Recent years have revealed some of the most stunning website designs since the dawn of the internet. Be it non-traditional navigation or mind-blowing imagery, we've come a long way. But as the landscape evolves, popular trends change in web design... like in all creative Web Design  arenas. Indeed, much has changed and will continue to change. So what will be the web design trends for 2018?

Website design concepts in the coming year will offer interactive animations, chatbots, intuitive assistance and more rich experiences. Technologies like virtual reality, machine learning, and voice recognition are now advanced enough to be mainstream. You can expect streamlined, clean, and no-frills. Simplistic designs that don't overload the senses, and leave room for those new technologies to entice the online visitor.

Priority On Mobile Browsing

In 2018, design concepts and engineering for mobile devices will take precedence over desktops, notebooks, and other gear. While this won't make headlines, cell phones and tablets have recently taken over as the choice equipment for online browsing. A fundamental in the coming year will be Mobile Performance (or digital experience optimization), so 2018 will see innovations to the functionality on cells and tablets. Things we've never seen before, on any medium.

A Sleeker, Cleaner Layout

In recent times, designers started creating sleeker, cleaner website concepts for better browsing performance. Image-heavy pages are slow to load and frustrate visitors. Simplicity will be elevated to a whole other level in 2018, making smarter use of Negative Space. White space is nothing new, but among the web design trends for 2018, developers will find better uses for it. Particularly on mobile, speedy light-weight downloads will be essential.

Flamboyant, gimmicky designs are out. Everything is there for one purpose now: to increase conversions. Negative space draws attention directly to the engagement or conversion point, with less distraction.

Eye-Catching Typography

Beautifully crafted typography is known for imparting character, stirring emotion and setting a mood for a page. As visual displays evolve, designers will innovate on typography even further, appealing to users and attracting more visits. Already we're seeing bold, expressive, and artistic fonts taking the place of images, and we should expect to see more unique, hand-rendered typography. Among other web design trends for 2018, expect to see lots of bold headers and text links instead of buttons. This will have a trickle-down effect on SEO techniques and Content Marketing practices, too.

Video Takes On More Importance

All of 2017, we observed the continued rise of short video use on corporate websites. While video isn't new, it remains a multipurpose medium used for marketing, educating, and with a more modern twist than still photography. Indeed, an alternative approach to storytelling for businesses. Yes, video is taking over, and will become an even greater web design trend in 2018. Inspiring greater engagement, we find most online giants are giving more weight to video as time marches on. Facebook, Twitter and Google are among those.

Websites in 2018 will take video to new, thrilling places that seemed like crazy fantastic dreams not that long ago. You'll see websites equipped with 360 vids, 360 modeling, video mapping, and interactive applications.

Subtle Animations

Technology has evolved and web browsers handle animations much more efficiently than they did before. Animations used to be tacky and distracting, but 2018  Web Design will welcome a new dawn of subtle, informative animation. Expect to see cinemographs and scroll-triggered animations, among others.

Cinemographs: Achieving balance between a static picture and traditional video, cinemographs will be seen all over web design trends for 2018. Not as slow or data-heavy as a video, these quick clips create dynamic imagery that does just enough.

Scroll-Triggered Animations: while not new, they'll be used differently in 2018. They'll be employed for a purpose: to draw attention to critical locations on the page. Simplistic and tactical, these scroll triggers will be designed to increase engagement and conversions. The animation entices the user to keep scrolling, drawing them down to the conversion-point, while informing them on the product.