Welcome to our annual guessing game of what the next twelve months will bring.
As ever, the design world isn’t isolated from the world in which it exists, so when events shape our lives, they impact our work, the work clients ask for, and the work that inspires us. According to Collins Dictionary, the word of the year for 2022 was permacrisis. And frankly, 2023 doesn’t look any less turbulent, with some good and some bad things already on the horizon.
Russia seems all but certain to retreat to Crimea and claim its objectives in Ukraine have been achieved; Ukraine may not accept that end, but it will probably be enough to end sanctions against Russia, which will significantly impact the economy worldwide. Brazil may have been forced to watch Argentina lift the FIFA World Cup, but it has a new (old) president and fresh hope for the survival of the Amazon rainforest. Crypto has weathered a series of storms (although there may be more to come), and historical precedence suggests the bear market has run its course; 2023 will see stagnation, with an upward trend taking hold toward the end of the year. The former Pope has died, potentially paving the way for the retirement of the current Pope and the election of a new Pope, bringing with it either renewed liberalism or renewed conservatism to the world’s largest religion. Oh, and the IMF thinks a third of the world will be in recession at some point in 2023; the UK and Russia already are, and policymakers in the US are looking nervous.
And that’s just the obvious. Of course, there will be surprises, too, because there always are.
Against this backdrop, designers must not only navigate a problematic jobs market but produce designs that respond to the needs and desires of their clients’ users.
How Did I Do in 2022?
Before diving into this year’s predictions, let’s take a look at how I thought 2022 would play out.
I predicted that 2022 would be the year of blockchain, with decentralized data storage taking over. Well, I got the decentralized part right, but not so much the blockchain aspect (feel free to tell me I’m wrong on Mastodon because I’m not checking Twitter anymore). I’ll call that half a point.
I said design would be positive, playful, and accessible. I think design did emerge from its obsession with corporate minimalism, but positive and playful? Unfortunately, I’m calling that a miss.
I said everything would be green. Again, that’s a miss. If there was a color for 2022, it was a pink-purple gradient.
I predicted hero text would replace hero images, and in the third quarter of 2022, that’s exactly the trend we saw; tick.
Finally, I suggested that illustration would adopt a grainy texture. Well, some designers did, but it was hardly a dominant trend, so I’m going to have to call that a miss.
So for my 2022 predictions, I scored 30%. Way worse than last year’s clean sweep. Let’s see if we can’t beat that in 2023…
1. We’ll Stop Freaking Out Over AI
By now, you’ve probably tried AI, freaked out, and Googled how to start a small holding in the mountains.
The truth is that AI is just a tool. And a good one at that. AI is really good at derivative work. But it’s entirely incapable of improvising, holding opinions, having an agenda, or thinking outside the box.
AI will not replace your job — unless your job is deleting the background from photos, in which case it already has. Since when did Stephen King get replaced by a spellchecker?
If you haven’t tried an AI tool yet, I’d encourage you to try it. It does the small repetitive tasks well.
2. We’ll Embrace the Real World
One of the reasons AI can’t be creative is that it doesn’t have the same number of input sensors we have. We can smell, hear, feel, and experience the world in a multitude of different ways.
Most of us spent a year in lockdown working remotely. Then rushed back to the office, only to discover that our teamwork didn’t actually improve. With the worsening economic outlook, big companies are looking to budget, and the simplest way to cut costs is to ask staff to work remotely.
When your commute is a five-second walk to the spare bedroom, you find yourself with more free time. Sure, you could probably learn Python, but wouldn’t you be happier learning to paddleboard?
As we open ourselves to new experiences, our design work will inevitably become more diverse and natural.
3. We’ll Reject Brutalism
It had a good run, but Brutalism isn’t a good fit for most UI projects. The trend of 2021–22 will vanish as quickly and as unexpectedly as it arrived.
4. We’ll Reject Darkmode
It has had a good run, and dark mode is a perfect fit for most UI projects. But we’re all kinda sick of it.
I hope I’m wrong about this one; not only is dark mode genuinely better for both your eyes and the environment, but the rich, warm blackness is the perfect antidote to sterile white corpo-minimalism.
Dark mode options are built into our OS, so it’s doubtful that it’s going to vanish anytime soon. However, dark mode as a design trend for its own sake is probably on the wane.
Typically trends come and go in symmetrical waves. Dark mode has been a dominant trend for years, so it should take as long to vanish completely.
5. We’ll Embrace Personal Retro
Every year we get the exciting job of guessing which decade the zeitgeist will rip off next. Will 2023 be the year of ’80s retro, ’90s retro, ’00s retro, or maybe (somebody shoot me) ’10s retro?
The retro trends we’ve seen over the last few years have been poor pastiches of their associated decades. If last year’s ’90s retro was inspired by the ’90s, it was a ’90s someone else was living.
In 2023 we’ll move beyond someone else’s ideas of what the past was like, to a personal vision of what came before. One in which the sunbleached colors of eternal Summers in the suburbs dominate.
6. We’ll Fall For Borecore
We’re all guilty of designing with our egos from time to time, and there is a tendency to hit users between the eyes with the biggest type, the loudest gradient, and the flashiest animation.
If you truly want to impress users in 2023, stop inserting pop-ups, adverts, cookie notices, and the other extraneous detritus that stops them from doing whatever it is they arrived on your site for. Impressing users in 2023 means clean typography, low-distraction art direction, and helpful content. Boring design just isn’t as boring as it used to be.
In 2023, the best thing designers can do for their users is get out of the way.
Happy New year! We hope it’s a good one.
Featured image by myriammira on Freepik
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Learn How to Use Next.js 13 to Create Dynamic Web Applications with No Limitations
ActualitésIt provides a powerful set of features that make it easier to manage data, build server-side rendered applications, and optimize for performance. With the release of NextJS 13, developers can now take advantage of the latest data-driven features. These features include improved data fetching, improved data loading, and improved data caching. Additionally, NextJS 13 also includes new features such as serverless functions, improved routing, and improved server-side rendering. All of these features are designed to make it easier to manage data and build complex applications. With NextJS 13, developers can now take advantage of the latest data-driven features to build powerful applications.
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Reduce Release Inspection Time From 4 Days to 4 Hours: A Step-by-Step Guide
ActualitésSoftware development has come a long way since 2018. Now, the release team is larger and releases are happening more frequently. To ensure that the quality of the software is maintained, the release team is solely responsible for testing each app before it is released. This has significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to release an app, as well as the amount of resources needed.
The release cycles now last much less than two weeks, and the QA engineers have streamlined the process by writing documentation, onboarding new members, and updating test cases in the Test Management System (TMS). This has allowed the release team to focus on ensuring that the software is of the highest quality before it is released.
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Learning the Basics of Iptables: A Guide for Beginners
ActualitésCoding with iptables is a great way to control network traffic in Linux OS. It allows users to create rules that will drop or allow traffic to certain ports. To get a list of all the rules, the iptables command can be used. This command can be used to quickly allow or drop connectivity to certain ports.
To add a rule, the user can use the -A flag followed by the chain name, the protocol type, the source address and port, the destination address and port, and the action. For example, to allow traffic from any source address to port 80, the command would be “iptables -A INPUT -p tcp –dport 80 -j ACCEPT”. To drop traffic from any source address to port 80, the command would be “iptables -A INPUT -p tcp –dport 80 -j DROP”.
By using the iptables command, users can quickly and easily control network traffic in Linux OS. It allows users to create rules that will drop or allow traffic to certain ports. With a few simple commands, users can quickly get a list of all rules and drop or allow traffic to ports.
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Guide to Getting Started with JavaScript Modules for Beginners
ActualitésJavaScript modules are an important tool for developers to use when creating web applications. They allow developers to break down their code into smaller, more manageable pieces, making it easier to maintain and debug. In this guide, we’ll discuss the basics of JavaScript modules and how to get started using them.
What is a JavaScript Module?
A JavaScript module is a file that contains code that can be reused in other parts of your application. Modules are written in JavaScript and can be imported into other files. This makes it easier to organize and maintain your code, as well as share it with other developers.
Benefits of Using Modules
Using modules has several benefits. First, it allows developers to break down their code into smaller, more manageable pieces. This makes it easier to debug and maintain the code. Additionally, modules can be imported into other files, making it easier to share code with other developers. Finally, modules can help keep your code organized and make it easier to find what you’re looking for.
Getting Started with Modules
If you’re new to modules, there are a few things you’ll need to know before you get started. First, you’ll need to create a file that contains your module code. This file should have the extension “.js”. Next, you’ll need to import the module into the file where you want to use it. To do this, you’ll need to use the “import” keyword followed by the name of the module. Finally, you’ll need to use the “export” keyword to make the module available for use in other files.
Conclusion
Modules are an important tool for developers when creating web applications. They allow developers to break down their code into smaller, more manageable pieces, making it easier to maintain and debug. In this guide, we discussed the basics of JavaScript modules and how to get started using them. With the information provided here, you should now have a better understanding of how to use modules in your own projects.
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10 Great WordPress Plugins in 2023
Actualités, ActualitésWordPress is a highly flexible content management system for website creation. A key reason for this flexibility is the wide variety of plugins available. You can add features and other improvements to your site.
The thousands of available useful WordPress plugins cover almost every feature for any type of website. Your website’s niche determines the kind of plugins you should have. There are some great WordPress plugins that every blog site needs; security, speed, SEO, and contact form, to name several.
The most effective WordPress websites create an enjoyable visitor experience. Whether you’re blogging about the latest fashion trends or selling products for your brand, you can enhance your website. Do it with one or more of these ten great WordPress plugins.
1. Brizy: The Best Website Builder for Non-techies
You might want to approach Brizy with caution because once you start using it, no other website theme builder you might try will ever seem as easy to use. Even better, you can download this WordPress website builder for non-techies (and for techies as well) for Free.
With the Brizy WordPress theme builder at your fingertips, you can –
Brizy’s Theme Builder, Global Blocks, and Global Styling features are right at your fingertips, and WooCommerce integration is also included.
You can also choose the 100% White Label option if you wish to brand the Brizy Builder as your own. A Pro option is available.
Click on the banner to learn more about Brizy and download it free.
2. WpDataTables – WordPress tables plugin
While there are a host of good reasons for using wpDataTables, the main benefit is that it works with any WordPress theme, it can create a responsive table in minutes, and it requires no coding to use.
With this WordPress tables plugin, you can take advantage of a host of useful features that include –
wpDataTables is a robust table and chart-building plugin that’s remarkably straightforward. Just click on the banner to learn more.
3. Amelia – WordPress booking plugin
Amelia is a WordPress booking plugin that can fully automate and streamline its appointment booking operations when added to a business’s WordPress site. This makes Amelia an excellent choice for beauty, healthcare, fitness, consulting, educational, and similar client-dependent businesses.
The Amelia plugin can –
Click on the banner to find out more about how the Amelia WordPress plugin could be used to upgrade your business’s booking operations.
4. Slider Revolution – more than a WordPress slider plugin
Slider Revolution is a WordPress plugin that is more than just a slider plugin. It’s a highly popular plugin that designers rely on to create visuals they know their clients and customers will love.
Slider Revolution features –
Slider Revolution is trusted by over 9 million users around the world.
5. WordLift – AI-powered SEO
Structured data helps your website speak the language of Google, and WordLift is the most innovative way to create one.
It is an AI-powered SEO tool that:
As a result, you get more organic traffic and audience engagement.
6. TheDock – Ship Solid Websites
TheDock is a design team-oriented WordPress theme builder that supports collaboration, speeds up website design, and helps to create sites that look sharp, perform great, and are easily maintained because of its –
7. Download Monitor – Best WordPress Download Manager
Download Monitor is a WordPress downloads manager that can help you streamline your business operations without having to go through the process of setting up a complicated or costly tracking solution.
With the Download Monitor plugin, you can –
8. Essential Grid – best WordPress grid plugin
Essential Grid is, by all accounts, the best WordPress grid plugin on the market. Essential Grid makes it ever so easy to spice up your websites by using it to create superbly engaging and professional-looking galleries.
This WordPress plugin can give you –
9. LayerSlider – Best WordPress Slider Builder Plugin
LayerSlider is the best WordPress slider plugin, but it is not just for sliders. Create image galleries, popups, landing pages, animated page blocks, parallax and scroll scenes, and even full websites.
LayerSlider –
10. YellowPencil – Visual CSS Editor
YellowPencil is a visual CSS editor you can use to customize any WordPress site in minutes.
Key features include –
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It is almost needless to tell any WordPress user how important plugins are for a website. A good WordPress plugin has the power to boost the success of your business online by adding a range of helpful features and functionality to your website.
In this article, we have shared our expert pick of 10 great WordPress plugins for your websites in 2023.
[– This is a sponsored post on behalf of BAW media –]
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20 Best New Websites, January 2023
Actualités, ActualitésWith the new year comes a host of new websites. Some of these sites have been brewing for months, and others were developed over the holidays, but they’re all having a big impact this month.
Here’s our roundup of the twenty best new websites released in the past four weeks. Enjoy!
MCO
Millor Creative Office uses scroll detection to pull in a burst of color thanks to a video of ink in water. Keep scrolling, and you’ll find the site is filled with some luscious gradients.
Andreas Antonsson
Andreas Antonsson’s portfolio is a rotating drum of case studies that spins as you scroll. It’s a great reinvention of a well-worn design pattern.
Herzog.law
The site for Herzog.law is more like a startup than a law practice. The marble-run style illustrations add visual interest to the persuasive copy.
Daniel Triendl
Daniel Triendl’s awesome portfolio looks more like a Pinterest board than a personal site. You’ll find yourself browsing before you realize it.
Raca
Raca Design Studio specializes in architecture, interiors, and product design. Its site uses monotone filters to create a stylish look.
Opening Line
Opening Line is a great one-pager for a copywriting agency. The simple illustrations and the animated stroke are delightful.
Women Rise
Now that the crypto winter seems to be easing towards spring, there’s renewed interest in NFTs. Women Rise is one of the best NFT projects we’ve seen.
DCoast
DCoast jumps aboard the 3D-graphics trend with a tiny tropical island. It’s an eye-catching way to disguise a small portfolio while the jobs build up — which they surely will.
Constance Souville
Constance Souville is a freelance front-end developer. Her portfolio is simple and smooth, with some lovely detailing.
Safe Society
Safe Society is a platform to support victims of all forms of abuse in Greece. It uses delicate illustrations to talk about difficult issues sensitively.
Little Clothbound Classics
Penguin Classics publishes some of the greatest works in English literature, and this lovely one-pager introduces us to some lesser-known classics.
Marc Hanslin
The personal site for Marc Hanslin is a fantastic one-pager with stark black-and-white contrast. It’s far slicker and more engaging than a typical lawyer’s site.
Optimal
Optimal is a digital media company with a simple approach to business problems online. It’s an interesting text-based approach.
Framer Tips
Framer Tips is a collection of tips for Framer, created, surprisingly enough, in Framer. It’s a level above the normal tips-n-tricks sites.
Galaxy
It’s not easy creating sites for blockchain companies because the technology is so new and changing rapidly. Galaxy does a great job with bold black and white.
Italamp
Italamp is a slick site filled with stunning lighting products. The design uses carefully positioned gradients to emphasize the lighting qualities of its products.
Revanesse
Cosmetic surgery isn’t the easiest sell, no matter how minor, but the site for Revanesse does a great job by focusing on confidence, not aesthetics.
Dot Films
There’s tons to like about this site for Dot Films, from the neat little animated logo to the bold typography. It’s confident without over-selling it.
chrls.design
Charles is a designer and developer with an impressive portfolio. His site is beautifully realized with a simple slideshow that encourages you to dip in and out.
Ariga
Ariga offers a new way to manage database schema changes. And while that may be a dry topic, the awesome reactive illustrations on its site are anything but.
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11 Best WordPress Themes for 2023
Actualités, ActualitésHave you been searching in vain to find a great WordPress theme that you can use to create a website that will perfectly match your brand and vision?
Building a top-of-the-line website is no longer the complicated process you had to contend with only a few short years ago. More often than not, it was something best left to the developers. The WordPress platform has changed all that with its thousands of quality WordPress themes to choose from.
Finding the best WordPress theme to fit your needs is still not easy. The search to find that ideal WordPress theme can put your patience to the test.
We’ve tried out best to simplify your search. We believe we have succeeded with this listing of 11 Best WordPress themes.
1. Be – Multipurpose WordPress Theme
This big, beautiful, and powerful multipurpose WordPress theme is among the best in the business. 250,000+ satisfied users attest to its popularity. With respect to size, which readily translates into flexibility, BeTheme’s 40+ core features take care of that issue.
Those core features include a 650+ pre-built website library, a host of design elements and options, and the most advanced page and website-building tools on the market.
Powerful website-building tools BeTheme places at your fingertips include –
A setup wizard and helpful tutorial are included. You’ve been invited to test the stunning Be Builder’s capabilities in this Live Demo.
2. Total WordPress Theme
“Build it your way.” could serve as Total’s slogan. Flexibility rules in terms of providing users everything they could ask for to build attractive, engaging, and performant websites.
Total accomplishes this with its multiplicity of design options, customizer settings, layout choices, navigation options, dynamic template functionality, and the popular WPBakery frontend drag-and-drop page builder.
Click on the banner to learn more about everything that has delighted Total’s 48,000 users.
3. Blocksy Free Ecommerce WordPress Theme
Blocksy’s prioritization of flexibility, extensibility, and speed has resulted in a WordPress theme that gives you complete control to create and customize your website’s appearance and functionality as you build it.
These major Blocksy priorities find their way into this theme’s key features, which consist of –
Blocksy’s other features of note include –
And not to forget, Blocksy is free! Click on the banner to check it out. There is a Pro version of Blocksy, but the free version offers plenty.
4. Avada WordPress Theme
The fact that Avada, with more than 750,000 users, is the #1 best-selling WordPress theme of all time should be reason enough to give it a closer look.
5. Uncode – Creative & WooCommerce WordPress Theme
There is no limit to what you can build in the way of attractive and engaging websites and online stores when you have Uncode’s Creative and WooCommerce theme at your back.
Uncode places at your fingertips –
6. TheGem – Creative and WooCommerce WordPress Theme
TheGem creative WordPress theme is a Swiss Army knife of web design tools with its creative modern layouts, super-fast loading times, and easy-to-use tools for building a professional website that will leave the competition in the dust.
Key features include –
7. Woodmart Woocommerce WordPress Theme
If building an online store is on your mind, you won’t go wrong with WoodMart, ThemeForest’s highest-rated eCommerce theme. Woodmart’s customization options are virtually unlimited, while its drag-and-drop builder can reduce your workflow to a minimum.
WoodMart design features include –
8. Rey WordPress WooCommerce Theme
The Rey WooCommerce theme takes building a WooCommerce site to an exciting new level with its powerful Elementor and WooCommerce integrations coupled with WordPress’s sophisticated engine.
Rey’s other key features include:
Rey is performance-oriented, responsive, developer, and SEO-friendly.
9. Litho – WordPress Elementor Theme
Litho is creative and modern, and it’s highly customizable. This WordPress Elementor theme is totally integrated with Elementor, the world’s #1 free page builder.
10. Vault – Multi-Purpose Elementor WordPress Theme
Vault’s multiplicity of design tools and design options packed into a single framework make website building as simple as one-two-three.
And you’ll end up with a modern, engaging, high-performance website.
11. KnowAll – WordPress Knowledge Base Theme
KnowAll is simply the most powerful WordPress Knowledge Base theme on the market. All the tools are there to help you build a high-performance and easy-to-use knowledge base.
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Each of the 11 best WordPress themes listed here are noted for their high-quality designs. Also, for their impressive selections of demos, pre-built layouts, and templates. Each offers a wealth of customization settings, options, and other genuinely useful features. They are designed to make your website serve its purpose effectively and efficiently.
These highly popular WordPress themes were selected for a reason. No matter which one you choose, you’ll be well on the way to creating an outstanding product.
[– This is a sponsored post on behalf of BAW Media –]
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Exciting New Tools for Designers, January 2023
Actualités, ActualitésIt’s the start of a new year, and product designers are already launching thousands of new apps, tools, and resources.
In January’s edition of our monthly roundup of the most exciting new downloads for designers and developers, there’s everything from full-blown applications to helpful little side projects. Enjoy!
Observable
Observable lets you explore, analyze, and explain data as a team to uncover insights, and make better decisions. Build fresh data visualizations with drag-and-drop components or JavaScript.
Blocs
Blocs is a no-code website builder based on Bootstrap 5. It has a whole heap of templates, so all you need to do is pick one, customize it, and add your content.
blogstatic
blogstatic is a fantastic no-code blogging platform with a minimal UI that lets you focus on nothing but your content. There’s built-in SEO, plus themes and hosting is included.
Lessmail
Lessmail is an excellent way to clean out your inbox for the new year. Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters, delete old messages and focus on the mail you want.
Ultimate Side Projects Playbook
Is 2023 the year you’ll launch a web-conquering side project? Give yourself the best chance with the free Ultimate Side Projects Playbook to guide you through the process.
Ashore
Get your web designs, prototypes, and other creative work sign-off fast using Ashore. Upload your files, share them with stakeholders, and track when your designs are approved.
Frase
Frase is an AI tool for researching, writing, and optimizing content with high-quality SEO keywords. Write anything from content briefs to blog posts in a fraction of the usual time.
Uiverse
Uiverse is a collection of UI elements designed by the community that you can use on your site for free or even submit your own designs for others to use.
Rive
Rive is an excellent app for building fast, small, interactive animations and motion graphics for the web. Animations built-in Rive can run on the web or in native apps.
Vuestic UI
Vuestic UI is an excellent UI framework for Vue. All aspects are fully customizable, and Vuestic UI seamlessly integrates with other component libraries for even more options.
Localfonts.xyz
Localfonts.xyz is a simple way to browse the fonts installed on your local machine in your browser. It’s a fast solution for choosing fonts for your designs.
PixelBin
PixelBin is a tool for optimizing and delivering images. It uses AI to transform your assets and allows you to use larger, higher-quality images without bloated load times.
EarlyBird
EarlyBird is a no-code landing page generator perfect for teams launching an early-stage website. You can get your product online fast and start validating it with real users.
RippleUI
RippleUI is a toolkit for UI design that improves on the Tailwind approach by simplifying classes to reduce the amount of code you need. In addition, it includes components and utility classes to speed up your web development.
No Code AI Model Builder
If you want to build your own AI models but you don’t know how to code, you can use No-Code AI Model Builder to generate AI models in minutes.
Templatify
Save hours creating social media templates with Templatify, a collection of 201 templates for Twitter and Instagram. There are dark and light versions, and a full video tutorial shows you how to customize them.
Detangle
Detangle beats small print by using the power of AI to generate human-readable summaries of legal documents so you can understand what you’re signing.
Mesher
CSS Hero’s Mesher creates incredible multicolor gradients that can be customized and exported to CSS for use in your projects.
OldestSearch.com
OldestSearch.com is a fascinating look at the web that was. Enter any search term, and it will return the oldest matching links available on Google Search.
Detect GPT
Detect GPT is a helpful Chrome extension that scans the content of web pages and determines if the content has been auto-generated by AI. It’s very handy for checking the validity of blog posts.
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6 Predictions for Web Design in 2023
Actualités, ActualitésWelcome to our annual guessing game of what the next twelve months will bring.
As ever, the design world isn’t isolated from the world in which it exists, so when events shape our lives, they impact our work, the work clients ask for, and the work that inspires us. According to Collins Dictionary, the word of the year for 2022 was permacrisis. And frankly, 2023 doesn’t look any less turbulent, with some good and some bad things already on the horizon.
Russia seems all but certain to retreat to Crimea and claim its objectives in Ukraine have been achieved; Ukraine may not accept that end, but it will probably be enough to end sanctions against Russia, which will significantly impact the economy worldwide. Brazil may have been forced to watch Argentina lift the FIFA World Cup, but it has a new (old) president and fresh hope for the survival of the Amazon rainforest. Crypto has weathered a series of storms (although there may be more to come), and historical precedence suggests the bear market has run its course; 2023 will see stagnation, with an upward trend taking hold toward the end of the year. The former Pope has died, potentially paving the way for the retirement of the current Pope and the election of a new Pope, bringing with it either renewed liberalism or renewed conservatism to the world’s largest religion. Oh, and the IMF thinks a third of the world will be in recession at some point in 2023; the UK and Russia already are, and policymakers in the US are looking nervous.
And that’s just the obvious. Of course, there will be surprises, too, because there always are.
Against this backdrop, designers must not only navigate a problematic jobs market but produce designs that respond to the needs and desires of their clients’ users.
How Did I Do in 2022?
Before diving into this year’s predictions, let’s take a look at how I thought 2022 would play out.
I predicted that 2022 would be the year of blockchain, with decentralized data storage taking over. Well, I got the decentralized part right, but not so much the blockchain aspect (feel free to tell me I’m wrong on Mastodon because I’m not checking Twitter anymore). I’ll call that half a point.
I said design would be positive, playful, and accessible. I think design did emerge from its obsession with corporate minimalism, but positive and playful? Unfortunately, I’m calling that a miss.
I said everything would be green. Again, that’s a miss. If there was a color for 2022, it was a pink-purple gradient.
I predicted hero text would replace hero images, and in the third quarter of 2022, that’s exactly the trend we saw; tick.
Finally, I suggested that illustration would adopt a grainy texture. Well, some designers did, but it was hardly a dominant trend, so I’m going to have to call that a miss.
So for my 2022 predictions, I scored 30%. Way worse than last year’s clean sweep. Let’s see if we can’t beat that in 2023…
1. We’ll Stop Freaking Out Over AI
By now, you’ve probably tried AI, freaked out, and Googled how to start a small holding in the mountains.
The truth is that AI is just a tool. And a good one at that. AI is really good at derivative work. But it’s entirely incapable of improvising, holding opinions, having an agenda, or thinking outside the box.
AI will not replace your job — unless your job is deleting the background from photos, in which case it already has. Since when did Stephen King get replaced by a spellchecker?
If you haven’t tried an AI tool yet, I’d encourage you to try it. It does the small repetitive tasks well.
2. We’ll Embrace the Real World
One of the reasons AI can’t be creative is that it doesn’t have the same number of input sensors we have. We can smell, hear, feel, and experience the world in a multitude of different ways.
Most of us spent a year in lockdown working remotely. Then rushed back to the office, only to discover that our teamwork didn’t actually improve. With the worsening economic outlook, big companies are looking to budget, and the simplest way to cut costs is to ask staff to work remotely.
When your commute is a five-second walk to the spare bedroom, you find yourself with more free time. Sure, you could probably learn Python, but wouldn’t you be happier learning to paddleboard?
As we open ourselves to new experiences, our design work will inevitably become more diverse and natural.
3. We’ll Reject Brutalism
It had a good run, but Brutalism isn’t a good fit for most UI projects. The trend of 2021–22 will vanish as quickly and as unexpectedly as it arrived.
4. We’ll Reject Darkmode
It has had a good run, and dark mode is a perfect fit for most UI projects. But we’re all kinda sick of it.
I hope I’m wrong about this one; not only is dark mode genuinely better for both your eyes and the environment, but the rich, warm blackness is the perfect antidote to sterile white corpo-minimalism.
Dark mode options are built into our OS, so it’s doubtful that it’s going to vanish anytime soon. However, dark mode as a design trend for its own sake is probably on the wane.
Typically trends come and go in symmetrical waves. Dark mode has been a dominant trend for years, so it should take as long to vanish completely.
5. We’ll Embrace Personal Retro
Every year we get the exciting job of guessing which decade the zeitgeist will rip off next. Will 2023 be the year of ’80s retro, ’90s retro, ’00s retro, or maybe (somebody shoot me) ’10s retro?
The retro trends we’ve seen over the last few years have been poor pastiches of their associated decades. If last year’s ’90s retro was inspired by the ’90s, it was a ’90s someone else was living.
In 2023 we’ll move beyond someone else’s ideas of what the past was like, to a personal vision of what came before. One in which the sunbleached colors of eternal Summers in the suburbs dominate.
6. We’ll Fall For Borecore
We’re all guilty of designing with our egos from time to time, and there is a tendency to hit users between the eyes with the biggest type, the loudest gradient, and the flashiest animation.
If you truly want to impress users in 2023, stop inserting pop-ups, adverts, cookie notices, and the other extraneous detritus that stops them from doing whatever it is they arrived on your site for. Impressing users in 2023 means clean typography, low-distraction art direction, and helpful content. Boring design just isn’t as boring as it used to be.
In 2023, the best thing designers can do for their users is get out of the way.
Happy New year! We hope it’s a good one.
Featured image by myriammira on Freepik
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Why Web Design Still Matters in 2023
Actualités, ActualitésAs we move into 2023, there are an increasing number of ways companies can engage with their customers. And as the number of apps, browser extensions, social media feeds, newsletters, vlogs, and podcasts grows, you can be forgiven for thinking that websites are a little less essential than they were in say, 2021.
However, the truth is that websites remain an irreplaceable part of the digital landscape and they will continue to be into 2023 and beyond.
Websites, as the keystone of a centralized, privately run digital experience couldn’t be more relevant. Unlike competing technologies, websites allow almost total control of their source code, and that provides an opportunity for skilled designers and developers to compete against the biggest names in their clients’ industries in a way that simply isn’t possible in tightly governed systems like social media.
Not only does quality web design help businesses increase their traffic, but it can increase the quality of that traffic; an attractive and user-friendly web page will encourage web users to stay on the page longer, and explore more of the content it links to.
Websites vs. Social Media
For many brands, the option they turn to for connecting with customers is social media. Particularly platforms like Facebook and Instagram. While billions of us are happy to while away our free time on social media, it’s not a great platform for informed decision-making or task fulfillment. For any form of productivity, websites are superior:
Websites vs. Apps
When it comes to owning a piece of the internet, a connected app feels like ownership. However, websites have a number of benefits over an app, from a superior user experience to lower development costs. And ultimately, apps are also controlled by 3rd parties.
Websites vs. Podcasts and Vlogs
There’s no question that podcasts and vlogs are engaging types of content. However, they are very limited when it comes to different kinds of experience. These tend to be passive, linear experiences. Even if your podcast opens itself up to listener interaction, your customers are still passive consumers.
Websites in 2023 and Beyond
In 2023 websites will still be a critical part of a successful business strategy and web designers will continue to be essential members of any team.
Websites continue to offer numerous benefits over other technologies including increased flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and superior search engine opportunities.
Unlike social media platforms that allow you to customize a few assets like avatars and colors, websites can be completely customized to fit the tone and style of a brand. Additionally, websites have a far lower barrier to entry than podcasts, vlogs, or apps. While apps may offer a richer set of features than a website, that is offset by the restrictions on platform and device capabilities that apps impose.
Websites will continue to evolve as the tech landscape changes. New ideas for consuming digital media will appear over time, offering unique new experiences — for example, mass adoption of AR (Augmented Reality) is just around the corner. However, the website is perfectly evolved for the types of simple customer interaction that businesses rely on, and will continue to matter in 2023 and beyond.
Featured image by fullvector on Freepik
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