It’s always fun to take a look at what’s going to be the new hotness for the coming year!  Web design has a lot of fun things happening in 2014 and we’re very excited about some emerging trends. But don’t confuse following trends with following fads. Fads are a flash in the pan, while trends stick around for years and evolve over time. Our designers put a lot of effort into staying on top of what’s new and what’s cool so that your websites are top notch and full of The Awesome. Let’s check out some possibilities…

Sweet fonts abound

You know what total typography geeks we can be, so it should come as no surprise that we’re so stoked about all the incredibly fun fonts that designers are starting to add to websites. We think that when used in the correct amount and in the correct place, cool fonts that step outside the standard serif or san-serif rut can add great impact to a webpage design.

Video and video and more video

We’re seeing video popping up all over the place! Instead of reading, people are watching. Since they’re becoming easier to produce and share, videos are becoming the favorite way to communicate, especially when the information is complex and needs a lot of visual support. Some companies are putting a video portfolio right up on their homepages, forgoing written copy in favor of dynamic slideshows set to hip music.

Less Content

We’ve all read the articles saying that “Content is King,” but this year it might not be. Content is going to start shrinking down into bite-sized pieces instead of lengthy paragraphs. This is because our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter with each passing moment and website content needs to be very direct and succinct.

Mobile Optimization

We wrote about the growing need to be mobile friendly in a post about mobile marketing. More businesses are catching on to the fact that they need to be accessible anywhere, by anyone on any device. So, more websites will be mobile optimized this year as the push to make the mobile web a friendlier place continues.

Scaled back colors

You know how much we love to talk about color!  We’ve noticed a lot of websites emerging lately that make use of only one or two colors. Sometimes they’re completely neutral in black and white with only seldom pops of a single bold color.  We love to use color in new and interesting ways and this year, we’re going to get to play!

Focus on the user experience

Web design isn’t only about making things look pretty. Businesses are now looking to more minimalist design, better organization of information, and mobile optimization to make sure users have a great experience using their site. A rewarding user experience is key to getting customers to like you and visit again!

Not every brand-new website you see launch this year will have these features, but the trends are strongly in these directions and we can’t wait to see what designers do with them. Here’s to a cooler, more user-friendly year in web design!