Web Design Trends for 2008
Nick La of Web Designer Wall posted a list of popular web design trends for 2008. Although trends certainly overlap from year to year, and some take years to disappear, here's my list of design concepts I think typify the look of 2008.
1. Landscape Layouts
More and more I see web sites structurally contained in illustrative landscapes. On Kulturbanause, a German web designer's site, the layout is an enormous monolith intersecting a waterfall. Adit Shukla's portfolio site has a similar waterfall - this time set against the scenery of the American southwest. Others have put their sites on beaches, cliffs, and icebergs.
2. Brown
I'm a big fan of brown. When I saw the launch of Pownce I was humbled and awed but its ample use of brown. It hasn't been popular since the 70s but I can safely say that brown, with appropriate secondary colors, is the new black.
3. Gradient Grunge
Gradient Grunge is a term coined by Sean Hodge. The style encompasses collage and texture and hand-writing fonts - it's pretty much about a designer going ape-shit in Photoshop and vomiting it up in CSS. Think visual Juno.
4. Glowing Rainbow Backgrounds
Perhaps an offshoot of the Gradient grunge look, your site isn't hot unless it features a swirling, glowing nebula of color. MSNBC made it popular and PSDTUTS made easy enough for your mom to design one. They can be smokey, or electric, or like rays of light.
5. JavaScript Navigation
Why have a site with a handful of tiny pages when you can make one giant page with JavaScript links that slide the "pages" into view? The CakePHP site does it horizontal with jQuery. Volll does it vertically with a custom script. NOFRKS Design Studio does it in all directions with MooTools. Hotel Oxford does it like an inset window (aslo with MooTools).
Honorable Mentions
JavaScript Hide/Show Toggles
The nice thing about modern JavaScript libraries is they afford the designer the opportunity to really throw it in your face. Click the Your Toolbox button in this Cameron Moll site demo and see a new menu appear (jQuery again).
Multi-column Footers
This has been building for years and years and 2008 could very well be the peak for multi-column footers. They definitely serve a purpose organizing footer information, and they help reinforce a grid layout. I have to admit to being an addict. In many cases I'll make up content just to get another column down there.
Above all, 2008 seems to be the year of wood texture backgrounds. They are everywhere and I can't figure it out.
Comments