The Biggest Web Trends of 2015 So Far

2015 has inherited a lot of trends from previous years, there’s been a steady evolution of ideas — Flat Design into Material Design for example — but nothing as revolutionary as Responsive Design.

However, we are starting to see trends that feel fresh, either through new treatments or because they’re genuinely new ways of approaching old problems. The most widespread of these so far, has been the use of patterns in web design.

Patterns serve a variety of purposes, from communicating a brand value, to adding motion to an interface, to enlivening the simple blocks of color that flat design favors. And the use of patterns, although not scientifically categorizable, falls into one of five broad and inter-related categories…

GENERATIVE PATTERNS

The combination of design and code that makes up the Web has meant that it was always going to be a fertile environment for generative art, and designers working with mathematics. From the earliest days of the Web designers were experimenting with particle systems, but in recent months we’ve seen an increasing emphasis on particles existing within a more formal pattern. These geometric patterns are a natural evolution of the form, thanks to the fact that it relies so heavily on design units and code loops.

What’s really new is that, in 2015 we’re increasingly seeing businesses adopt these kinds of pattern as an integral element of their brand.

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, […]

Popular Design News of The Week

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week.
Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that were posted, so don’t miss out and subscribe to our newsletter and follow the site daily for all the news.

What's New For Designers, May 2015

In this month’s edition of what’s new for designers and developers, we’ve included lots of podcasts, design resource directories, lots of web apps, learning resources, productivity resources, new frameworks, APIs, team resources, and much more. And as always, we’ve also included some awesome new free fonts!
Almost everything on the list this month is free, with a few high-value paid apps and tools also included. They’re sure to be useful to designers and developers, from beginners to experts.

If we’ve missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured next month, tweet it to @cameron_chapman to be considered!

Important Web Design Terms

I had originally planned to publish this blog, but I was unsure of how helpful it would actually be. Then I read this article from the LA times. To people like me, that article is absolutely hilarious. However, the gap in understanding of industry terms is something that clearly needs to be addressed to both the general public and our clients. Though we try to avoid over use of these industry terms, sometimes there is no way around it. To help you out, I have put together a list of important words and definitions that will make your life a lot easier during the redesign process. Here is part one of our series on Important Web Design Terms – Basic Web Design Knowledge.

Basic Webpage Elements

  • Content – When we say content, we are generally referring to anything that can live on a page. This includes, but is not limited to, copy, images, graphics, videos, PDFs, Word documents, Excel spread sheets, etc.
  • Header – The top section of the website that contains the main logo and navigation links.
  • Icon – A picture or symbol that appears on a page that is used to represent a specific section, call to action, command, or page of a website. For example, an envelope can be used to represent sending an email. We custom create icons for a lot of our projects so they fit the design perfectly.
  • Footer – The content at the bottom of the page that usually remains universal throughout the entire site. This section usually contains important links, social media, and legal information.
  • Navigation – The links at the top of the website that lead you to the other pages of the website.
  • Parallax Scroll – This is a design technique that allows us to show depth and movement while scrolling. See our design for Specless Media for an example.
  • Section Headers – Not to be confused with THE HEADER, Headers are a block of text on a page that generally signifies a separate section of the site or a call to action. These are usually more prominently displayed that normal copy and are used draw the users attention. We always recommend making these informative and legible.
  • Slider – This is the rotating set of images, messages, and calls to action that generally sit at the top of the page.