The Future of Internet Marketing in 2015 - 15 Trends from Webakula

We can't leave you in the dark about the latest web trends, well, we just can't. All the most relevant, fresh, fashionable and amazing - wind your head, get ideas, develop your business!

At first glance, the upcoming trends are not much different from last year: the same flat, adaptive, typography, emphasis on social networks and worship of content. However, next year, noticeable changes in the already bored trends are predicted.

1. Minimalism and the rebirth of flat design

The tone of the trend, as before, is set by smartphones and tablets. Flattening textures and gradients, hamburger menus, sliding navigation fields, hypertrophied interfaces and flat design - forced measures that initially arose in favor of touch devices, have been developed on the full-size web.

Skeuomorphism has been replaced by metro-style (aka flat design), no one will be surprised by this. Nevertheless, "flat" graphics in the outgoing year received a powerful rethinking. Suffice it to recall Google's Material Design, where flat has become an end-to-end principle for the interaction of graphics, animation, and dynamic interface elements.

The main features of the so-called "material design":

• physical phenomena in the basis of multimedia organization;
• realism (adding a slight effect of volume and shadows);
• functional animation.

As a result, the design should become more meaningful and easier to use, focusing the user's attention on the most important thing - the content.

2. Fewer special effects

Already now there is a clear trend of neglecting spectacular, but cumbersome scroll effects and parallaxes. It cannot be said that these chips will soon completely disappear from monitor screens, but they will certainly become more restrained and thoughtful. The modern web tends to avoid the clutter that poorly implemented effects create. A bright future involves only the appropriate, dosed use of scrolling and parallax.

3. Responsive in a new way

Post-responsive still exists as a set of ideas, but only lazy people do not talk about it. This includes not only wearable gadgets, but also the adaptation of sites and applications to factors such as time, user location, weather, browser history, current events, and much more. The cutting-edge web strives to tailor the interface to the context.

4. Flexible typography

Applying the postulates of print typography on the web leads to an inevitable fiasco. Mobile gadgets come to the rescue again. In 2015, we will say goodbye to small print as text needs to look perfect on any device. In other words, not only images and site layout structure will be adaptive, but also typography.

5. Animation with meaning

To connect interface elements and visually demonstrate their states, designers are increasingly using functional animation. Using the laws of physics familiar and understandable to users from real life, site builders are trying to make the web world a little more orderly and not without success. Animation goes to a new level, allowing visitors to perceive the design of sites holistically, intuitively.

6. Gigantomania

Sites with huge fonts, while viewing which the hands itch to change the scale. A trend, again coming from the world of touch devices. This is due to small screens compared to full-fledged computers, on which it is necessary not only to easily use navigation, but also to read the text without a magnifying glass. It may seem to someone that the site owner simply has no time to reorganize a resource tailored for smartphones for PC monitors. In fact, huge sites are nothing more than a by-product of adaptability and completely a tribute to fashion.

7. Fewer sidebars

We can safely say that 2015 will be held under the banner of simplifying the perception of information for users. Hence the rejection of the sidebar and the search for alternative solutions. For example, a sticky menu at the top or bottom of a page.

8. Large images

The theme is not new, but still relevant: hero image - huge images at the top of the site, as well as large pictures as a background. What is there to say? Large scale always captures attention. Sometimes this method expresses the main idea of the company more effectively than words.

9. Transparent buttons

Calls to action on outline or, as they are also called, ghost buttons, have become popular thanks to the same large pictures. Hollow theme buttons are convenient because they can be placed in any part of the resource, on top of any images. Most often they are used on sites with a laconic design, they are larger than their “filled” counterparts, and are distinguished by a contour that contrasts with the background. Otherwise, everything is the same – a concise call to action, location in a prominent area of the site and various effects when hovering the mouse or clicking on touch devices.

10. Experiments

The trends described above may suggest some kind of standardization of the web for mobile devices. Practice shows that entrepreneurs drinking champagne after a risky business did not decrease from this. The desire to stand out and present an extraordinary product / offer to potential customers is always in trend.

For clarity, an example of an original and successful idea is the IKEA Instagram page, which has gained wide popularity. It was dedicated to the annual limited collection of furniture and consisted of the main account and 34 auxiliary accounts dedicated to a single piece of furniture. At the same time, the pages are linked to each other and on each of them the photos form an integral interior with tagged goods.

11. Social Diving

According to research, Internet users spend about 25% of their free time on social networks. Social signals (links to a resource, likes) are highly valued by search engines. Strengthening the content in social media will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the position of the site and business performance.

12. Content in favor

Users miss longposts! Text content is back in fashion! You give interesting reading matter to the masses! At the same time, the articles should be really informative, meaningful, in terms of presentation not inferior to eminent printed publications.

It's time to move from the primitive process of information sharing to analytical research - the so-called visual storytelling using videos, graphs, and illustrations. The trend is specialized development projects with high-quality design and wide functionality.

13. Interactive infographics

The popularity and effectiveness of infographics would be a sin not to use in website building. The presentation of complex information of a large volume in graphical form is complemented by the ability to interact with it. As a result, we get web graphics - convenient, understandable, interesting - it helps to increase the duration of the user's stay on the site.

14. The ubiquitous email marketing

It has been and will continue to be relevant. Newsletters create a strong base for business development by returning visitors and customers to the site. Informative, personalized mailings will be successful. Skillful, thoughtful use of animation can also help in the fight for customer loyalty.

15. Unique innovation

Super-new technologies will help finally win the heart of a picky buyer. Offer your customers a service on the verge of fantasy, and they will reach out to you. Modern services offer a lot of opportunities:

• personalized versions of sites (similar to Amazon);
• the possibility of trying on goods (practiced not only with clothes and accessories, but even with a test drive of cars);
• delivery of goods by drones and much more.

In pursuit of fashionable novelties, do not forget about the "classics": a unique selling proposition, a quality product and impeccable management. We hope you were able to get fresh and useful ideas from the article to make your online business not only trendy, but also successful.