Main Distinction Between the Trends and Fads
A fad is something that is very popular that comes on the design scene in a fast flurry. However, it is on the scene for only a short period of time and then it disappears. On the other hand, a trend comes onto the design scene very slowly. It becomes part of the design scene over a prolonged period.
In the website design industry, it is a given that if you put too much attention into something that has just arrived on the scene, chances are that it could disappear in a few months. Therefore, if you create a website using something along those lines, it will not have staying power. Therefore, it is important that you focus on something that is introduced to the market slowly, over time. Learning the distinction between a trend and a fad will entice you to create website designs that will last for a long time and not look outdated before you know it.
For example, one of the recent fads was using the circles in the web design. I don't believe this fad will stay for a long time. However, there are some modern trends that you can focus on:
1. Large Photo Backgrounds
Large photo backgrounds are one of the strongest design trends that is very popular among users. While constantly browsing different websites, I noticed that photos used for backgrounds become larger and larger. A couple of years ago, web designers also used photo backgrounds, however they would be about 800 pix wide at the most, usually with blurred edges and ghosted into the background color. This year these photo backgrounds are getting much larger, usually 1600px wide or more. With the new “canvas” option, you can stretch the background to the whole user's screen. It looks really powerful. The use of photo backgrounds has been very successful in all industries as they are very user friendly. Clients like the way it looks and the users know the way it feels.
A couple of things to keep in mind about using of large photo backgrounds.
- Make sure that the photograph is clear. Nothing looks worth than a bad quality photo stretched to the whole screen.
- When a strong visual presentation is needed, photo backgrounds are great for branding purposes. This type of presentation is common with clothing brands and fashion design houses. It is also used for travel destinations. I see more and more of large photo backgrounds on the websites for wineries, restaurants, hotels (a lot!), museums, … If these backgrounds have hot spots with links, making it another way of navigation, then such websites become so much more interesting – users love it when they can interact with the website.
Use it! It's a wonderful trend!
2. Using of Extended Type Library
We used to have just a handful of fonts available to us. So, in a way, all websites looked the same or were lacking some personality compared to the printed pieces. We, web designers, could use interesting fonts only inside the graphics, however, if we already were using other images on the page, the page could get “heavy” for loading. There is one more aspect to be noted, those beautiful fonts within graphics can't be used for SEO purposes – Google wouldn't know what's on the image, besides your alt tags.
Now your web design can be enhanced with popular web font foundries, such as Typekit and Google fonts. This enables you to choose from a vast array of fonts that are appealing. This will make it more appealing to your audience.
Typekit costs you money, but has more of a selection than Google fonts. However, if you want to save money, don't forget that that there are other free fonts out there as well as Google fonts.
A couple of things to keep in mind about using of new types available to you.
- Contrast the text, use one font for the body and another for the headline. This will make it visually appealing to your viewers.
- The body text should be a little bit larger than we used to with the regular web fonts.
- If you decide to use script fonts, make them much larger since they are hard to read.
- There are cool jQuery plugins that will allow you make the fonts appear or move across the screen.
- Test new fonts across all browsers to make sure they fit your area. Sometimes, it doesn't work. Also test on the phones, ipads, ...
They make the website more beautiful and appealing! Use them!