Design Trends to Watch Out for in 2015

It is a brand new year and that means a whole new set of expectations for brands. While the obvious trends will continue to take over the design arena, such as large image backgrounds gaining popularity and mobile growing in importance, there are other less obvious ones that are ruling the roost. Here are some awesome design trends to keep an eye out for in 2015.

Adios Internet Explorer!

 The jokes that abound one of the oldest and most staid browsers, Internet Explorer, know no bounds. And rightly so. IE6 and IE7 left much to be desired in terms of a perfectly running browser. But don’t pop the bubbly just as yet. The browser isn't going anywhere, it is simply being replaced by a faster, more light-weight one called Spartan. This new Chrome-style browser from IE has support for newer CSS features, and speed coupled with standards-compliance.

Mobile Video for Advertising

The year 2014 saw indomitable growth in every single aspect of the Web. The only area that seemed to lag behind was mobile video. This however, is poised to change in 2015, especially where advertising is concerned. When it comes down to it, video on mobile isn't a preferred option for advertising, mainly because of the small screen size and many ads being created on the SWF format. But in 2015, advertisers will avoid the easy way out and make sure they deliver video to mobile n a standard-compliant, non-intrusive manner.

The Growth of Lettering

While lettering has been a growing design trend in the past year, it will grow beyond expectations in 2015. This diverse technique can be defined as ‘bespoke design work’. Over the course of the year, lettering will see a massive growth as an important visual cue which is used to discern high-quality design, from ready-made templating. The great part about learning lettering – all it takes is a little practice and some YouTube how-to videos to get the hang of it.

Hello Micro-copy, Micro-animation & Micro-design!

The web has seen a recent spate of responsive design initiatives in the last couple of years and this has only been growing with every year. It is important to remember however, that responsive design has its own set of issues, with designers resolving those issues by coming up with common design patterns. This has resulted in a slight bit of uniformity. While this trend will continue to display itself in 2015, designers will focus on minute details in the form of Micro-copy, Micro-animation and Micro-design.

More Importance to Art Direction

Art direction is set to become extremely importance in the year 2015. This will be especially so because clients will realize that they cannot pick simply creating a winning site design by buying a cheap, ready-to-use template. Services such as PSD to HTML is bound to become obsolete and will be replaced by the enhancement of the brand and its mood through the correct use of copy and imagery. Designers should focus on crafting a holistic approach to content and staying consistent no matter which format the design is presented it.

Analytics Will Be Pooled

Many sites today do not receive enough traffic to qualify for big data applications which can successfully predict user behavior. This is why in 2015, many startups will resort to pooling in their site data, especially analytics. By selling analytics to interested parties, 2015 could see small websites transforming into revenue streams. It is important however, to have a strong privacy policy in place.