The 2019 web design trends to look out for

2019 is fast approaching and with it expect some really great web design trends that are starting to gain traction at the end of 2018 to really take off in 2019. 2018 has been great for web design, with mobile usability↗ and exciting new fonts paving the way.

Here are the trends to look out for in 2019:

Breaking the grid!

The grid has been a pretty rigid (albeit fluid!) and fundamental part of the web designers tool kit since around 2015 onwards. As we approach 2019, looking around the web it appears the grid is becoming less rigid and a lot more flexible.

The days of everything sitting rigidly within a grid appear to be changing and website layouts appear to now starting to be sitting outside the grid and still looking pretty awesome and clean on the eye!

Exciting fonts!

Fonts have started to get really exciting – And no, not a revisit back to the grungy fonts of 2007! Companies such as Uber and Airbnb are really leading the way with custom fonts to give a fresh new feel to the website instead of sticking to the standard web safe fonts.

Big bold fonts are also on the increase – It appears the days of simple standard size, web safe, fonts are heading behind us and in their place comes the big bold fonts, which will work really well for exciting brands looking for a big and bold approach to their website for maximum impact.

Bright and bold colours!

We’re seeing a trend shift towards bright and bold colours. This is great news for web designers as colour plays a very very important role within websites – as this allows you to make an impact immediately with a wider range of colours, and of course the effect of colour psychology↗ cannot be overlooked.

It should be noted that using such bold colours for Call to actions and across other areas of your website could lead to a colour overload, designers still need to keep in mind a fine colour balance and not go to the extreme with colours.

Illustrations to cut their way through?

Websites are starting to take on an identity of their own. We’ve gone from the basic clip art, to cheesy stock photos to big bold artistic imagery and now it appears we could be heading for authentic and original illustrations that bring a whole new dimension to a website. This could be a goodbye to the corporate and hello to the bold, unique and beautiful for those brave enough.

Whether illustrations become bold and overwhelming we are yet to know, but a nice blend of subtle illustrations with custom fonts could really bring a unique feel to any website – Especially one trying to stand out and build an original brand.

Interactive backgrounds to become even bigger?

This is a tough one to call as we have seen many websites with interactive backgrounds and also many websites remove interactive backgrounds from their website due to being too distracting.

We’ve seen some really big brands, even PayPal experiment with interactive backgrounds. 2019 could be the year it really takes off, however as always, the aim of anything interactive has to be to add value and not distract the visitor from the overall goal of your website – This could be why we see some websites experiment with it and then remove it.

It’s been tipped to make the bit time for over a year now – With custom fonts and illustrations expected to make a big break through, could this be the year that interactive pages embrace fonts and illustrations to create very sleek and subtle interactive backgrounds to create incredibly beautiful websites and not harm conversions or distract the visitor?

We’re on the fence about this one, but let’s wait and see!

It’s great to look ahead to 2019 and predict what lies ahead based on what’s starting to gain traction now. By being prepared and keeping ahead of expected trends, as a web designer or brand owner you will know the technologies and features that you can take advantage of. We think brands and those willing to throw out the corporate and embrace colour, animation, custom fonts and illustration will be sure to have a highly impactful website come 2019.

Source: Craig Murphy is the managing director of ALT Agency↗ – A Birmingham based web design company.