The last couple of years have witnessed many so called “technological shifts” and advancements in the type of devices that are used by individuals. There is almost a technical war between various corporate stalwarts in a bid to outdo the other and attract clients, regardless of whether it is selling hand held and mobile devices or offering web hosting package deals and plans.

There is a constant tug-o-war between technology-driven companies to get the major share of consumers in the virtual marketplace As such; more and more companies are striving hard to offer the best to their customers.

In this write up, let us find out how the digital world has evolved over the years with the implementation and exclusion of various “technological shifts”.

Evolving trends in digital designs

The ones that are associated with the digital designing industry have witnessed the growing prominence of mobile devices, increased requirement and demand for network bandwidth, inclusion of in-browser via WebGL (3D support), CSS3, HTML5, frameworks with front-end javascript, responsive, mobile-first technology, and this in turn have given rise to paradigm shift as far as web designing is concerned.

It is a well known fact that even a couple of years ago, the concept of flat design prevailed and ruled the scenario too. However, then came the concept of Material design. And as newer technologies are being introduced web design takes a leap further to offer an experience to users that is closest to reality. In other words, in the context of functionality, fonts, choice of colors, and technology, this year (2017) has been more or less a hybrid year as far as technology related to web design is concerned.

Prominent trends to watch out for in digital design

There are few elements as far as designing websites are concerned that are gaining increasing prominence. The following points highlight just the same. Let us see what they are.

Broken and asymmetrical layouts

Although the online services that depend heavily on content continue to make use of card user interfaces as well as grid based structures that are more or less conventional, nevertheless, the incorporation of layouts that are highly experimental is gaining prominence.

This is because more and more brands are striving hard to stand out from the rest. What are broken layouts all about? Also referred to as broken grids, it is a different approach to designing your website that involves placing your on-screen content in column grids that are not as per the standard format usually used. Instead, the content is placed at grids beyond 10, 12, and 15 column grids. However, it cannot be said that the above mentioned figure is the standard benchmark. The column grids at which placement of content are effected usually differs in accordance to the type of project undertaken and choice of the web designer.

Parallax and scrolling features

Earlier, it was seen that the scrolling function was mainly used to navigate from the top of the page to the bottom and vice versa. However, these days, this particular feature is being markedly used for reasons that are much more creative in approach.

As far as Parallax is concerned, more and more companies are incorporating this mechanic in developing their website. For instance, this “scrolling” feature offers a 3D effect. It is basically an amazing visual tool. In other words, it offers the much sought after “dynamism” that visitors look for while browsing through the web pages.

Drop shadows and skeumorphism

Although the concept of drop shadows is not a new feature, however, it is a well known fact that as far as digital design trends are concerned, a particular trend when it is first introduced does not just stop there. Web designers all over the globe strive hard to find out variations of the same.

Drop shadows have played an instrumental role in giving every image that extra edge, particularly the diffused shadows. In fact, these drop shadows were used even when the concept of skeumorphism first struck roots in the web design world.

Over the years, again due to development and progression of technology, series of experimentation is being carried out. Thanks to the zealous designers that are constantly in search of newer concepts through their experimentation efforts.

Advancement in navigation

It is a well known fact that more and more brands are switching over to their mobile version after Google’s mobile-first indexing pre-requisite. As such, the designers that have still not made the necessary changes or adopted the newer elements are finding it difficult to synchronize the designing of the desktop version and mobile version of their website simultaneously.

As such, the so called “hamburger” approach is being implemented. Instead of using up space in your web page for showing navigation, you could use “the much popular three lines” that offer the provision for the next course of action for the visitors.