While the vibrancy and diversity of the online landscape is ever-changing, remember that website development itself is not the end product. Rather, it is an asset through which people connect, products may be presented, and opportunities may be afforded, to present a useful tool or service.

The web design team at Cosmick Media can boldly push the limits of imagination and human interaction, and hopes to do so globally – considering the full spectrum of options and possibilities available on the internet today. We’re already seeing edgier industries, such as creative agency websites, get in front and capitalize on the possibilities, and soon, others will join suit.

Let’s take a look at some of Cosmick Media’s hottest web design trends – trends that are maximizing new opportunities and innovation, thereby revolutionizing the concept of the modern website.

1.  Go Big or Go Home

Two web design trends emerging from the “Make it big” concept include the “Cinematic” and “Book Cover” experience. The Cinematic experience has been inspired by the flavor of movie and television advertising, while the Book Cover concept gives the feel of the classic printed book or glossy catalog cover.

If you were to single out perhaps the most important principle of web design being used in the online world today, it would be “make it big.” Many people may find this concept daunting, especially for a homepage where the initial message and impression is key. This bold concept consists of just a few words splashed across a video or image, typically above the fold.

The navigation may even be removed, or it may be hidden in a very small icon so as not to detract from the appearance.

The “make it big” concept has proven easy to code for both mobiles and desktop monitors, as the layout remains unchanged regardless of the size of the display, making this concept practical for virtually any website. When a user visits the site, “make it big” is designed to have maximum impact – a true visual experience.

Improved high speed technology, combined with ever increasing access to high quality images, has brought the “make it big” concept into vogue and allowed websites to take the Book Cover layouts to a whole new level. The Cinematic trend, which relies on full screen video or images with a selection of a few key words or elements laid atop of it is also showing broad-based appeal and design innovation.

2.  Cosmick Media Loves Challenging the Parallax View

The parallax effect allows users to scroll smoothly through transitions within a page without the need to click on something. Websites gain a unique feel from hand drawn animations which tend to keep the user’s attention.

Further, scrolling animations provide a subtle form of user interaction. Our web designers can utilize page scrolling or mouse motions as a way to animate properties or page elements.

We have seen many mutations of the parallax effect concept, but one thing remains constant – web designers can use scrolling or mouse movement for animation of a webpage’s properties or elements. Cosmick Media’s web designers can use A CSS sprite technique, which is both unique and

engaging, integrated with what might otherwise might be a fairly straightforward design.

3.  Redefining Multimedia

While, on the surface, the concept of the multimedia experience has grown quite stale, it remains a top choice of Cosmick Media’s web designers and programmers, who constantly seek to bring something new to the table, thereby offering something more than the typical multimedia experience.

While Flash was introduced as the platform for the multimedia concept some time ago, the current rage is the HTML5 element which is allowing our web designers to create nearly any visual effect imaginable.

4.  The Pages of a Storybook

The animated storybook effect allows an animated sequence to begin when the user reaches a pre-defined scroll position. In an effect reminiscent to storybook fashion, a few elements slide gracefully into the page, or begin to appear through a fade-in effect. The use of JavaScript and lightweight SVG allows the  modern website to utilize visual metaphors to show the user how their product works using the animated storybook effect. Aside from great ideas and outstanding animation, some of these websites are noteworthy for being achieved within a 1.5 MB page weight, comparable to even a single JS library.

5.  Flat Design

While offering nothing particularly flashy, flat design speaks to the concept of less is more. This popular design is a mainstay in the toolbox of any web design company like Cosmick Media, and can be especially valuable for smaller elements such as menus, illustrations, and icons. The elements not only look great, they are easily managed and scaled through the use of

icon font technology. Online services such icomoon.io allow users to design their own icon fonts in a manner that is easy and free of charge.

Flat designs are in fact not required to be flat. Cosmick Media’s website developers can incorporate subtle textures, gradients, and photos to achieve interesting effects. We are familiar with the imitation of objects through skeuomorphic technique. An example of this is using an icon for a photo album that looks like a leather-bound photo album. Flat design can create a visual concept of a photo album that is catchy and fun and works well in any size. This trend mixes easily with other visual styles and there is a trend toward flat design becoming more collage-like.

6.  Widgets for Navigation

Web designers have favored playing with navigation for some time and the interest perhaps peaked when websites primarily utilized Flash. As the popularity of Flash declined, web designers turned to less busy menus with an absence of eccentric interaction and animation. The potential for new web design styles and the ever increasing inefficiency of the use of existing navigation models across multiple platforms has spawned edgier forms of navigation. As Java has continued to evolve, JavaScript allowed a more consistent interpretation of modern CSS across all popularly used browsers, such as Firefox and Chrome. Cosmick Media is offering popular new navigation trends, putting a new spin on some widely used models. It continues to raise the bar on how we think of modern web design.

7.  Breaking the Box

No one wants to be put in a box, and web designers are no exception. Creative marketing agencies are always looking for a way to think outside the box, or in this case, the rectangle. The frame for web design has always been the rectangle, congruent to the shape of the user’s monitor. HTML elements are also set up as rectangles.

Ever desiring to be forward thinkers, web designers have created three new strategies to unbox them from the traditional rectangle, and all three strategies seem to be gaining a foothold in the industry. Web designers are creating page layouts without regard for the rectangle. Instead, they are utilizing irregular shapes, circles, hexagons, and even the occasional rhombus.

8.   Creating Tiles

For those who prefer the comfort zone of the rectangle, consider structuring your content by creating tiles. While the Windows 8 Metro interface did not prove a huge success, tiles in web design have fared much better. Tiles not only form an impressive and visually appealing layout, they also work very well in responsive layouts. Using tiles allows you to push the envelope by using irregular zigzag edges, bringing text across the edges, and pushing objects.

9.   The Sticky Menu

Sticky menus expand a submenu for each menu option as you scroll. This design works well for a one pager heavy with content, and sticky menus have become the standard for this style of website. The one pager is a single, scrollable page and allows the sticky menu to remain on the top or edge of the screen as you scroll. Sticky menus may be easily combined with scrollspy script which can create a widget to show the user their position on the page, which can be invaluable with long menus.

10.   Google Map Integration

Google Map integration is a trend that has been taking off for some time, and thanks to the available customization options provided by Google, it’s become quite visually interesting and appealing. Cosmick Media has been building functionality and visuals around the popular map concept, adjusting for the desired page look and feel.

11.   Cosmick Media Puts Typography at the Forefront

Content, being such a critical piece of any web design, necessitates an emphasis on typography. Dominating in current trends are simple yet bold elements with large images. Responsive typography, which enable users to clearly view and read text on any platform improves with new advances and has gained much traction with the web designers. No longer limited to Google fonts, any web design company has access to web-kits which allow greater typographic flexibility in their theme design.

12.   The Ghost Button

A favorite element of web designers in recent times, the ghost button is visually appealing, minimal, and classy. It calls user’s attention in a subtle fashion. Transparent, with a basic shape and bordered with a thin line, the button typically contains a light colored sans serif font. While they are typically larger than standard buttons, still they seem to merge seamlessly with the website. This popular trend continues to grow.

13.   Microinteractions

A microinteraction refers to a contained, single use experience by a website user. An excellent example of microinteraction is signing up for an email service, such as Gmail. Other examples include setting up a password, “liking” something, or setting up a login and password.

Microinteractions allow users to accomplish a single task, connect devices together, adjust a setting, or create a small piece of data, such as a status message. A well-oiled microinteraction should be seamless – virtually invisible to the user. As the popularity of microinteractions grow, expect to see improved sophistication and usefulness.

14.   The Mashup Interface

The popularity of one-pagers has created a need to fit a lot of information and functionality onto a single page with a clean look and easy navigation. It needs to be creative, user friendly, and visually pleasing. The solution may be the mashup interface, which is a layout which consists of layers that adjust per requested functionality of content. This style has been around for a while, but has seen increased popularity as it has become more functional and refined.

15.   Keeping them Waiting in Style

While website load times today are significantly improved over the days the 56k modem when www was often referred to as “world wide wait,” even with faster network speeds, we are experiencing some load time due to such things as using HD video for a website background. Web designers have found a way to at least bring some visual appeal to those few seconds of wait time via the use of artistic graphical pre-loaders. These could include a progress bar, a dial, a button indicating the percentage of progress, or even a ticking stopwatch. Graphical pre-loaders have become popular as something designed to engage and distract the user from the brief moment spent loading the page.

16.   A Little Humor Goes a Long Way

Micro UX is but a small piece in a design and is focused on a single task. They are designed to create unique and interesting experiences for the user and often offer a little bit of humor in unexpected places. It ultimately can make a website feel a little more human. One such example of the use of Micro UX may be in a field where a user has been asked to enter a name. Upon entering a first name, “Hey there!” may pop up from the right side of the first name field. Upon entering the last name, “Nice name!” may pop up from the right side of the last name field. While a small gesture, it is

one that resonates with users for its attempt to inject a little levity into what may otherwise be a rather boring and mundane process.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, remember content remains the number one issue in website design. However, we must acknowledge that the above trends are likely to significantly impact how we design websites moving forward. While there is a tendency to focus on the new and trendy for aesthetic appeal, we must key in on keeping the basics such as concept, navigation, flow planning, wire framing, and copy writing flawless. We will never be afraid to broaden your world by trying new techniques, however, we will always keep it tight with the basics.