Help Us Choose the Best Web Design Trends for 2010 – Everyone’s an Expert!

In this blog entry we’ll introduce you the first part of what we think are the widespread web design trends so far. This actually comes down to everything that is currently of any significant design relevance. Thus we ask you, our friends, to help us define the top web design trends for the year of 2010 by choosing what you consider to be the most important ones and voting for them in the comments section of this post. You know we always appreciate communication and for this little help you will be able to win a free template (either a template containing your favorite trend or any other item) and one of two discounts – one for 50% and another for 30%. The voting will last for one week (until Feb 2nd 2010) and the winners will be randomly chosen from the ones who comment on this post so make sure you type in the valid email address.

In the long run, many blogs and publications individually define what trends will eventually become the most prominent ones. As for us – we’re sure that our numerous audiences have their personal thoughts on this issue to share. After all, the whole situation could be observed only on conditions of the maximum number of people having there opinions expressed. So feel free to bring your own unique ideas to the discussion:

1. More Whitespace:

The increasing prominence of white space has now become a conspicuous tendency. Being the key for simplicity, white in web design is extremely beneficial to build a page structure with an intelligible flow of content. This helps to focus users’ attention on the most important areas of the website.

Nest-living.com

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Flash template #27378

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2. Change of Perspective:

If we take a close look at the image perspective on websites of this web design trend, we’ll be able to spot the shift to a more realistic view since lots of web designers now play around with different image proportions, slants, and standpoints.

Kusoyama.com

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Flash template #26967

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Flash template #26430

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3. Multi-Column Layouts:

The expansion of this web design trend element is explained by striving for structural balance, hierarchy and order in website designs. Such grid layouts, providing users with a more horizontal space, offer better and brief overview of the available content issues. It makes possible to present the information rather compactly so that visitors could find all the options they are looking for.

Silenzio.fr

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SWiSH template #27456

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4. Out-of-the-Box Layouts:

When it comes down to the website renditions, we may admit that lots of designers now incorporate the new creative approaches to sound innovatory and immensely distinguished. Such visually inventive designs perfectly work for presenting website content in a more attractive and memorable way.

Oddodesign.com

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Flash CMS Template #27447

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Flash template #26191

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5. Oversized Headers:

Bigger graphics, let it be a logo or a header itself, is now a common experience used to make an unforgattable impression on the visitors. The huge design elements of this design trend play the role of catches to make people remember your website.

Yodaa.com

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Getmefast.com

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6. Elements Transparency:

Designers currently pay more attention to visual blending of design elements trying to fuse background images or any other visual design with the content, to improve the appearance of websites. Such transparent backgrounds are meant to highlight the important areas of the website and better integrate the objects.

Flash template #26272

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Magento theme #26800

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7. Slideshows:

Carousel navigation helps to rotate the content in the desired direction without unnecessary scrolling of various website sections. It concentrates sharply on content and makes it possible to present an interactive showcase. One of our favorite web design trends.

Pepejeans.com

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Drupal template #26080

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Flash Photo Gallery Template #25718

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8. Hand-drawn Designs:

Plenty of web designers currently sketch for websites creating their own hand-drawn styles. It is used to give a web page a unique and personified look and for sure to convey a sense of individual interaction.

Emobious.com

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Redvelvetart.com

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Flash template #27090

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9 Huge Typography:

New and different types are utilized as the main design elements to better reach the target audience. Apparently, web designers use larger and more expressive fonts to communicate the most important messages of their websites. Plus, this styling technique makes the website look more consistent and trustworthy.

Kylesteed.com

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Wearecupcake.com

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Flash template #27128

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Flash template #26464

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10. One-page Layouts:

Designs that keep website content on the same page are usually quite complex with a rich and vivid imagery. They may employ unconventional navigation techniques to offer user-friendly content options without any visual disconnection from the viewed page.

Website template #27192

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Website template #27036

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11. Minimalism:

In the year 2010 websites of the minimal web design trend will again feature lots of white space with a strong emphasis on the simplicity, but as well present fresh and stunning color schemes to sound warm and to the point.

Seymourpowell.com

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Flash template #26902

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Flash template #26529

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12. Huge Images:

With the main objective to draw the visitors into the site, huge images are employed to create a strong visual impact. Being more attractive, vivid, and therefore memorable such big graphics convey the inviting and comforting website tone.

Thomasbrun.no

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Werkstette.dk

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Flash template #26911

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13. “Speaking” Navigation:

The designers are now trying to render visually explained navigation with an explicit information of each website section. It makes browsing more pleasant and helps the visitors to perceive the content as being easier to surf through.

Daffys.com

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Joomla template #26971

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14. Oversized Footers:

Visually exaggerated, the footers are supposed to be more like an integral part of the website design that features various updates, personal or social media information.

Tntpixel.com

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Leemunroe.com

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Samrayner.com

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So we’ve caught sight of a definite shift for perfection and re-interpretation of the previous year’s hot web design trends. But now we crave for a new design vision, thus we encourage you to define those prevailing trends that will stick around in 2010. If you have any further ideas upon this issue, let us know in our comment section – we do appreciate your sharings!

Written by Lilian Rigo

Lilian Rigo, an expert columnist working with TemplateMonster since 2009, is committed to exploratory and creative writing that covers various aspects of the current state of web design and web development technologies.

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http://leemunroe.com/blog Lee Munroe
Excellent, thanks for the mention

admin
You’re welcome! And you vote for…? Oversized Footers?

Pavel K
Hi TM, I am definitely for more white space and huge typography is the key of attention of the user. I would also place my bet on more CMS designs (Joomla, WordPress, Drupal) which makes all “deploying” of websiote more feasible and less problematic. I have many customers of mine who are small business owner and CMS is the key of placing updates on their websites. Templatemonster…keep on good work. Thank you
http://www.meta-level-marketing.com Kurt Stoll
Trend: Use of the free CUB3R Flash 3D Image Slider for slideshows content.
http://www.progressivered.com/cu3er/
Lisa Chestnut
I am a big fan of several of these styles. I have clients looking for something different in their website design to make them stand out. That includes more out of the box & change of perspective designs. Depending on the subject of the site less is more so more white space & minimalism comes into play significantly. Huge typography can give a simple site a lot of class. Transparency is like design on top of design, it adds an extra opportunity to be creative.
I think that the trend for 2010 is texture. It gives a sense of motion, depth & touchability to a website. Emotion is huge when designing & adding just the right texture can give new life to boring.
I am ecstatic to see that we have so much choice & creativity in web design.
Thanks for your hard work.
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steve cameron
years ago – in print – we used to see clients looking to be different – so they’d opt for gloss paper stock when everyone was using matt. As more and more people used gloss, so the balance would change, and they would then want to be different and use matt.
A similar thing is happening online – but much, much faster. The issue is that as these trends speed up the funky look and feel of a page becomes old hat in a matter of weeks.
As designers we need to more to function and purpose, ease of navigability, interactivity, the call to action. These things will inevitably determine the success or otherwise of a site. It can look fantastic, but if a visitor is confused and doesn’t know where to go – well, you’ve lost them.
So yes, the design trend I’ll be looking to follow this year will be that of clarity and functionality. In the end, you can make the text as large as you like, but if I don’t understand it….
Watch out for the Emperor in his new suit….
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http://www.vintob.com Hani Khanafer
most of them are very good
http://www.teacherjuanfrancisco.com Juan Guzman
I think websites with cartoon animations are the ones I’d like to buy. A huge market is focused to children and adults who have an inner child in their minds. Lots of adults like colored informal pages rhater than formal ones. Y vote for yodaa.com, as first place, and second place for nest-living.com because its simplicity invites to click in.
http://seo.propertyinwisconsin.com Rudy McCormick
I like big footers.
james
Big typography! like it!
judith
Hi TM, like Pavel, I think usability still prevails, so I am for more white space and clear, and potentially larger, typography. Also, like Tavel, more CMS designs in the platforms noted, that include multiple page templates (think wp-remix) will be unstoppable winners and may revolutionize small and medium size businesses. Note — flash and other rich media features are excellent elements of sites but should augment a good experience or marketing effort rather than prevent it, which, unfortunately, is the end result of many of the templates offered. Thank you very much for the opportunity to chime in.
judith
ooops, I mean like PAVEL!

admin
fixed

http://www.swissaffaire.comwww.henrietaduffner.com Henrieta
I like many of shown designs, but my very favorit is probably
Nest-living.com – great life style, white is always good, well organized, the Minimalism (Seymourpowell.com) is cool, I like to watch it, it keeps me interested what comes next, and that is what I find very important. To keep my client starring on PC screen, playing around and have a fun (like in Oddodesign.com or Flash template #26191). Huge typography is definitively great, but I believe that this trend is getting slowly over, I have seen this already so many times. Animation is the future and lets not forget Flash its sexy! Even over that is maybe not always the best solution… I love it!
http://efficient-it-services.com.au Efficient IT Services
The use of oversized headers, oversized footers, and huge images all wrapped in a minimalistic design approach has been the trend that has appeared most promising in my eyes.
Designers have an increasingly diminishing time-frame to attract and hold a visitors attention. Unfortunately people just aren’t as willing to read anymore. Large graphics if positioned well will allow the visitors to glance over the website and hopefully pause for a moment, hopefully taking in more of the site content, or become intrigued enough to find out more.
The use of whitespace can effectively be used to highlight your attention grabbing/seeking sections, and provide the visitor with an uncluttered, visually appealing page.
Motion-based transitions between featured items, such as with xml flash sliders like cu3er can also be used to draw attention, however may also distract the visitors.
Well thats just my two-cents.
http://blog.enrimdesign.com Web Design, Graphic Design and Marketing
White space, oversized banners and huge images in my opinion are pretty dominant (and my favorites), however that is for people who are well-versed in design. For a regular joe-shmoe that might not be necessarily the case.
Randy Downs
12. Huge Images: is a great style & the lady is hot too. It could however distract from the content.
http://www.100dollardesign.com/umer Umer Bashir
FLASH CMS is the future.
Good luck 2010
Craig
Solid black or white backgrounds with single image and simple, short text.
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Marcus Graham
I like the #26430. It offers a fair amount of text space with good but not over used flash. I also really like the FullScreen feature!
Ruth
Very much go with the Yodaa.com or Flash template #26967 (this one just caught my eye).
http://www.nopun.com Noel Wiggins
2009 looks more like Flash template #26967 & 5. Oversized Headers:
I wished 2010 was more like 2. Change of Perspective:Kusoyama.com
Sites like Flash template #26464 would be cool but seems to be not user friendly being that it is so different in how most visitors would expect a navigation to work…
My vote would be for
11. Minimalism: Seymourpowell.com
which is a clever way to establish credibility but I don’t think it would work for everyone, but the thinking behind it should be a great source of inspiration
–
Thanks and Regards
Noel for Nopun.com
professional graphics design
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Andy
flash-cms-templates/27447 it’a a verry special one. I like it because I like this kind of effects… congratulation.
Charissa Wilson
While all trends listed do have their merits, I always find that I never get tired of seeing sites which make use of Design Trend #1 – More Whitespace.
Design Trend #1 – More Whitespace – gets my vote:)
http://www.lighthousewebcreations.com Rck Demetrioff
Nest-living.com
gets my vote
anna
for me it would have to be the huge typography and over sized headers. just impressive. saw a few sites with that style and liked them alot
Astrid
seymourpowell.com is great! I went to buy it and realized it wasn’t offered as a template..too bad. keep up the good work!

http://www.templatemonster.com/ Alex
yeah, what we feature here are not only templates. these are mostly someone else’s websites that are just good for illustrating the web design trend.
thanks for the vote anyways.

albert
I see the trend for 2010 moving towards more whitespace. My favorite is Nest-Living. It’s a sweet slice of minimalism.
Kim Weiler
I vote for trends #4 and #7.
http://www.atleastihavechicken.com Will Thompson
I dig the oversized images and transparent elements and love the change of perspective.
My vote goes for something decidedly unsexy, but insanely good for users – “Speaking” navigation
Olgierd
Flash template #26967 is my favorite for animation and composition. Navigation on this template is easy to understand for everybody what is very important.
http://www.colombiaimagenes.com Carlos Ruiz
i love the minimalism design of http://www.seymourpowell.com
http://www.webmasters.hu Webmasters
The layout depends on the information and purpose of the web site. The layouts’s purpose is to emphasise the contents.
My vote goes to (a combination of) More whitespace, Elements Transparency and Huge Typography
Netpaths
We are very excited about the switch to grid based layouts and horizontal designs that allow pages to be scanned easier and faster.
http://www.katcrane.com Kat Crane
I vote for Huge Typography & Out-of-the-box Layouts! As web users grow older, those old-school tiny (8 and 10 pt) fonts are increasingly annoying and ineffective. Note to you young designers: give me Huge Fonts so my older customers don’t need to search for their reading glasses! Also, with so many businesses on the web, my clients want a site that is memorable! Give me more out-of-the-box concepts, please! As always, TemplateMonster is on the cutting edge! Thanks!
Philip Stevens
Flash template #26430 Pro Elaborate gets my vote simple intro straightforward for the user
http://www.digitalkonline.com Kelly Ward
My vote is definitely for more whitespace!
http://kylesteed.com Kyle Steed
Thanks for including me in this post. Wow!
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http://www.hottechbuys.com/ Phillip
All of these designs have strengths and weaknesses, and all the examples are attractive and appropriate for the type of information they present. My main concerns with web site design in general are two:
1. Most of the designs are very long top to bottom… With more and more laptops offering WIDE screens, little of the overall design can be seen above the fold when the page first loads. Also, some of the designs require the visitor to scroll down quite far before seeing or being able to access all of the navigation. More focus should be put on wide designs rather than long or square designs.
2. Although the graphics and animation is very attractive and entertaining, most of the content is completely hidden to search engines. Unless the company or organization already has a very strong brand, they will want to be found when people search for general terms in the industry. This is not possible with invisible content. Alternative, textual representations of the graphical content must be included somehow so the site makes sense even in non-graphical browsers.
http://blueberrybaboon.blogspot.com/ Lisa Hanson
I’m not sure I can just pick one trend…I will say I like the transparency..and agree with someone who said prior its a design within a design. One suggestion I have is although I love some of your flash elements…I don’t enjoy having to go back to the menu to pick my next option. I know the flash is very cool but at the 6Th or so time…not so much. So I would always show a menu on each page that you can go back to without having to start over. I like white space but sometimes its a little harsh on the eyes so it has to be balanced. I believe it depends on your client I picked for my template a design by “Hugo” fictitious name , I’m sure. I chose the template because of the color combination , grey , white and sky blue..and also the professional look. My site is for business so I don’t like to waste time I like to get to the content…what I’m looking for quickly. But if I were a photographer , or artist, browsing would be fun. So my thought is that you design the templates with the client you are trying to reach.
Another thing I noticed with your current templates although I loved some of the dark or black templates the text was in a pale grey font…cool look not very practical if my content is important. After all the star of any template should be the company the template represents…all the cool gadgets, pictures , robots don’t mean anything if my client is too distracted to notice what I’m selling….of course that is just my opinion.
Over all I love this site and have told numerous people about it and will sign up for the affiliate that you have as soon as my site is constructed…I love your designers and your templates.
http://www.liewtaisan.com Tarz
2010 Trend: I vote for Flash CMS #27447 with more white like Nest-Living.com
http://www.pro24.hu Webáruház
I vote for Huge Typography or Minimalism
Kurtnelle
I think that minimal is better, I vote for that. That one that tells you the whole company in 7 clicks was extremely appealing. I’d never seen a interactive intro. Other than that I like the big image on the home concept.
Andreas Bergland
This is my vote
1. More Whitespace
2. Huge Typography
3. Speaking Navigation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 12:38 am and is filed under Reviews, Web Design Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.Both comments and pings are currently closed.