Scarlet sheet on studio wall

Trends Have a Cost

Every visual trend carries a maintenance liability. Heavy scroll animation, elaborate cursor effects and full-screen video all look current for roughly two years and then date the site precisely to when it was built.

The trends worth adopting are the ones that improve something measurable: clarity, speed, or accessibility. The ones worth ignoring are those that primarily impress other designers.

Adopt trends that improve the experience. Skip the ones that only improve the portfolio.

This is not an argument for conservative design. It is an argument for knowing which category a given decision falls into before committing to it.

Larger type, generous spacing and genuine attention to contrast have aged well for decades. Parallax scrolling has not. The distinction is usually whether the idea serves the reader or the designer.

Layered card stock edge detail
Light and dark split still life

Worth Adopting

These current directions hold up because they solve real problems rather than decorate around them.

  • Larger base type and more generous line height
  • Dark mode handled properly, not simply inverted
  • Motion that respects prefers-reduced-motion
  • Fewer, better photographs over stock libraries
  • Accessibility treated as baseline, not an add-on

Leave Your Comment:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *