Design Trends 2015

Responsive Typography

Now that web fonts have become common practice, we are starting to see an abundance of beautiful typefaces gracing the web, largely provided by font subscription services like Typekit.

Large typography featured heavily in 2014, and we are also starting to see the rise of responsive typography and the two styles work together particularly well.

Responsive typography is a term used to describe type that will adjust itself to different browser sizes, meaning that you don’t have to design different layouts for each possible screen size—the type will adjust itself according to browser size—helping to create a better experience for users.

With the aid of Responsive typography, 2015 will lead us to bigger, better and more beautiful typography.

Digital design standards

Earlier this year Google introduced Material Design. Material is a universal design language, based on a set of design principles and guidelines that provide direction and cohesion. Material had been created for consistency across Google’s product line, amalgamating values and providing an in-depth design system to follow.

Beautiful Natural-looking Stock Images

Websites such as unsplash have provided us with ‘do whatever you want’ stock image galleries, rich with incredibly gorgeous stock photos.

This new wave of stock images is more personal and has a sincerity that was previously difficult to come by.

Complete Loss of Raster Graphics

With the gap between code and design becoming increasingly thinner, websites are now entirely dropping raster graphics. The main problem with Raster graphics is that when they are scaled up, there is a loss in quality, which can cause issues with various screen resolutions.

The emergence of SVG has helped bridge the gap. SVGs are are fully scalable vector graphics, that are supported across major web browsers. The main benefit being that they can be used in a number of places and at various sizes without lose of quality.

Design for Mobile Before Desktop

Given the increase in mobile web usage, companies will want to capitalise on the rapidly increasing market. Some desktop features need to inevitably be dropped for practicality reasons. Mobile networks are getting faster and with GPS and ever-improving hardware, there is always opportunity for innovation.

Design for mobile first, makes sense with the huge shift towards mobile usage. Prioritising mobile design before desktop is a trend we expect to see in 2015.

Minimal and Light Design

Last year we discussed the impact of iOS 7. Skeuomorphic design has rapidly ground to a halt and minimalism is king.

We have seen many brands simplify their logos to one-colour, dropping gradients and shadows—in order to modernise—and create more legible, timeless branding solutions.

Flat design is maturing, which means continued focus on function with less clutter. Flat design can be beautifully functional when focused on the key aesthetics; typography, negative space, grids and colour.