Website design trends have completely changed over the last ten years, particularly in the way that new sites are conceptualized and then built. Today's user is more adept and web savvy than ever, so old design concepts no longer apply. Designers are ditching the idea of bombarding users with complicated visuals and an overdone aesthetic, and are now choosing clean, efficient and simple designs with focused attention to the details. A lot of this is being accomplished by having a huge emphasis on font selection and typography. Designers are able to get more creative than ever now, because of the improvements to web fonts and the upcoming open web font format (WOFF) specifications.
Simpler aesthetics leads to sites that are highly readable and have deeply intuitive navigation. A lot of the inspiration to simplify has come from designers wanting their site to translate into a great user experience on smart phones and other mobile gadgets. Consideration has been taken in terms of knowing that internet connectivity is often slower and less reliable, and that screen sizes are far too small to properly display complicated site designs. This simple aesthetic design trend will likely be the dominating force going forward. In fact, one could say that its less of a trend, and more of a necessity.
Having a mobile optimized website means that not only will your site load faster for mobile users, but that your site's content will be perfectly formatted for the small screens, making it easier for your users to access and read.
It's extremely important to keep these trends in mind when you are designing, redesigning or choosing a website template. Predictions for this new year have smart phones outselling personal computers. Make sure that your site is ready for this shift.