Responsive design is less of a “trend” and more of an increasingly effective response to the variety of Internet capable devices in use today. Users no longer view the web solely from their desktop computers. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, retina displays, and televisions are used every day to access the Internet, and each device has a different screen size and should be considered in a different context. Responsive design enables a single website to scale and change based on the device it is accessed from — without creating multiple, separate sites.

Responsive design is more of a functional aspect of design, rather than a visual trend. However, the increasing shift towards responsive design has had an impact on other visual design trends, making it an important aspect of design to consider in this list.

Content Focused Sites

There is a strong link between a greater focus on content and the increase use of responsive sites. It’s difficult to execute one well without the other. Many responsive sites establish “break points” based on site content, and content focused sites often rely on responsive design to clearly deliver content to a user based on the device they are using. We are seeing more designers focus on the “function” of design before the “fashion,” and I expect we will see more of this as designers and developers determine how to provide the best web experience for users.

More Custom Typography

Typography has been a growing trend in web design for several years. Smashing Magazine published an article in 2012 claiming “Typography is the Foundation of Web Design.” Despite the importance of type in web design, early attempts at custom typography were made difficult by browser compatibility. Thankfully, web browsers have come a long way in recent years and services like Google Fonts make it easier than ever to use beautiful, custom typography in web design.

Simple, Flat Design

I already mentioned that the functionality of responsive design has had an impact on the appearance of sites. One of the more prominent examples of this is the growing popularity of simple, “flat” designs. This trending design style isn’t entirely the result of responsive functionality. But the two are very compatible. Simple, flat designs tend to use fewer colors and avoid textures, gradients, and shadows. The Apple iOS 7 redesign is a good example of simpler, flat design. Microsoft’s Metro UI design also utilizes a simple, flat layout. As the web becomes responsively focused on content, sites are opting for simpler designs with flat design elements.

Single Page, Scrolling Sites

This is another trend that has been growing in popularity for several years. A popular idea with early web designers was “designing above the fold.” “The Fold” is originally a term referring to newspapers, which featured important content on the top half of the folded paper to entice readers to keep reading. Early web designers borrowed this concept and were worried that content placed too far down the page would seldom be accessed by site visitors. While “the fold” is still a debated topic among designers, the popularity and success of single-page designs seem to lend to the notion that “designing above the fold” is no longer necessary. One benefit of single page sites is that visitors can expect to find everything they are looking for on one page.

Video Usage

Increasing broadband Internet speeds and new web technologies like HTML5 video have led to an increase in online video use. Product videos, video storytelling, and even video backgrounds have all become popular with web designers.

Larger Design Elements

As designers simplify designs and focus more on content, important site elements are getting larger. Large typography, photography, video content, and illustrations have all been growing trends in recent years. I would combine these trends to say design elements are getting larger as a whole. This helps designers utilize screen real estate on large displays, and increase usability on small displays.

SVG and Other Vector Images

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) and other vector images provide designers with a way to address the need for web scalability. While responsive design allows designers to create websites that scale based on a user’s device, scaling images can be much more difficult. Designers need images that are large enough to look good on large displays, but don’t want to sacrifice load times for visitors accessing a site via a mobile device. Vector images offer a much-needed solution as they are small in size and can scale without any decrease in quality. This is a trend that might be hard to spot unless you view a website’s source code. It’s essentially the same as being able to tell if a site is using a .JPG or .PNG image just from looking at it. Unfortunately, vector images don’t provide scalability for photographs. I suspect as the need for a responsive web increases, we will see a greater use of vector images and may begin to see scalable solutions for photographs as well.

Other Trends

Web design is continually changing. I’ve already listed the trends that I think are the most important and will have the greatest impact on web design as a whole. Other trends that are worth noting include fixed navigation, swipe navigation, long shadow design elements, improved parallax support, and CSS3 animation. Remember, when dealing with design trends, what works is more important than what looks good at the moment. Consider what will provide the best experience for a visitor to your site before using a design technique simply because it is trendy.