What happened in 2012?
2012 brought us an array of cool and wonderful new ideas and developments across the web. With mobile browsing contributing to over 10% of online traffic (source: NetMarketShare), there was an explosion of Responsive Design – an approach to web design that tailors the experience for the device the site is being viewed upon. Everything on the web has got bigger with the use of large headers and photography backgrounds that expand with your browser window. Typography made a big impression, with the use of more standard fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, Georgia and Verdana reducing and new fonts emerging.
Infographics have been huge this year, seeing insightful data being turned into easy-to-digest, interesting graphics. HTML5 and CSS3 have been making a lot of noise, with interactive web pages.
Here at Found we have been pretty busy as we like to keep up with all new developments, techniques and technologies. With the use of HTML5 and CSS3, we transformed many of our sites for mobile and tablet use through Responsive Frameworks, whilst reducing the use of CSS thanks to new platforms such as Amazium and Bootstrap. 2 online apps have made it onto the web from Found HQ and with Found, most recently, launching our first mobile app Found SEO Audit Tool. Wow what a year!
Okay, so that was a snapshot of 2012, what is in store for in 2013?
Web Design Predictions
1. Responsive Design
Yes, this was a 2012 actuality, but it was an added extra to a website build. In 2013, I predict that this will be standard on many websites! Yes, standard. Mobile is getting bigger and better every day therefore every website should be mobile and tablet friendly.
2. Interactive Infographics
Infographics were huge at the beginning of 2012, with them becoming the bread and butter for website visual.ly and of course, the continued meteoric rise of Pinterest. With the number of Infographics being produced, this space and content creation method has become saturated making what was once a cool, easy way to get noticed into an abundant wave of endless (and not always great) infographics .
The questions for 2013 are:
- What else can we do with infographics to stand out from the crowd?
- Why should we use an Infographic that’s just a static jpg when there is much more that could be done to make the concept more interesting?
2013 will see a rise in interactivity where infographics are concerned. Take the Facebook election page for example. This is an infographic that us updated in real time and is an example of the types of content we will be seeing much more over the next 12 months.
3. Typography
The second half of 2012 year saw designed Typography start cropping up a lot more on the web, with the use of fancy typefaces and ligatures used on websites without the use of images, all thanks to the new font foundries. I can only see this increasing further this year, with more typefaces making their way online. Yes, my prediction is that 2013 is going to be the year of Typography!
4. Minimalism
Apple has been the leader with its detailed use of Skeuomorphism for the past couple of years; with the recent launch of Windows 8 and Pinterest using the minimalist block look, I think 2013 will be the beginning in a shift to using this style of design. You will see sites and interfaces introduce block sections, limited colour palettes, less gradients and less textures.
5. HTML5 & CSS3
The use of HTML5 & CSS3 has been growing over the last couple of years but 2013 is going to see these languages take over. As most modern browsers are now pretty much HTML5 & CSS3 ready we can start creating more amazing things such as Google Web Labs experiments; where Google brought the Internet to life.
Summing up, 2013 is going to bring us amazing mobile-friendly, interactive, type-focused, minimalist websites using HTML5 & CSS3. Here’s to a great 2013!
