10 Top 2013 Web Design Trends

Your company’s website is the face of your online presence, and is important for creating the right first impression. But what looked good when you first launched your website may not look quite as sharp today. Here are ten of the latest website design trends – how does yours compare? 

1. Dynamic, targeted content

Every year brings a new set of trends. In 2013, the shift has been towards behaviour driven smart design. This means that the behaviour and preferences of the target audience dictate the design style, and even the content, as with the new Content Optimisation System (COS) from HubSpot – read more about the key features here.

2. Minimalism

Smart design isn’t the only new trend for 2013. Something else we’ve also started to see in many new websites launched or updated this year is minimalism. The Microsoft ‘metro’ approach, which we see in Windows 8, the Xbox interface and Windows-powered smartphones, and all associated online marketing material, is typical and indicative of this trend. Even Apple is set to follow suit with the release of iOS 7 later this year.

3. Single website for multiple screen sizes

Ever more people are accessing the internet on mobile devices, creating a need for websites to look good both on full-size screens and on the small displays of tablets and smartphones. 

This is where responsive design comes in, a principle by which one website is coded such that it will adapt its layout and styling automatically, depending on the device it’s being viewed on – read more about the topic in What on Earth is Responsive Web Design?

4. Infinite scrolling

When it comes to e-commerce websites, infinite scrolling is in for 2013. Made famous by Pinterest, a social media platform website which currently has the third highest number of users in the world, infinite scrolling is a design wherein the content loads continuously as you scroll down. 

Essentially, pages can be endless, but this should not be confused with single-page websites, another design trend in itself.

5. Transparency

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheet, allows web designers to control a website’s entire styling – colours, fonts and so on – from one single file. The latest incarnation of this coding technology, CSS3, includes a way to control transparency (opacity) levels of graphics and text. Transparency levels can be used to create dynamic 3D kind of effects. 

6. Modular tile design 

Modular tiles (graphics containing text) are replacing internal text (anchor) links. Since pictures appear more attractive, these designs tend to increase engagement. Using this concept, we can create excellent ‘storytelling’ websites that encourage visitors to move from one page to the next. DigitalPodge.co.uk is a great example.

7. App-like interfaces

With the emergence of responsive design, web designers have taken to creating websites interfaces that resemble apps. Characteristics of such websites include clearly presented text and simplified content. Check out Microsoft SkyDrive.com for a good example of a website moving towards the app philosophy. 

8. Infographics 

Infographics aren’t new for 2013, but with the rising popularity of single-page sites and infinite scrolling, we’re now seeing websites appear that bear a striking resemblance to these popular data visualisations.

Online audiences tend to have short attention spans, but the combination of text and images that we see in infographics is more engaging than text alone. Moreover, we humans have excellent visual memory and imagery appeals to us – this is one reason why infographics and highly-visual websites are shared more across social media and aggregators like Reddit and StumbleUpon.

Check out Carbonmade.com for a superb example of an infograhic-style website:

9. Fixed headers

Fixed headers – in which the top area where the logo and menu normally appear remains fixed and does not scroll up – provide visitors with a website anchor while they scroll through pages.

Although the concept of fixed headers is not new and has existed in the design industry for some time now, this technology was never exploited to its full potential. However, in 2013 we’ve seen a lot of recognition for this highly practical design style. Facebook is one such proponent of the fixed header.

Fixed headers can be used on any kind of website, be it a blog, social network or business portal. It lends a subtle stability to the website and simplified navigation.

10. Large high-definition multimedia backgrounds 

Images and videos have established their importance to web design, and in 2013 we’re seeing more websites with large, high-definition visual backgrounds. As well as aesthetic value, a relevant visual background can give a visitor an instant connection to a website’s character and contents.

This design style is typical of portfolio websites of photographers or design professionals, but it also being used now for all manner of sites. CSS3 transparency allows designers to use full-page visuals as backgrounds, superimposed with informative content, thereby making it suitable for any online experience.

Hellohikimori.com is a stylish example – just turn your speakers down before checking it out.

Want to see more great website designs? Download for free our 53 Brilliant Home Page Designs ebook. Each example has been picked by Versio2 and Inbound Marketing partners HubSpot, with notes on why they’re so good at creating the right first impression.