It’s a brand new year so let’s look back on some broad
trends and some old consistencies.
Digital North is entering its 19th year of business;
we have seen a lot of changes over those years. This past year (or so) has for
us really seen the turning point of the template. Word press of course has been
around for years but this year we have really seen its impact on the business world.
More and more businesses are jumping onto that system rather than a custom CMS.
A word of caution though, some designs can be harder to program and the user
interface that Wordpress isn’t as simple as our PHP CMS systems.
Going along with that template world is the preference for large
blocks of graphic coloured space and loosely set design items (In my mind the
two are connected). Simplicity seems to be the word of the day with clean
straight lines and not a lot of design-y extras.
We have also seen the rise of the app and mobile site. If you’re
not using a smart phone we are not talking to you, but for everyone else it’s
have it my way, from iphone to ipad, galaxy tab, windows RT… ect, ect, ect… it’s
all about the user having right looking content on the platform they are using.
In the end these trends come and go and we will continue to
watch, respond and add to the greater online world but remember; the classics
never change, you can’t beat a clear marketing direction, a focus on the user
experience and clean navigation will get you there every time.
