Six+ website design trends for the future

June 14 2015

April 21^st 2015 came; websites were either hip to Google’s new mobile-friendly algorithms or not. You lose if yours is not “responsive.” The 800 lb. gorilla roars again!

What else is new in website design trends for 2015? Designers and developers are pushing out a variety of dynamic, engaging ways of presenting content on the web.

1. Mobile-friendly websites

Just for the record, responsive means your site works well for the viewer no matter what screen size they’re using, but primarily it’s about the user experience on mobile phones. Google decides, of course, so check yours with this Mobile-Friendly Test. Either you pass or you don’t. You drop down in Google’s competitive search rankings if you’re not. So a key website design trend—necessity, even—is to be “responsive.” Google’s Page Speed Test is also relevant to user experience and ranking.

Other website design trends for 2015

We’re ranking the website design trends here based on surveying 10 stories we found Googling on “2015 website design trends.”

Note: The more times a design trend is mentioned in these stories, the higher we ranked it. At the end of this post we’ll have links to all of the articles and you’ll see at least another dozen trends mentioned. You be the judge of which trends add REAL, NEW VALUE to the user experience OR whether they’re just today’s FASHION EXPERIMENTS.

2. Large background images

While every story spotlighted the responsive necessity, what came in second in terms of most mentions was large professional quality large background images that dominate the page. Here’s a link to 36 cool big background website designs and a visual example from Apple.

A variation of the large header image is slow-moving video that does not distract from the message. 3. Emphasis on large typography

Take a look at today’s classic “25 examples of big typography in web design.”

4. Scrolling vs. clicking websites

In the old days it was all about key messages being “above the fold,” meaning what would appear in your browser without scrolling. Now, with people on mobile phones for the first time doing more searches than desktops, scrolling is gaining dominance. Ancient history repeats itself? This also means fewer pages and less loading time, as in this extreme example that is only one long page!

5. Slide-out design websites

Showcasing a dynamic NYC digital design agency, the Rawnet website is an excellent example of slide out pages, as well as both horizontal AND vertical scrolling features. Each page also includes “card” or “tile” design blocks.

6. The ‘hamburger’ menu is everywhere.

Instead of taking up valuable real estate on a page and compromising design, this simplified menu icon often replaces traditional menus and sub-menus. And not just on mobile-friendly sites. More and more you see it on desktops, too, so that menus do not distract from eye-catching design.

7. Split screen website design style

Check out 20 Examples of Vertical Split-screen Layout in Web Design.

8. Card website design style

Take a look at several examples of the card style: “The key is simplicity. A card is seldom complex and its purpose is to entice the user to click through.”

9. Flat website design style

Google Design provides guidelines and tools for this style. Several examples of flat web design here.

Links to 2015 Website Design Trends articles

Since you’re already exploring website options, take a look at our blog post “8 strategies for updating or reImagining your website.”