Another year is drawing to a close, and yet the inescapable tug of progress continues to pull web design forward, raising expectations and putting pressure on sites to keep up with trends. Here are five predictions about the direction that the industry will take over the next 12 months.

Mobile Optimisation

More SEO upheaval is expected in 2018 as Google prepares its mobile-first index, further prioritizing sites which are properly optimised for portable devices over their less well-adapted counterparts.

This means that even though responsive design strategies have made waves over the past couple of years, they will continue to remain relevant for a long time to come.

There really is no excuse not to have embraced mobile optimisation by this point. And working with a professional web development company in London like https://www.redsnapper.net will enable organizations of all sizes to prepare for a mobile-first future.

Tonal Shifts

Colour is an important factor for any website, but while a minimalist monotone approach has gained popularity in recent times, a change is on the horizon. Expect to see a wider use of eye-catching hues faded together with gradients that are both retro and futuristic at the same time.

Illustrated Personality

Imbuing a site with your brand identity is essential, but relying on large images to do so can be problematic both in terms of page load speeds and usability on mobile devices. Expect vector graphics and illustrations to come into play more in 2018 as businesses seek to make their sites swifter than ever.

Cohesive Interface Elements

Rather than making a website feel fragmented with separate pages and lots of load times to endure, 2018 will be the year in which sites take a leaf out of social media’s book and embrace a more homogenised approach to single page design. This will mean things like form submission and account log-in will need to be handled more seamlessly via micro-interactions, leading to lower bounce rates as a result.

VR

Virtual reality is no longer a niche technology but has entered the mainstream of web design. And while embedded apps can be a little hardware-intensive, the same is not true of video platforms which take advantage of this immersive experience opportunity.

With VR video, visitors can explore products and services at first hand without leaving the comfort of their own home.