In my last post, I discussed a few design trends that I was excited about after reading
Web Design Shock’s article on trends for 2011. I had a chance to experiment with some of them in the past months.
For example, the "Fun with Typefaces" trend is one of my favorites. Google recently made various fonts available to use for web. You can view this growing list
here. All of these can be installed and used for web designs, so you no longer have to be stuck with using the default (and sometimes boring) fonts. I can add more character to designs with the use of these. One example completed recently (a collaborative effort completed by Jen Fox and I at Fat Atom) was Vine & Table’s Eat Drink Evolve site:
http://eatdrinkevolve.com. The design makes use of the Google web fonts
Oswald and
Lobster, which both fit in nicely with the look and feel of the site.
Textures
One trend I would like to explore more in future designs is use of textures. Adding textures can add dimension and richness to designs, making things more interesting than a plain background. Some of the most popular textures are grunge, paper or wood textures.
Pictures as Backgrounds
Another trend that I think can look amazing if done properly is letting the picture be the background. If a high quality image is used, you can add focus to certain areas by using selective placement for text and other elements.
This site for restaurant Geogeske is a great example:
http://www.g2geogeske.com/
I love how they focused on the food on the table and blurred the rest to add a focal point and also so the navigation menu didn't get lost. All of the colors work well together also.
One attempt at using a picture in a design and having it be the focus was this design I did last year for The Rocky Mountains:
http://www.therockymountains.com. Taking the design a step further may have been to let the picture expand and fill up more of the background. The choice to let images be the main focus is perfect for a site like this which shows the visitor what they will see when they visit.
I look forward to continuing to use these techniques in future designs and finding new ways to spice up my designs.
About Whitney Watt
Whitney Watt has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communication from IU's Herron School of Art & Design. As a graphic designer at Fat Atom, Whitney uses aesthetic knowledge to design graphics that communicate visually, meeting specific commercial and promotional needs for clients. Some of her interests include running her fashion blog (www.getwhitit.com) and traveling with family.
