The effective web designing trends of 2018

1. An Increase in One-Page Website Designs

For the uninitiated, there are two main types of websites: multi-page affairs, and one-page setups. The traditional approach to building a website is to put each topic on its own page. This makes sense for the majority of websites. However, given the evolution of the way people read the web, there is a strong case to be made for cutting down content to a bare minimum, in order to improve conversion rates.

An ever increasing number of users favor browsing the net on their mobile devices as opposed to their desktop computers. Therefore, web design approaches that favor ease-of-scrolling – while also ensuring that navigation hyperlinks don’t introduce usability issues – are increasingly coming to the fore.

This means that individual pages are out, and concise, scrollable sections are in – i.e. one-page web designs. Ultimately, you’ll want to structure a one-page site similarly to a landing page, although there’s more scope for creative ‘ordering’. While you’ll still probably want to add a Call To Action (CTA) at the very top and a contact form at the bottom, your information will typically be arranged based on how your sales funnel is built.

2. Inventive typography 

Typography is powerful and the bigger the better. So while neo-grotesque sans-serif styles like Helvetica remain in vogue, designers are branching out, turning to the huge variety of typefaces available. The fact that device resolutions are getting sharper, amping up the legibility factor, is also opening the door for a rise in custom fonts. “Designers are opting for typography with tons of personality not only for emphasis, but also for aesthetic effect. All of this, plus the drama afforded by oversized typefaces, goes to show that 2018 will not all be about subtlety, and we can expect to see bold trends continue to develop.”

3. The Decline of the Flash Protocol

It’s been a long and infuriating ride, but we’re finally rid of Flash: a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) killer that many computers struggle to run. This Adobe-developed standard protocol has been a staple for at least 15 years and has been frequently used when sites needed to display animations. However, once Google decided to cut its ties with Flash in favor of the quicker and leaner HTML5, there was essentially no going back.
At its core, HTML5 is a web development language (as you’re no doubt aware). However, it also gives you the ability to create high-quality animations with ease. This change means that your animations can now be optimized for search engines, run on a vast majority of computers, and provide many other benefits that Flash didn’t.

Your first step for updating your animations with HTML5 should be to port over any preexisting Flash elements, and Adobe themselves have offered a tool for the job in Animate CC. We’d also recommend leaning on sites such as Stack Overflow heavily if you’re unsure how to proceed, as many have already made the switch and are willing to help you do the same. Finally, Google has its Web Designer tool, which enables you to create high-quality HTML5 ads from a user-friendly interface.

4. Playful illustration

We’ve been seeing a lot more illustration on websites in 2018, and that’s no coincidence. “Brands want to stand out and illustrations are a fabulous way to inject personality into a website,” says Morr.

“They are visually engaging without getting in the way of functionality and simplicity; illustrations come in infinite shapes, sizes, styles, and are a dynamic element to look out for in 2018.This trend isn’t only about being whimsical, though. “Illustrations can be extremely practical ways of presenting or explaining information. Nobody wants a boring website, and custom drawings are a human touch that can breathe life into otherwise dry content.

"The marketplace is saturated and competitive, and web design needs to strike a balance between personality and functionality; illustrations are the perfect way to showcase who you are"

5. The Increasing Importance of Push Notifications

Push notifications are definitely becoming more prominent, and there are many sites that now incorporate them into their designs. Essentially, push notifications provide a way for sites to notify you when new content is available, without requiring you to check your email or browse to the site in question. They’re a great passive engagement tool that can help you bolster traffic without doing a lot of outreach, especially when they’re activated for mobile devices.

However, given that WordPress has a plugin for everything, you won’t be surprised to learn that there are simpler alternatives.

6. A Rise in the Popularity of Progressive Web Apps

The penultimate trend we’re going to look at is progressive web apps. These are standard web apps consisting of regular web pages, which are designed to look like native mobile applications. The goal of using them is to combine the benefits of both desktop and mobile devices while negating the drawbacks.

Google does a good job of laying out the fundamentals you need to understand about these apps. Ultimately, progressive web apps offer a lot of benefits in terms of speed, security, usability, and offline access. What’s more, while regular web apps require a middleman in the form of an app store, progressive web apps don’t.

This is admittedly a higher-level concept, and implementing it is not a simple task for beginner developers.

7. The evolution of AI

Artificial intelligence is no longer a matter for sci-fi. AI has already worked its way into mainstream web design, through technologies like conversational interfaces (chatbots).

‘Artificial narrow intelligence’ (ANI) is already hard at work powering voice assistants like Google Home and Apple’s Siri. It also runs recommendation technologies for the likes of Amazon, Spotify and Netflix, not to mention smart home devices, self-driving cars and chatbots.

“As people become more accustomed to interacting with bots, we are seeing a rise in the use of conversational interfaces in design,” says Jim Bowes, CEO and Founder of Manifesto. “Looking forward, machine learning and AI will be introduced into many of the systems we interact with over the next couple of years.

“As a medium, design will adapt to this in a number of ways,” he predicts. “In some cases it will aim to demonstrate artificial intelligence, and sometimes design will work to make AI seem natural and invisible. I think we will see a large amount of design that will seek to demonstrate greater intelligence when, in actual fact, no true AI is being used. This will often be achieved by making better use of context in digital journeys.”