Themes and Mods

8 WordPress Designs Trending in 2018

We know from experience that design trends can turn out to be a short-term fad. Others can remain popular over time. Either way, web designers should ignore them at their peril. The way the industry works becomes a matter of keeping up with the latest trends or lose out to the rising competition.

Your best friend to be able to keep up with these trends is time and effort, many designers tend to prefer to devote their time to the actual design work but can be left behind if they don’t apply themselves to keep abreast of the evolution.

Practice making a trend that works for you whereby it becomes natural as today you can’t add metallic, or smoke shine to your pages as it’s a staple recommendation that many developers turn to, you have to think about and work on something new.

Thankfully there’s WordPress that keeps abreast of all the latest trends for designers. Helping to incorporate elements of these trends in its library of well over 300 pre-built websites.

Here are some examples of the eight latest design trends that have been put to work so far using WordPress in 2018.

Trend #1: Illustration & Graphic Art

Custom illustration and graphic art are always a favorite theme. Vintage watercolors have been seen as more of an underground sub-trend, but it is catching on fast.

It brings nostalgia and a reminder of good times to the table. This may be a reason for it new found popularity. The use of bold fonts (another design trend this year) fits in perfectly. It does so by attracting attention that does not detract from the images you use.

Trend #2: Light, Smoke and Shadow

Designers like to play around with light and shadow to create special effects. Sometimes these can be subtle ones and sometimes more dynamic. Adding smoke to the mix is proving to produce some vibrant and incredible results as smoke can create a range of emotions and can be used to make dynamic statements and emotion in combination with a sultry look.

Trend #3: 3D Moving Stills

3D moving stills can produce the most mesmerizing results with the effects they produce but make no mistake prove not to be the easiest subjects to create or work with. Creating an illusion of motion gives the user an engaging quality that can be another level to that of animation, as an example consider the illusion of flow.

Trend #4: Gradients and Color Transitions

In the recent past, It was bold colours were the hot new trend, but things move at a rapid pace, and now we have color transitions and gradients which are considered even hotter as they are useable in a multitude of situations, including with bold and pastel colors that are always on the designer’s radar. New trends have been incorporating gradients with still life portraits or minimalist geometry, and are a sure bet to experience some rewarding results if used in a modern way.

This trend is ideal for designers to experiment with different textures, using the light, shadow (and smoke), gradients along with color transitions.

Trend #5: 2018 Still Life

Still Life continues to be fashionable. The latest trend swaying in this direction involves 3D images or photographs, and it’s fascinating use of white space, something you should be looking in to.

Trend #6: A Metallic Shine

Its versatility is the main reason for its popularity, and it’s trending in 2018 as it is being used in multiple ways. Metallic shine may be present across the entire page. It is versatile can be applied to specific design elements or element types, as well as typography. Metallic shine’s popularity has become evident in today’s market. It is usable across multiple industry sectors and business niches, so if you are familiar with how to use it, you are ahead of your competition.

Trend #7: Brutal-ism on the Rise

This in-your-face design, in essence, is simplistic, bold and clear. If the “less frills” approach is what you are looking for then this is the trend for you. Basically the opposite of soft pastel like features or romantic themes. Be sure to apply with caution as although this is a new and current trend it is not suitable for all sites.

Trend #8: Off the Cuff Typography

We have been conditioned to keep letters in a straight line. That’s perfectly normal for most situations. But that “rule” or convention can serve as a straight jacket for creatively minded designers. Many, if not most creative design endeavors rely on a certain degree of artistic vision and maybe even chaos, Typography can fall into this category.

Always keep UX at the forefront of your thoughts as this is becoming more and more prevalent in all forms of design today, ensure you do not make users have to think hard to understand the message you are trying to convey.

Summary and Conclusion

Be sure to familiarize yourself with these eight trends to stay one step ahead of your competition. Take note of what is the easiest way to apply them.

Remember to get creative with custom graphic art and illustrations. Surprise yourself, your clients, and your users by adding smoke to a mix of light and shadows.

Make use of moving stills; they tend to be more effective than animation. Apply gradients or color transitions to your favorite trends. Look to create 3D still life with clever photography and make use of white space.

Finally, brutal-ism is back, so when you need to convey a clear message this is a go-to trend. Add metallic elements; these add a touch of glamour to your designs when applied

Author Bio:
James Row is a passionate blogger and professional software developer who started his career in WordPress web development, has a love for informative writing, and looks to keep you up to date with the latest information about the industry.