Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................2

Video Background Trend......................................................................................................2

Very Large Typography Trend..............................................................................................3

No ‘Chrome’ Trend.................................................................................................................3

No ‘Chrome’ Trend’ (cont).....................................................................................................4Personal Branding Trend......................................................................................................5

Split Screens / Vertically Split Layout Trend.......................................................................6

Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7

References..............................................................................................................................8

Introduction

In today’s society business and life in general rely a great deal on technology and the

Internet. Websites can be considered as online magazines that companies can use to

display and communicate information to their customers and potential customers. Just as

technology advances so do web designs and new trends emerge each year. In the following

report as a team of five we look at and discuss five of many web design trends of 2015. The

trends that we have looked at include The Video Background Trend; The Very Large

Typography Trend; The No ‘Chrome’ Trend; The Personal Branding Trend and the Split

Screen/ Vertically Split Layout Trend.

Video Background Trend

A video background is one if the website design trends of 2015. Websites are generally used

to provide information or tell a story to the visitor of the site. Providing this information or

bringing the story across to the visitor is more effective if done through motion pictures. The

use of the video background is to illustrate ideas and emotions to visitors. Many businesses

make use of video backgrounds in their websites. According to (Adrian, 2015) this trend will

develop with endless possibilities of 3D graphics and High definition (HD) quality videos to

build the sense of real life experience. However, this trend has a shortcoming such as an

extended load time. A Bloom of ruins is an example of video used in the background of a

website; the video makes use of lights and blurred imagery in the video. Likewise,

Bloomberg Media, a media company that provides large amounts information and breaking

news. Thus, they make use of videos where they are able to activate the video by hovering

their mouse across the advertisement. Many cell phone brands such as Apple use video

background to illustrate the specifications of their products. Thus, the video background

trend is beneficial for companies.

Very Large Typography Trend

Very large typography is amongst the many website trends of 2015. Large font is essential in

enhancing the visual hierarchy of the page by ensuring that visitors read the largest font on

the page first. Large font is an attention grabber. Thus, some website designs have large

fonts that illustrate that certain sections of the content of the site are more important. For

example, “Tiny Giant websites showcases very large typography right when you first visit the

page. It makes a visual statement that isn’t likely to be missed.” Moreover, Oliver Kavanagh

a blogger uses large font in his personal blog to attract attention from his visitors. In addition

Wordit, a free word game for those who enjoy scrabble, lexulous and other word games.

According to (Word Puzzle Game, 2015) Wordit uses large fonts to illustrate the site name

and attract visitor’s attention to online applications. Thus, very large typography is used in

web pages to attract user’s attention.

No ‘Chrome’ Trend

In web design the term ‘chrome’ is a collective term that is used to refer to all the borders,

headers, containers and footers that cover a web page. Web designers surmise that all

these things are merely a distraction on a page and that eliminating them allows the

individual to focus primarily on the focal point of the website which would be the service or

product or image of the service or product the site is displaying. Instead all menus are

concealed somewhere on the chrome free page. (Boyer, 2015)

Examples:

No ‘Chrome’ Trend’ (cont)

Concealed

Menu

http://www.br-time.jp/

In the above example the header and footer have been completely eliminated. Only the main

navigation and image are displayed.

http://foreword.io/

In the third example again both the header and footer have been eliminated. The main

content is accentuated and below only the main navigation is displayed. (McNeil, 2015)

Personal Branding Trend

The name

disappears

and the menu

appears once

the menu

button is

pressed.http://drurybuildings.com/

Personal branding is essentially what you are known for and what people seek you out for.

Whether people take note of your brand or not, personal branding highly exists and is a

dominating factor to the number of views your website receives. Your distinctiveness and

your reflection or how people see you are different. The meeting point of personal branding

is to support vision and mission so people recognize you as you would like to be, rather than

people making assumptions and having diverse judgements about you. According to (Jeff,

Bezos) “your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Many businesses or companies tend to overlook the significance of personal branding and

focus on other aspects. “With personal branding, you are not only thinking about your

assets, you are thinking about what you want to be known for” (Dorothy Tannahill-Morgan,

2013). Whether you are a well established business or a developing business, building a

personal brand in addition structuring your company is what will make you stand out from

other businesses or companies. “We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be on

business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called YOU.”

(Tom Peters, The branded called you)

Examples:

1. Darren Hardy (www.darrenhardy.com) website is not famous for his career profile or

the title of books his written but you are impressed by the pictures on his website.

2. Marie Forleo (www.marieforleo.com)

3. Tony Norton, CO-Founder of sign of change (www.signofchange.com). “Tony’s brand

is something he cares passionately about because he genuinely wants to help others

see their inherent value. He wears it on his face, he carries it with him when he talks

and it is a part of everything he does” (Dorothy Tannahill-Morgan, 2013). Morgan

(2013) also says “The personal brand will be born out of genuine character,

outstanding reliability, stellar integrity and an unbeatable work ethic, in the end, you

just can’t fake a brand.”

Split Screens / Vertically Split Layout Trend

This trend is one of the most recent 2015 trends used by businesses in order to make their

websites easy and convenient for their website visitors. According to (Kunwar, 2015) split

screens / vertically split layout is the ability of presenting two features of equal importance at

once positioned next to each other (side by side). Businesses uses split screens if they need

to promote two things which are equally important making it easier for their visitors to choose

from either one of the two, and also, if a business wants to put up a picture of a product and

information on the product simultaneously, they can make use of spilt screens to do this

(Boyer, 2015). There are a number of businesses that makes use of this trend including

Peugeot, a food company, Dewey’s Pizza and Rick and Drew photography. Peugeot

incorporates this trend by illustrating its current slogan, Dewey’s Pizza makes use of this

split screens by having their company name and slogan on the one side of split screens and

introducing new menu’s (products) on the other side with a central menu bar. Lastly, Rick

and Drew photography makes use of split screens by having a picture of both the co-

founders Rick and Drew’s pictures with their names on either sides of the screen and their

menu options all incorporated as one. Spilt screens trend is thus convenient and beneficial

for any business because website visitors do not have to look and search far and as a result

waste time because everything is laid out clearly in front of them.

Examples:

Conclusion

This report discussed new trends (2015) that are incorporated in business websites to

ensure that they are attractive and easily accessible. The above mentioned trends are

amongst the many trends which have been becoming popular with businesses this year.

These trends are developed and incorporated with the purpose of making business websites

user friendly and convenient. With the evolving technology, it is quite evident that when it

comes to website design trends, simplicity and convenience is key.

References

10 Web Designs Trends you can expect to see in 2015. (2010, February 1).

Retrieved September 13, 2015, from http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/01/02/10-web-

design-trends-can-expect-see-2015

Adrian. (2015). What are top graphic ad web Designs Trends in 2015. Retrieved

February 2015, 2015, from http://www.1stwbdesigner.com/graphic-web-design-

trends-2015/

Video Background websites-sitesInspire. (2015). Retrieved September 13, 2015,

from http://www.siteinspires.com

Boyer, N. (2015, July 14). 5 Website Layout Trends of 2015 so far. Retrieved from

Creative Bloq: http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/layout-trends-2015-so-far-

71515699

Kunwar, A. (2015, May 24). Latest Web Trends: 22 Fantastic Vertically Split Layout

Website Designs for Inspiration. Retrieved September 12, 2015, from

http://www.pixelatingbits.com/latest-web-trend-22-fantastic-vertically-split-layout-

website-designs-for-inspiration/

McNeil, P. (2015, January 20). 4 Essential Layout Trends For 2015. Retrieved from

Web Designer Depot: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2015/01/4-essential-layout-

trends-for-2015/