Things have been a bit quiet on the blog lately as everyone has their heads down and are working hard. It’s a pretty exciting time here at We Love and I thought it would be a good time to have a look at what’s in store for the future, not of We Love, but for the Digital space as a whole.
It seems the majority of design bloggers have already formed their opinions of what 2010 and onwards has in store for web design, but I figure it’s time I throw my thoughts and learnings into the mix.
The importance of a company’s digital presence is becoming increasingly important. According to Forrester,* 67% of online customers said their opinion of a brand was affected by their ability to accomplish tasks on their website. Now is the time to re-assess how we are utilising the digital space and ensure we work harder to align it more with how people actually live, we need to make sure we can offer users a reason to visit our sites rather than just expecting them to want to.
In no particular order, it seems to me that in the following 12 months and beyond we will be seeing an increase in the use of the following –
Embracing the fact that the web is now totally portable and can be used almost anywhere, designing for mobile browsers is continuing to grow in importance and we will see more and more mobile specific design considerations in the future. According to Nielsen, 40% of iPhone/iTouch users access the internet more on their mobile than their desktop.
Geo-Mapping
Utlisation of geo-techonology to personalise, and in turn create more humanised, digital campaigns across all digital platforms to reach those who are most interested in what a brand has to say.
Large Serif Fonts
The last 10 years or so has seen sans-serif become the standard in web design, however as our web usage continues to evolve we are beginning to see an increase in the use of seriffed fonts. Due to improvements in screen resolutions and display technologies, the problems which used to be associated with serif fonts are no longer relevant and as such a whole new world of typography on the web has been opened up.
Embedded Fonts
Taking typography on the web one step further is the introduction of Embedded fonts. This technology enables designers to utilise any font they desire in their design, whilst avoiding the negative affects of using images to displayer any non-web safe fonts. The ability to create design through typography on the web has long been a no-go zone for designers, however this is now a thing of the past and we will continue to see more and more beautiful type-based design in the future.
Evolution of Social Media
Usage of Social Media will continue to evolve and will become more campaign focused. Whilst the .com will evolve to become a central hub which exists almost independently to the Social Media Campaigns. No longer will we see Social Media simply used as a way to support campaigns, but we will increasingly see Social Media being used as the campaign.
Social Media will also continue to be a facilitator of colloboration, companies will continue to work hard to ensure they are utlisisng SM to work with and for their customers rather than just speaking to them.
Gifting
Gifting is all about making a shift from disruptive to productive marketing approaches, it is focused on changing mindsets from “how we reach our customers” to “how to make their lives better”. We will begin to see a big change in companies ensuring they give users a reason to get involved with their brands online, rather just just expecting them to.
end Reality
As technology becomes more stable we will see Augmented Reality make the transition from what is essentially a tech-fest at the moment, into a tool which will change our day-to-day lives, in particularly, the way in which we consume information.
CSS3 and HTML5
As we see the introduction of these new standards, it is evident that the possibilities are extremely exciting. It might not be the time yet to start embracing it, but in the near future it seems animations, rounded borders, shadows and many more of the new features will become standard in our day-to-day browsing experiences.
Conclusion
So, with all of the above in mind I think it is fair to say the future of web is (but not limited to); playful, collaborative, generous, experimental, helpful, personal, honest, and ensuring we do things actually worth talking about.
Most of the points mentioned above are simply tools which designers can use, and like all things it really comes down to how these tools are used which separates the leaders from the followers in the industry. Brian Chiger, a Digital Strategist at AgencyNet sums this up perfectly with his quote -
“A great digital campaign isn’t made by technology alone; Strategy is vital.”
References
Smashing Magazine
Web Designer Wall
Soda Speaks
Paul Isakson
