305 News

By: Naoki Sonoda

Every industry experiences a constant influx of new trends. The trends that quickly fizzle are remembered as fads (if remembered at all), while the trends that prove themselves to be highly useful become industry standards. Even the most long-standing industry norms are constantly being replaced with more effective methods and business practices. The web design industry is a great example of how this process is constantly at work.

Design Must Respond to Technology: Responsive Design

When a website is designed so that it has the ability to adapt to different screen sizes or operating systems without a loss of resolution or corruption of the original design, it is said to have responsive design built-in. Although responsive design is considered by many to be a current trend in web design, it will become more of a necessity as the Internet becomes more accessible through portable devices like the tablet and smart phone by more and more people.

Before these portable devices gained widespread popularity, most people would surf the Internet on their computers. Designers would create web pages with one medium or platform or viewing their web pages in mind: the computer monitor. The major shift the Internet brought was the need to design for the web rather than the printed page, but once that was sorted out, designers had a new "standard" of sorts, and that standard (the computer monitor) would remain in use until the introduction of e-readers, tablets, and smart phones.

The aforementioned mobile devices changed the way web content was delivered. Gone was the standard of the computer monitor as the sole means of viewing web content. Today, people are viewing their web content on significantly smaller screens in addition to their computer monitors, which becomes a vital consideration when designing a web page. A designer must now consider whether his or her choice of images and graphics can be intelligible and effective across the entire range of possible viewing platforms, and responsive design helps to facilitate this.

When a trend like responsive design is considered to be the future of an industry, it must be embraced and mastered, as it is vital to a designer's survival.

Minimalism: Less is less…confusion

Another trend in graphic design today is minimalism. This recent nod towards simplicity has behind it the idea that the fewer elements that exist in a design, the less distracted or confused the visitor will be. With a vast population of amateur web designers creating web pages, the Internet has become saturated with ineffective design. One of the hallmarks of ineffective design is to not have the ability to know when a page has been over designed, when it has too many elements that cause more confusion than clarity.

A professional graphic designer will know when to stop designing, or more importantly, what to remove from an existing design to make it more effective in communicating to a visitor. (For more on the pros of hiring a trained designer, read my previous post: The Importance of Hiring a Pro.

Your business' website exists for one reason: to increase your bottom line, and this cannot happen unless your message is clearly communicated to your audience. In general, a simple message is the most effective, and if you have a choice between overly complex or simple, I would choose the latter.

The Key is to Spot the Most Useful Trends

Being able to speculate about the value of new trends is of great use to business owners. As in any industry, the ability to foresee what will be useful to your business or the market in general, versus what will not, is of utmost value. Trends should only be adopted if they will add value to your business, or if they are so inevitable that you have no other choice but to adapt by incorporating them.

Responsive design is one such trend that adds value, while also being an inevitable part of the future. It adds value because it opens up a web page to various platforms, which translates to more total visitors and exposure. No matter what platform a web page is viewed on, the look and functionality remain the same, allowing for continuity of user experience.

The continuing proliferation of portable devices points to the inevitability of responsive design, and designers must add this skill to their repertoire if they want to remain relevant in their field. In this regard, there is no choice, because without this skill, they will become obsolete.

Stay Informed to Stay Relevant

With technology and industry constantly changing, you must stay abreast of the latest trends in your trade. As in any profession, stagnation only breeds failure. You may be a veteran in the field of design, but that is no excuse for sitting still and not seeking out information that will grow your business. Complacency is the last thing you want if you want to stay relevant in your industry, and to your clients, both old and new.

About the Author

Naoki Sonoda has a degree in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is passionate about words, language and accuracy in communication.