As 2009 rolls out and the new year comes in, we will see new ideas being born and some old ones leaving us. This is the circle of design life. What will be trendy in the new year? Why should it matter? 2010 doesn’t mean that all new trends in design will pop up; rather, it just might be that the current trends will slowly evolve. Here are some of my design predictions for the coming year.
Icons
In 2010 I feel we will be seeing more and more icons on the web. This icon craze is partly fueled by social media and the great need to have social media icons on websites. They’ll allow users to easily find things like RSS, Bookmarking, links to other social sites, etc. Icons shouldn’t need elaborate 3D modeling and rendering, unless they’re used for other media as well as the web, but I do see this as an evolving and growing trend.
However, tiny, pixelated and flat colored icons have always struck me as more efficient (think ATM machine, browser windows and your smart phone) and conventional to interface design.
Big Typography
I see typography being used even more as a design element in and of itself, especially big typography. There are so many great type foundries out there creating incredible fonts and giving away some freebies along the way. This way designers have much more access to great fonts now than ever in history.
Magazine Style Layout
The magazine style look for websites and blogs seems to be dominating. This allows the site or blog to be clean and simply designed, eye-catching enough with photo/imagery and splashes of color, and the ability to show off a lot of content on one page with little previews or teasers of the main content.
Less Realism, More Minimal
I see a lot less of the realistic trend in 2010, no more paperclips and notepad looking paper. This is is all fluff unless it relates to the content directly. Minimalism is more of the direction nowadays. I see 2010 as a year designers will stop following trends, because that is a trend in itself, and explore their own unique flavor that each designer posses. But… trends are trendy for a reason, and designers should be made aware of them. The point of conventions is that they work and people are familiar with them.
Maybe we won’t see so much in terms of new trends, but rather an evolution of the current trends. As with everything, in 2010 you can certainly expect the unexpected! What are some trends you see in design for 2010?
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11 Responses to “Design Predictions for 2010”
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I agree with the most of your points. But I must add that you're making a slight contradiction when saying that Magazine styles will dominate, and then below that, you say minimalistic style will…
My opinion is that magazine styles are kind of outdated, and will be simplified and made easier to scan, instead of being so cluttered with all that info on single page… It's simply too much.
And minimalistic style will definitely see big growth in 2010. (along with big typography)
Excellent commentary here, and it all makes a lot of sense. Indeed, I am already noticing much of what you discuss becoming more and more prevelent, now that you mention it, so, I'd expect these to be amongst some of the natural trends for 2010 and beyond. thanks.
Thanks for commenting Designely. I think something can be minimal in its design but still have lots of content.
Thanks Lance! Yes, I feel all these trends will be evolving more and more through next year.
I see accessible design getting more attention via usability. More designers will use the accessibility features in web standards to enhance usability for all users, not just the disabled.
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