Fresh Techniques for Modern Web Design

There are so many beautifully-designed websites out there and coming up with one that stands out from the competition can be a daunting task.  However, being abreast with the latest trends and techniques can help in creating outstanding custom web design. The following are some excellent techniques and design elements that can help designers in building beautiful and effective websites.

Bright Colors





Add a lot of impact to your custom web design by using vivid colors. Bright colors will work well on sites that want to appeal to younger demographics or for sites which want to exude a casual vibe. However, it is best to use colors either in the similar hues or saturation to keep the appearance cohesive and prevent the site from looking too busy.
Also make sure to allow sufficient contrast between elements without using too much (such as red text on a green background). This is especially important with text, as improper contrast can make things very difficult, if not impossible, to read.
Gradients and Lighting Effects





Gradients and lighting effects are ideal when you want give your site a more dramatic feel. Mixed or used separately, they can add a bit of extra polish to your designs. A subtle tone-on-tone gradient can make a great background, while gradients mixed with lighting effects are often used to create awesome header images.

Take caution when using both gradient and lighting effects (particularly multiple effects).  For best results, limit either the colors used, the intensity of the lighting effects, or the overall number of effects to prevent your design from looking too busy.

Transparency





Add interest to your design by using transparent boxes.   Whether it’s a photo, a sketch, or just geometric and graphic elements, transparent layers can give your background a larger part in your site’s design. However, this technique only works well when using backgrounds that aren’t too busy.

Grunge





Want to give your boring and antiseptic site an edge? Add in subtle grunge elements. The most common elements of grunge designs include dirty textures; messy borders (that often look like paint brush strokes or decay); torn paper; staples, paper clips and similar elements; muted colors; water or other liquid stains; grungy fonts; and other decayed and destructed elements. Carefully using any or all of these can add a new layer of interest to your design.

Hand-Drawn Images





Sketched and hand-drawn elements can make your custom web design look fun and cool. These elements can give whimsy and artistic vibe to your website. These sketches or doodled elements can work for sites that cater to the younger set.

Muted Colors





Just like vivid colors, muted colors are also a great way to create an inviting site. Mixing in muted colors with one or two brighter or darker accent colors can be put to good use to make certain elements of your site stand out. Muted colors don’t need to be limited to grays or browns. You can use any hue in the spectrum, just toned down or with a grayish-tinge.

Watercolor Effects





Thanks to Photoshop brushes and textures, using watercolor elements to boost the look of a website has become easier. Using watercolor effects in headers, backgrounds, and other elements is fast becoming a popular design trend. What makes watercolor elements outstanding is that they can easily be made to stand out or stay in the background depending on the colors you use and how transparent you make them. Either way works, and what you choose to do should depend on whether you want your site designs to have a bold or subdued appearance.

Elements from Nature





Aside from environmental and green industry websites, nature-inspired elements are also gaining popularity on designer portfolios and personal blogs. These elements can be used in a variety of ways. They can be used as part of a background design or can be incorporated into headers or icons. Some use them all over the place, wherever they’ll fit. Finding creative ways to incorporate nature-inspired elements can be a fantastic and fun design challenge.

Photo-Realistic Backgrounds





Photo-realistic backgrounds are created using multiple photographs or have elements added to photos that appear real but are actually digital or computer-generated. This technique has gained popularity over the past two years with the creation of desk-top or table-top backgrounds which generally consist of a wooden surface with various papers, coffee, cups, and other elements overlaid on them. It’s a difficult technique to pull off (making sure shadows and light sources are all consistent, etc.) but makes for an awesome effect when well-executed.

Oversized Typography





Add importance and impact to certain text elements in your website by using oversized typeface. Some sites even opt to use oversized typography for all their text, which actually works! However, you really don’t need to use humongous fonts for your text to have an increased impact; making it one or two sized larger than you normally would can work wonders for how much weight it has within the overall design.

Decorative Fonts





Fancy typography can definitely make a website pop! using a decorative font like a script together with a serif font gives a very elegant feel to any website. And with the advent of JavaScript and other text replacement tools, replacing text with an image in the desired font, is made easier. However, it is still wise to limit the number of fonts you want to use to prevent the site from looking too busy. But if typography is the primary graphic element within the site, you can use more diverse typefaces as long as you keep color and/or proportion similar.

Bold Backgrounds





The use of big background images is another note-worthy trend in modern web design. There are a number of ways to do this, including creating resizing images. By using more complex or simpler designs, limited or vibrant color schemes, and other, similar design choices, you can change the impact a big background will have.

Retro and Vintage Elements





Seeing retro, vintage, and antique elements on a website design is a refreshing sight. This kind of design is not yet that popular on the web and can provide a website with that fresh and new look. These elements can add a layer of fun or nostalgia to websites when used judiciously and can even add an extra layer of charm or class.

Stunning Headers







The header is usually the part of a website that first attracts the viewer’s attention. It often contains important information you want to stand out to your site’s visitors. They can reinforce your company’s image, provide vital information, highlight important features, and more. Using a header that’s eye-catching, through the use of color, images, and typography, makes it more likely visitors will take the time to look at what’s up there.

Collage Elements





Collage elements are some of the most versatile design options out there. Used sparingly with clean edges, they can make a custom web design look more polished and finished. With rough edges or used copiously, they can add a more artsy look to your site. And when they’re somewhere in between, they add a real flourish to website designs.

Textured Backgrounds







Using backgrounds with a bit of texture can make any website fascinating and add that extra bit of appeal to the site. A textured design, whether dirty and grungy or made to look like cloth or anything in between can really add some punch to the look of your site. There are literally thousands of textured and patterned backgrounds out there you can adapt to the design needs of your sites, or create your own for something truly one-of-a-kind.

Tabbed Navigation







As per our experience, tabbed navigation works better than button- or text-based navigation. Tabs sort of have a subliminal effect on viewers that clicking on a tab will take them to a new page or section, just like in a binder or notebook. This psychological connection makes it more likely people will click around on your site and visit different sections thereby increasing page views per visitor.

Black and White









Want to make a statement  on your website?  Use a black and white color scheme.  Using stark black and white is the most graphic, but combining shades of white, light gray and cream with blacks, dark grays, and dark browns can all have a significant graphic impact. Experiment with different levels of contrast to come up with the appropriate level for your specific design project. A design with mostly white coloration makes a site feel lighter-weight and more streamlined while a mostly black design looks heavy.

Horizontal Scrolling





Horizontal scrolling does not work on all sites.  They are best reserved for sites with limited content like a portfolio site. But when combined with modal boxes and other content elements, they can make a huge impact on your visitors. It’s something new to people who are more used to vertical scrolling thus, it can give such a huge impact.

Cartoon Elements







Another design technique that can add a touch of whimsy to a website is the use of cartoon elements.  They add a level of fun and humor to your site. Whether you keep them relatively professional and polished in a corporate site or let them get a little looser, cartoon characters and other design elements keep your site looking fresher and younger.