As with any prediction, it’s never 100% accurate, no matter the amount of market research involved. However if you keep your ear low enough to ground, you should be able to make some educated assumptions.
Here are mine:
1. Raster Icons Will Die
Raster-based image icons are pretty much obsolete already, due to a big list of reasons that (for the sake of brevity) I’m not going to get into. However they’re still being widely used by both designers and developers. Not for long though, there are already two solutions (Icon Fonts and SVG Icons) that are already on the rise. See this article here.2. Community Blogging Will Go Mainstream
The concept of a community driven blog has been around for a while, however it’s yet to be mass-popularized. If you don’t know what a community blog is, It’s basically a website that’s curated by a few individuals or organisation, but the content is provided through community contribution.It’s becoming increasingly popular with sites like Sidebar and LayerVault News being examples. The main advantage is that it gives you a broader view on matters from a larger spectrum of opinions, rather than being force-fed information like a traditional news or blog service.
In 2014, I can pretty much guarantee you, this form of blogging will become increasingly popular with more and more start-ups, and that’s not just limited to the design community.
3. Video Will Grow
Don’t jump to conclusions, I’m not talking about video in web design itself, rather video in the form of blogging, Google hangouts, news services and talk-shows.The design and development community is a largely text-dominated, video-introverted community. This leaves a massive void for growth for related video services like YouTube channels and video-blogging. I’m still yet to find a good YouTube talk-show that focuses on web design.
4. The Year of Copy: More Text – Less Images
There’s been a whole lot of study into imagery and its greater ability to gain attention over text, advertising is testament to this. However as users are continually bombarded with hundreds of images a day while browsing the web, the eye becomes desensitized. A true intellect makes judgement on content not context, and in 2014 this will become more prevalent.5. 2014 Will Be The Year of Animated SVG
SVG icons and animated graphics in web design have pretty much exploded over the past few months, with a number web projects for making implementation easier and more user-friendly. See snap.svg, Iconizer and Iconic to name a few.6. Pull-To-Refresh Will Become Obsolete
If there’s one single statement that iOS 7 made, it’s that “Discreet in-the-background loading is the way forward”. iOS 7 has its critics, but ultimately it’s a well designed OS, particularly from a user experience perspective. And it’s all about making the user feel more comfortable. Users shouldn’t need to pull to refresh things – it seems a bit archaic doesn’t it? Take a look at this article by Austin Carr for more.7. Flat Design Will Evolve
It’s pretty much a no-brainer isn’t it? Web design never stays stagnant. Sometimes it’s a radical change as in the skeuomorphic-to-flat design change, but other times it’s steady progression. Flat design will evolve, mostly through fear of an over-homogeneous web where nothing’s unique any-more. What will it turn into? My guess is layered design will be the next big step. It’s important to note however that flat design in it’s most basic form and essence will still remain for a while.8. More Parallax Websites
Everyone loves the old parallax website. It has been around for a while, however it’s still not being used as widely by more influential websites. My guess is it will go more mainstream and become less of a ‘just a novelty’ design.9. Windows 9 Will Be An Overhaul
Let’s face it, Windows 8 sucks, particularly on a desktop. If you’re a Mac user, you probably don’t care, but for everyone else still using a 4 year old OS (Windows 7), It’s imperative that Windows 9 is actually a desktop class OS with more focus on UX. The metro design language is nice for mobile, but it needs some serious UX work on the desktop. It’s pretty much impossible to use, unless you like looking indistinguishable flat icons all day. Microsoft need to do some serious hiring and firing.10. Collaboration Will Become More Important Than Ever.
Collaboration is pretty much the essence of the modern web. Wikipedia is probably the greatest example of it, however it doesn’t need to be so limited. With developments in things like kick-starter and crowd-sourcing – web based community designing will definitely grow and become a more prevalent trend. For many, it may seem like you’re being short-changed as clients are accessing an entire community rather than hiring you as an individual for your skills. However there are always new start-ups that create innovative markets. My guess crowd-source designing will become more organised with more focus on groups.What’s your take on these predictions? Did we miss any your think are important? Let us know in the comments.
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