2015 Website Design Trends

First things first: what a game! Welcome to infamy Malcom Butler and congrats Pats! Boston is one happy city today despite the snow.

All right, now onto today’s post. Last month, we recapped the biggest website design trends from 2014. Now, let’s take a look at some of the website design trends we expect to see more of in the coming year.

Fullscreen Background Images

Some of our favorite websites right now have fullscreen background images. It’s not hard to see why this trend is visually appealing. Take a look at the site we designed for The Draft Bar and Grille to see an example of this design concept for yourself. This website design trend allows good photography and/or images to speak for themselves.  It relies heavily on the visual experience to draw the user in. Fullscreen background images are most successful when the text is kept to a minimum – either one line of text or a ghost button.

Ghost Buttons

Accordingly, ghost buttons are the next website design trend that is on the rise in 2015. A ghost button is transparent, hence the term. It has no fill and a simple outline. It allows the fullscreen background image to take center stage and keeps the call to action non-invasive. You’re not yelling at your visitors to enter the site, you’re subtly inviting them in.  Because of the non-invasive nature of a ghost button, they are normally displayed prominently in the center of the fullscreen background image. The key here is contrast – the transparency of the button contrasts well with the richness of the background image. The Reebok website has a good example of a ghost button that hovers over a fullscreen video background.

Card Based Design

The final website design trend we want to discuss is card-based design. The most well known example is Pinterest. Cards are interactive, square tiles of information. They’re a good design concept because they demand interactivity. They aren’t just square boxes around text, they have functionality and give the site visitor the option for further involvement. Our site uses cards to display our portfolio. On the surface, it looks like a bunch of tiles with miniature versions of our projects, but if you click on a card it will display additional details about the specific project and invite you to visit the site. Check it out by clicking on portfolio on the top navigation bar.

These are only three of the emerging website design trends that we expect will be on the rise in 2015. Throughout the year, we’ll update you as new trends pop up. Website design is constantly evolving and learning about new trends and how to implement them for our clients is one of our favorite things.