. My post was more focused on SEO and talked about structured data, content and responsive design. This week I wanted to open up the conversation a little further so I had some fellow designers and developers at PadillaCRT weigh in on what they thought would be hot in 2014. Here’s what they said:

Predictive Behavior Targeting

The idea is to supply the user with contextual/mobile recommendations that are relevant and not annoying like old-school cookie tracking ads. It’s smarter: When you arrive somewhere new, we tell you what you need to know (like the best thing to order or a money-saving special), even if you don’t open the app.

Behavior Targeting Examples:Foursquare for ios7, Google Now


Infinite Scrolling

Pagination is not required anymore, and content is loaded “on-demand.” By loading content on-demand eliminates the need to reload the same resources over and over.

Scrolling Examples:Pintrest, Lexus: Amazing in Motion


Flat Design

Simple less graphic heavy but not less graphical. Using HTML 5 & CSS 3 you can have more stylized content without relying on images to accomplish it. With less images being used to build a website, the content becomes much more modular and flexible allowing for larger type and more legible layouts or more involved layout options like parallax scrolling and responsive design.


Written Content will be “King”

Over it’s relatively short lifetime the Web has gone through major changes, some on the level of the extinction of a species. From a time of huge constraints on design and virtually no typographic control, the Web has become a visual playground. But, it was back in 1996 that Bill Gates stated “content is king” and it seems the world is turning upside down again. We’re now used to seeing excellent photography and videos delivering content. But, the one area of content that has lagged has been the written word. Design can be visually attractive but it ultimately fails if the written content poor. Too few sites are not telling a story. Too few sites are treating the written word as an afterthought, something to plug into the design. Images have been addressed; typography has been addressed; for 2014 the written word will be addressed.


Visual Based Content

Adding and image to your content can make all the difference. Photographs and infographics not only make content more interesting they make content more viral. As social media outlets like Instgram and Pinterest gain more steam you won’t just want to include visuals you will need to include them.


Color of the Year

Pantone is THE trusted standard for color accuracy and consistency in the design world. Recently, Radiant Orchid was announced as Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2014. It’s a huge shift from last year’s pick, Emerald. This color will have influences in many different industries like fashion, beauty, home décor and beyond. For any designer, color selection is an extremely important part of the design process. Knowing the “it” color and the latest color trends can inspire new ideas for upcoming projects and open the door to new color considerations.


Bonus: 6 Tech Trends for 2014

Get all the info on these tech trends.

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