As 2017 draws to a close we reflect on what’s been another fun and productive year here at Maroon Balloon and look towards 2018 and what that might bring.
Before we look at what web design and technology trends to expect in 2018, a quick summary of our 2017. Like the English in general we’re not always good at shouting about our successes, but we’ll have a go…
This year we’ve gained some fantastic new clients, taken on helpers for our web development work so we can cope better with the increased workload and of course pumped out lots of great websites and ecommerce stores. And talking of new clients, we’re expecting to announce a big one very soon – more on that as soon as we’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s.
2018 is looking good too. With January already fully booked for new website builds, it’ll be a year where we implement some more expansion plans. Watch this space as we have some exciting developments in the pipeline.
One of the great things about collaborative working with design agencies, SEO specialists and web freelancers is the exposure to innovation, new design methods and ways of working. You’ll see this in practice with our next few website launches early next year, where we incorporate new technologies, functionality and web design concepts. Behind the scenes there is also exciting progression in the way we build content-managed websites. This has been a steady and ongoing process and feedback from clients and users has been very positive.
Web design and technology trends in 2018
So, what are the trends to watch next year? This is what we’re keeping an eye on:
- More high quality video, animation and photography
Advances in UK broadband speeds and high speed fibre rollout will be reflected in increased use and quality of rich media on websites. One of our websites in development right now in fact is heavily video-based. - Vibrant colour palettes
Pastels to make way for brighter and bolder designs with large fonts. Think minimalism, white space and high impact. Neon, anyone? - Cleaner and sharper graphics
More widespread browser support for CSS3 and SVGs (scaleable vector graphics) combined with an increase in high res retina screens should see pixel perfection in website layouts. This works well with split-screen designs, which is another widely-predicted trend to keep an eye on. - Mobile first content and design
A significant change in the way Google indexes website content means mobile versions will take priority over desktop. So no more hiding content on mobiles! Make sure your most important content is near the top of the page and that user interfaces are clear and intuitive. - Control of personal data returned to the user
2018’s hot acronym is GDPR. That’s the General Data Protection Regulation, which all of us in the EU have to comply with and rightly so. We’ll dedicate a blog post to this soon as it’s so important but hard to find clear, concise guidance online. It comes into force on 25th May so you need to have your data in order by then or face non-compliance fines. - Voice interfaces and AI
While voice-activated ‘smart home systems’ like Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home are becoming ever more popular in the home and office, expect to see more websites using voice-based technology too. We’re used to it on our smartphones and it’s not disappearing anytime soon. Speech recognition and artificial intelligence technologies are improving exponentially and it’s only a matter of time before these become common place on websites. The photo we’ve used for this blog post is one that our MD Tim took in Tokyo’s Miraikan Science Museum a couple of years ago and shows real life AI technology. Quite apt for this post, we think!
So, lots of exciting things to look forward to. If your website needs a freshen up then get in touch with us for a chat. Even if you don’t need a rebuild we can run a website audit and recommend fixes or improvements for design, usability, SEO and performance to optimise your online presence.