We’ve come to the halfway point so we thought it was time to stop and take stock of the trends that have developed throughout the year and look at how they may evolve into the future.

Want to know what’s still on top? Read on and find out!

Clean is still King

The Internet is saturated with “stuff”, let’s face it, Google searches have become a thrift store. So people are still craving a sleek, minimalist user experience when it comes to web design. The problem is users have jumped on the bandwagon too, using free WordPress templates. There’s no need to worry yet though; it hasn’t become passé, and people love the ability to find relevant information fast through clean designs. So, keep it up? For now, yes. We can’t see the trend diminishing any time soon – so enjoy those hamburger menus and hero images a little longer.

Real-time experiences

The launch of Facebook Live video and Instant Articles has seen the real-time trend explode within the past couple of months. Designers need to create websites, videos and animations with a live audience in mind, as users are becoming more accustomed to receive content in the moment (Snapchat, anyone?). Whilst still craving clean websites, users expect some action, animation and live aspects to their browsing experience and designing for real-time perfectly caters to the tech-savvy public. We’re experiencing the growth of designing for real-time, in real-time. So jump on board because this is expected to be a huge deal for a long time to come.

Material Design is this year’s language to learn

Since it was announced in 2014, Google’s Material Design has seen a sharp rise to fame, with a number of well-known applications and websites adopting its principles for their own UX design. With its use of grid-based layouts, responsive animations and depth effects, Material Design adds complexity to a website’s design. Material Design is best paired with sleek, minimalist websites as it adds another dimension to usually flat layouts. As mentioned in Mobile UI Design Book of Trends 15/16, we’ll probably see more adoptees of Material Design into the future, with some changes. The Next Web predicts that Google’s “layered” approach may evolve into something a bit less material in the future, as designers experiment with different ways of presenting Material Design outside of Android apps and Google programs.

Expect more vector animations

Vector images help counteract the clinical feel of minimalist websites by adding an authentic, homemade look. So, expect to see more of these images (including cute characters, everywhere!) in layouts both now, and into the future. In addition to static designs, vector animations have been popping up of late as part of the real-time experience trend.

What do you think the next trend for web design is? Let us know in the comments!