Web Design Trends of 2011

2011 is barely half way over, and all ready we’ve managed to compile a list of trends that have been shaping the industry since January.

2011 isn’t even half way over, and already there are enough new trends to write an entire article about. Changes happen so quickly in web design online that it can be hard to keep a grasp on what new trends are emerging, so collected below are some of the top emerging trends of the year so far.

1. HTML5 & CSS3
Even though it’ll be a while until you can use everything these two updates have to offer, there’s plenty you can be doing right now to enhance your site for users with advanced browsers. Things like drop shadows, text shadows, gradients and rounded corners can be employed in a degradable manner, so that Internet Explorer users won’t see a broken page, just a slightly less awesome one. Many of these changes are simple enough that you won’t yet need courses on them to implement, so even if your schools aren’t offering courses in HTML5 and CSS3 yet, you should be able to pick up enough for it to be useful.

2. Hand Lettering
This year some of the newest brands are debuting logos that take advantage of calligraphic lettering reminiscent of the hand-painted signs of the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s. Throwback and tangible design aren’t new to the web; textures have become increasingly popular since 2008, and as the tools used to convert hands-on media to web become better, it’s no mystery why more designers want to incorporate these elements into their work. Anything you can do to make users feel like they’re interfacing with real things - instead of digital representations of them – strengthens the emotional connection with your users.

3. Minimalism / User Centric Design
With information becoming more complex and smaller-screened devices taking a larger market share, it’s becoming more and more necessary to give your user a clean interface that's easy to use from any device. Seven years ago or so, Flash was the cool kid on the block; all the best sites had intense flash intros and animated menus (though most of them also took forever to load). Though sites like these still certainly exist, they’ve overwhelmingly given way to simple, quick loading sites focused more on conversions than on visual attraction.

4. Mobile Sites
Speaking of which, mobile views have become less of a trend, and more of a necessity. Sure, your page may pull up on an iPhone, but giving it a modicum of priority is one way to really separate yourself from your competition. Slick, native-style sites help increase user experience and can help you grab users that might be in too much of a hurry to stretch their screen enough to read your call to action.

5. Touch Screen Consideration
In a final trend related to mobile, developers are beginning to adapt their site to cater more to touchscreens than to mouse use, to certain degrees. Things like drop down menus and link hover states need more consideration, and should no longer be critical to navigating. Icons should be large enough and spaced far enough apart that users on a touchscreen won’t have issues hitting them correctly, and so on. This can be a hard thing to grasp, so if you’re hard up on ways to test, go to an Apple store and try your site out on an iPad. Heck, bring up your site on all the store models and see if you can conduct an impromptu usability study.