In 2018, we saw many user experience and brand-oriented design trends, including animation and illustrations, vibrant colours, bold typography and mobile prioritization.

2019 will be a continuation of 2018’s emphasis on user experience, in particularly mobile user experience. In addition, we will also see some emphasis on the technology behind user experience.

  1. Speed
  2. Minimalistic, Flat Design
  3. Responsive, Mobile First
  4. Infinite Scrolling, Single Page Design
  5. Voice Search
  6. Detailed Footers
  7. Micro-interactions
  8. Chatbots
  9. Material Design

In this article, we will take a look at the trends #1 to 4.

 

Speed is important

 

With the Google Speed Update that went into effect in July 2018, Google has begun prioritizing search result rankings for websites that load faster than others and we can only expect other search engines to follow soon, making 2019 a year of page speed. The importance of page speed shouldn’t come as a surprise, after all Google has been dropping hints and reminders in the last decade, with the introduction of tools and metrics like PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, “Test My Site”, The Speed Scorecard, Impact Calculator and Mobile Speed Score. Just remember, the faster the website loads, the better the user experience, and Google is all about user experience.

Want to read up more on how to optimize your website for speed? Google has useful resources for you!

 

Minimalistic, Flat Design

 

Flat design doesn’t mean that everything is reduced down to two dimensions. Rather, flat design is a minimalist design approach that focuses on usability, readability, and cleanliness. Common characteristics of a flat design include clean, open space, bright colours, crisp typography and simple imagery.

A clean design means there is fewer elements, contents and clutter on a website. Not only is this design easy on the eyes (and thus, more user-friendly), it also doesn’t rely on pictures to be captivating, thus it doesn’t have large amounts of extra data to load. A clean design ensures that your visitors will have an enjoyable, quick-loading experience on your website, regardless of the device they are using, especially on mobile devices.

When designing an effective flat website, try to keep all design elements centered on the idea of user-experience. In a way, flat design reverts back to the basics of design as a functional tool and if an element serves no functional purpose, it’s a distraction from user experience.

 

Responsive, Mobile First

 

Mobile search is currently the most popular and most used search form worldwide. In fact, Google prioritizes mobile websites over sites that aren’t mobile-friendly. In other words, if you want desirable rank results on Google, responsive design is an integral part, a must of your plan.

 

Infinite Scrolling, Single-Page Layout

 

A single page website is one that fits on a single page. Speed and minimalism are two of the biggest reasons why the single-page design is a trend of 2019, and ultimately, it has to do with the increasing number of people browsing and shopping from the mobile devices. Displaying all the content of a website allows the visitor to view all the information they need without having to navigate between pages – something that is not as easy to do on the smaller screens of a smartphone. In other words, in 2019 we will see a transition from click to scrolling.

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