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The web is an dynamic, organic being. It evolves as people do, responding to trends in blogging and design by constantly raising the bar. With millions of bloggers out there, we see constant evolutions of the next design trend.
Here are some of my favorite recent trends in web design. Although the examples listed here may not be the orginator of the trend, they are the first to catch my eye.
The design trend associated with Web 2.0 is actually multiple trends rolled into one.
I’ve often said, a designer who can pull off a simplistic design is just as talented as the one that can create a super-complex one. That is because a simple design is more than just leaving elements out. It is about balancing design, carefully choosing colors and typography, and expertly integration navigation and content to create an effective and smooth design.
Orginally, web designs included a header, with a logo and a content section, with the content. Recently, designers are pushing the limits by incorporating colors, logos, branding, messaging and graphics throughout the entire site, not just the header.
Web designers are putting much more thought into typography. There are many resources popping up to pick a typography set. Once upon a time, designs included an h1, h2, and p style. Now some designs include dozens of different font stylings.
Along with designing simpler sites, designers are exploring ways to keep content on one page. In portfolios, showcases or simple informational sites, developers are looking for ways to put all content on page one so the readers sees it all without having to click through anywhere. The example below you will recognized as Twitter. As arguably one of the top 5 sites on the web, everything you need to know about Twitter is located on the front page.
You know AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML), it is that cool interaction when you click something on a site and it changes, without reloading. This is a huge advancement in web design technology and allows users to get the content they desire without moving about the site. Most major publishing platforms have integrated AJAX into their codex. The leader is easily seen in all the WordPress AJAX plugins.
Advances in compression technology, increased internet access speeds have allowed designers to grow the size and quality of images they use in new designs. This makes for an appealing and graphically pleasing design.
Strategically using dropshadows, angles and overlaps, designers have added a 3rd dimension to web design that was previously limited to 2 dimensions. Using these techniques, designers are able to draw user attention to specific areas consistent with the goals of the site. Perhaps conversion forms, twitter buttons or featured content.
Designers are adding overarching themes like grunge, retro, whimsical, etc. These themes tie together all elements of a design and give the user a feeling of continuity, adding to the overall experience.
Designers have realized that themes should be designed for a specific purpose such as magazine, portfolio, green, blogging, etc. Designing for a purpose allows the designer and webmaster to focus on function and not generalize the design so it can be used across multiple different sites.
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Cyrus Patten is a community consultant, university instructor and social worker in Burlington, VT. He is the editor of Pingable.org, a blog about Wordpress plugins, themes and tools.
Monday, September 12th, 2011 03:15
I use web 2.0 finished.
Friday, November 26th, 2010 20:43
Great article you have here with great designs. Thanks for sharing :)
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 11:36
Thanks for the article and interesting collection.
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 17:52
Nice Designs thanks.
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 06:46
Hi, this article give us inspiration to improve our theme design. Thanks for share
Monday, February 8th, 2010 21:12
web 2.0 finished,
welcome to web 3.0 ;)
this is thank you.. :)
Sunday, February 7th, 2010 20:16
Web 3.0 is going to be brilliant. I’m starting to look at AJAX as well! I still can’t believe that there are a lot of sites that are still distinctly Web 1.0!?!?!?!?!
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 02:55
Great, thanks for sharing.
Friday, February 5th, 2010 22:08
IEMAI was the best… A very Nice Concept… Really Cool… Everythings Nice and great!!! :X
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 18:52
Thank you! Great to see your appreciation for this research! Thanks to Cyrus!
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 15:41
Coming from a web design company myself we are getting more customers wanting blogs for their sites or want us to re-design their existing. Seeing these blogs have given us some great ideas for our future customers. Thanks.
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 02:33
From what I can tell as far as trends for 2010 go the concentration seems to be on two main things:
- Nice big headers that are pretty, but more importantly, functional.
- Ample use of whitespace to promote clarity
I’m not sure the content here describes trends as such, but they sure are a nice collection of inspiring designs.
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 01:03
Very great overview! I personally like the simple and typography stuff as todays trends. Like designwise, grafik and sanguine. Keep it up!
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 16:22
I guess it depends on how you define trends. What you describe here are random observations of the past. Any possible trends happened years ago. The Web 2.0 look and feel was a trend overt two years ago.
This article stats the obvious and provides no insight and little value. Your title must have been created for SEO purposes as it has all of the buzz words – 2010, trends, etc. although your content does not deliver.
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 18:55
Hey, good point though you should agree it’s hard to define what’s really new in Year 2010, because big trends will stay all the time, they just will change – for example web 2.0 is staying more subtle, but trend as name is still staying.
This article tries to define and show some new and subtle changes which could be interesting to notice.
I am sorry if you were expecting more than you received. We definitely try our best to deliver.
Monday, February 1st, 2010 23:12
i like the designs you showcased. but in one point i disagree. web 2.0 is – imho – much more than just a “design trend” or how a website looks. it’s the whole concept of interaction between creator and consumer, which changed the web to version 2.0, not only the look and feel of it.
Monday, February 1st, 2010 13:50
Interesting post about web design trend.
Monday, February 1st, 2010 13:14
Nice showcase!
a lot of inspiration
Monday, February 1st, 2010 12:59
I thought that I will experience something interesting over the list of design trend 2010.
Monday, February 1st, 2010 12:20
Nice overview, but all of them were already trends in 2009. So we have to see, if something “new” is coming into 2010?
Monday, February 1st, 2010 10:58
thanks… :)
Monday, February 1st, 2010 00:32
I would make a prominent place for white space usage. Designer are exploring and using white space more effectively than ever. Just take a look at Drawar, Andy Ruthledge’s Design View, Astheria and 52 Weeks of UX.
Sunday, January 31st, 2010 02:00
I love the depth and perception example; I’ve never seen that done before. It would look amazing in a nice deep colored blue IMHO.
Sunday, January 31st, 2010 02:29
While I agree with most of your points (especially typography, large images, and depth/perspective), the web 2.0 arena has warn it’s welcome. If anything, simplistic designs with the trends you described are replacing it.
Saturday, January 30th, 2010 23:03
I see the glossy/shiny graphics element of 2.0 starting to fade away. Now when i come across a site with big glossy icons, i find it tacky. Thought this is strange, since just a couple years ago it seemed that it was a necessary element of your design. While i still feel glossy is good in some cases, it’s getting a lot more subtle than it used to be back when the 2.0 craze started.
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Matthew Heidenreich
Saturday, January 30th, 2010 23:03
I see the glossy/shiny graphics element of 2.0 starting to fade away. Now when i come across a site with big glossy icons, i find it tacky. Thought this is strange, since just a couple years ago it seemed that it was a necessary element of your design. While i still feel glossy is good in some cases, it’s getting a lot more subtle than it used to be back when the 2.0 craze started.
Serge
Monday, February 1st, 2010 13:14
Nice showcase!
a lot of inspiration
sarbartha
Monday, February 1st, 2010 12:59
I thought that I will experience something interesting over the list of design trend 2010.
insic
Monday, February 1st, 2010 13:50
Interesting post about web design trend.
Claudio Rimann
Monday, February 1st, 2010 23:12
i like the designs you showcased. but in one point i disagree. web 2.0 is – imho – much more than just a “design trend” or how a website looks. it’s the whole concept of interaction between creator and consumer, which changed the web to version 2.0, not only the look and feel of it.
Andrew M
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 16:22
I guess it depends on how you define trends. What you describe here are random observations of the past. Any possible trends happened years ago. The Web 2.0 look and feel was a trend overt two years ago.
This article stats the obvious and provides no insight and little value. Your title must have been created for SEO purposes as it has all of the buzz words – 2010, trends, etc. although your content does not deliver.
Dainis Graveris
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 18:55
Hey, good point though you should agree it’s hard to define what’s really new in Year 2010, because big trends will stay all the time, they just will change – for example web 2.0 is staying more subtle, but trend as name is still staying.
This article tries to define and show some new and subtle changes which could be interesting to notice.
I am sorry if you were expecting more than you received. We definitely try our best to deliver.
Anggayasha
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 15:16
Yes, web with large image quite popular for now.
jeprie
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 05:19
Nice article. I really agree with the one page trend.
Webstandard-Blog
Monday, February 1st, 2010 12:20
Nice overview, but all of them were already trends in 2009. So we have to see, if something “new” is coming into 2010?
Ian Devlin
Monday, February 1st, 2010 19:51
Interesting list, thanks for that.
Mark
Sunday, January 31st, 2010 02:00
I love the depth and perception example; I’ve never seen that done before. It would look amazing in a nice deep colored blue IMHO.
Kevin
Sunday, January 31st, 2010 02:29
While I agree with most of your points (especially typography, large images, and depth/perspective), the web 2.0 arena has warn it’s welcome. If anything, simplistic designs with the trends you described are replacing it.
Nijiko Yonskai
Sunday, January 31st, 2010 13:51
I like the simple :<
Theo
Monday, February 1st, 2010 02:14
Very interesting.
Thank you for this article!
ferizaenal
Monday, February 1st, 2010 10:58
thanks… :)
Cher Cabula
Monday, February 1st, 2010 15:08
Great Read! Thanks for sharing!
Vladimir Remenar
Monday, February 1st, 2010 00:32
I would make a prominent place for white space usage. Designer are exploring and using white space more effectively than ever. Just take a look at Drawar, Andy Ruthledge’s Design View, Astheria and 52 Weeks of UX.
Web Design Maidstone
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 21:49
Some really nice insights
AnggaRifandi
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 14:20
Thanks for this great article and resources :)
SM
Saturday, February 13th, 2010 01:13
Nice collection. Thanks
wien
Friday, February 12th, 2010 15:50
very nice article, thanks
KARTHIK KUMAR
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 17:52
Nice Designs thanks.
Eduardo Inácio
Monday, September 12th, 2011 03:15
I use web 2.0 finished.
Kimecn
Friday, November 26th, 2010 20:43
Great article you have here with great designs. Thanks for sharing :)
Clea Walford
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 11:36
Thanks for the article and interesting collection.
Eko Setiawan
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 06:46
Hi, this article give us inspiration to improve our theme design. Thanks for share
Duvvar Design
Monday, February 8th, 2010 21:12
web 2.0 finished,
welcome to web 3.0 ;)
this is thank you.. :)
Kris Harris
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 15:41
Coming from a web design company myself we are getting more customers wanting blogs for their sites or want us to re-design their existing. Seeing these blogs have given us some great ideas for our future customers. Thanks.
Josh Kohlbach
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 02:33
From what I can tell as far as trends for 2010 go the concentration seems to be on two main things:
- Nice big headers that are pretty, but more importantly, functional.
- Ample use of whitespace to promote clarity
I’m not sure the content here describes trends as such, but they sure are a nice collection of inspiring designs.
website ontwerp
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 01:03
Very great overview! I personally like the simple and typography stuff as todays trends. Like designwise, grafik and sanguine. Keep it up!
Dainis Graveris
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 18:52
Thank you! Great to see your appreciation for this research! Thanks to Cyrus!
David Ingledow
Sunday, February 7th, 2010 20:16
Web 3.0 is going to be brilliant. I’m starting to look at AJAX as well! I still can’t believe that there are a lot of sites that are still distinctly Web 1.0!?!?!?!?!
agel
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 02:55
Great, thanks for sharing.
Edward Julio B. Tuppil
Friday, February 5th, 2010 22:08
IEMAI was the best… A very Nice Concept… Really Cool… Everythings Nice and great!!! :X