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Flattening Out Web Design In 2014: 23 Examples Inspire | Inspiration

Flattening Out Web Design In 2014: 23 Examples Inspire | Inspiration | Must Design | Scoop.it
Flat design is a concept that was pretty popular a couple years ago and it's back with full strength this year, causing some interesting buzz around the so
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Mobile is changing web design in many ways. One way is we are flattening out design. Flat designs look better on mobile so they are now winning across the web as these 23 examples show. My fav is William Leeks.

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Web Design: 20 Hottest 2014 Trends [+ Scenttrail Take On Each]

Web Design: 20 Hottest 2014 Trends [+ Scenttrail Take On Each] | Must Design | Scoop.it

2014 We Design Trends

1. Grid Layouts - Agree & Is Good!
Yes visual marketing + pinterest + mobile is making the grid ubiquitous. I created a Mondrian grid in 1999 when we launched FoundObjects.com (not gone sadly). Grids help share MORE information faster and in the same space than any other design element.

2. Image Captions - Agree and is GREAT
The area immediately under an image is HOT. Everyone looks there but few designers use captions to reinforce or explain the image. Paying more attention to keywords under images is a great idea.

3. Extended Form Elements with JQuery - Don't Know? Does anyone?
Can't comment on this trend as it is new to me and I don't program so its potential benefits are fuzzy at the moment.

4. Deeply Focused Landing Pages thanks to Mobile - Agree & Is Cool
Don't understand this trend except enough to say COOL and WANT ONE.

5. HTML5 Video Players - Agree and GLAD
Don't play your videos on YouTube only since you just make the rich get richer. Figuring out how to play videos "in your stack" is important and having your own HTML5 player is cool.

6. 3D vs. 7. Flat Design - I come down on Flat Design as the winner due to mobile.

8. Personal Portraits - Agree and Like

9. SVG Vector sweeps web as browser support escalates. Agree & Glad.

10. Fonts get cool thanks to server advance - cool and like but not a religion or anything lol.

11. Lazy Loading Animations - cool and can think of several uses.

12. Customized Image Galleries - cool and we need.

13. Mega Navigation Menus - Don't know but don't like idea, seems confusing where confusion can really hurt.

14. Expanding Search Bars - cool and will use.

15. Featured Detail List - LIKE and is cool and new to me.

16. Mobile First Design - Agree and am doing my first now with CrowdFunde.

17. HTML5 Canvas - cool and new to me.

18, Pixel Sprites and Browser Games - New to me but COOL!

19. Quick Registration via social - AGREE!

20, CSS3 Keyframe Animation - Cool, want one.


Monica S Mcfeeters's curator insight, February 22, 2014 10:05 AM

Here are some current WEB designing programs.

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Web design trends for 2014 | Infographic + @ScentTrail Trend Predictions

Web design trends for 2014 | Infographic + @ScentTrail Trend Predictions | Must Design | Scoop.it

What do we predict will be the web design trends in 2014? Here is an infographic with our predictions

Marty Note
Here are my thoughts on web design in 2014.

1. Code Free = Disagree, not in 2014, I have tried Webydo and it is as hard to master as code so why bother, until there is a tool that is EASIER than code we will continue to code.

2. More CMS based site - Agree and this is another way of saying more blogs acting like websites. Good idea to read my Websites vs. Blog post on Curatti.com earlier in the week to know how to keep the things that matter from a "website" as your blog fills both shoes: Websites vs. Blogs Which One Is Better and Why http://curatti.com/websites-vs-blogs/ .

3. Single Page Sites - Disagree - I GUESS you could have a robust enough social presence that a single page site would be fine, but you give up a lot and you are asking a single page to accomplish a lot. Google doesn't rank websites they rank web pages, so pagespread (# of pages in Google) can help build traffic via SEO (that is left of it anyway).

A single page website is only viable for strong mobile or social players and somewhere there has to be an engine generating NEW out into the world. If you use a single page, push NEW out and then wipe it clean that is simply CRAZY with the way traffic is parsed and how we gain authority today. Oprah could have a single page site, how an average website could achieve all that is needed with a single page is beyond me.

4. Interactive Infographics - Agree with this one. The Infographic has legs, or should say the idea of visualizing content has legs. The infographic is an expression of a larger movement - our desire to understand things FAST.

Other 2014 Web Design Trends I see include:

* Lean Design - This movement plays off of #4 and the strength of the marketing visualization movement. Creating more understanding faster is a trending trend.

* Social Net Tapestry - Website designs MUST be social and agnostic about social nets. Including Facebook, Twitter, GPlus, YouTube, Scoop.it, StumbleUpon and 10 more I can't think of right now in ways that make sharing easy, rewarding and not overwhelming is a trend no one has figured out all that well yet, but we will begin to see novel ideas that build on the social media  "widget" idea in 2014 (only much better let's hope).

* Content Curation - we must build websites in 2014 that are focused on KEY CONVERSATIONS and become agnostic about where those conversations happen. Own the conversation, own the traffic.


Curating content INTO a website (or blog) is an important trend no one has quite figured out yet either. Start with traditional ORM (Online Reputation Management) tools. Use ORM to crack some APIs so when something relevant happens to your company, brands or products out there in social media's north forty you

  1. Know about it.
  2. Filter it into your content by having ways (filters) to attach curated content into existing themes. 
  3. Gamify contributors so reward is generous, immediate and competitive.


* Appification of Everything - the Mobile Revolution is not about the phone. It is about redesigning our THINKING about how information creates interaction, engagement and conversion (so a small thing lol). Thinking of everything we do online as an app we will be improving is a very "Mobile First" way to think. Those who understand the "Appification" of everything will win BIG as the rest of the world catches up in 2014.

* Gamification - If your website design doesn't find ways to profile, reward and share (curate) content from contributors you will fall hopelessly behind in 2014. The social web is here, despite few understanding the breadth of that that means, and websites need to promote an ever increasing amount of User Generated Content (UGC). Best way to do that is by using game theory to create web design.

 

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13 Whitespace in Web Design Examples Inspire

13 Whitespace in Web Design Examples Inspire | Must Design | Scoop.it
There are a many aspects of good web design, and whitespace is certainly one of them. Whitespace is the empty space around design elements such as images, text,
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

White space can be the most defining design element of any website. Hard to use well though. Here are 13 examples of how to use whitespace in your website designs.

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Forbes Sees Big Fonts, FLAT, Mobile, Responsive, Continuous Scrolling For Website Design In 2014

Forbes Sees Big Fonts, FLAT, Mobile, Responsive,  Continuous Scrolling For Website Design In 2014 | Must Design | Scoop.it
It's been about five years since the last redesign of my website, Hitched. A lot has changed since then, most particularly the rise of mobile.
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Don't disagree with any of these 2014 web design trends highlighted by Forbes. 

Lori Wilk's curator insight, December 26, 2013 10:21 PM

The pace of change seems to have gotten even faster over the last year.

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Web 3.0 Design Inspirations Pinterest Board From @Pupixel

Web 3.0 Design Inspirations Pinterest Board From @Pupixel | Must Design | Scoop.it

Showcase of web 3.0 web sites (html5, css3, parallax, ecc...)

Marty
Great board from @Pupixel (an Italian web designer) sharing examples of web design leading the way to Web 3.0 - a semantic real time web.

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