With the new year just starting, now is a good time to look over the web design trends that were hot in 2014, as well as those that are anticipated to gains some momentum in the year ahead.

1. Simple Design

A simple website allows users to easily and quickly navigate through web pages without any complications. But a simple design shouldn’t be looked at as a generic concept. Sure, powerful images, unique content and seamless navigation are all crucial components to a web design. The key to keeping things simple is to get rid of what’s not important while retaining what is.

2. Responsive Design

Without a doubt, a responsive design will eventually become standard. More and more clients will be asking for it, so web designers would be well informed to get on board with this trend that’s sure to continue in 2015 and beyond. With tablets and smartphones taking over the world, there is a massive amount of marketing potential. Even the smallest of businesses are using it.

3. Showcasing Better Images

Everyone knows the importance of having images scattered across their website. Web designers have always encouraged their clients to use them. In 2014, higher quality, and more creative images have been on the rise. Why? Because loading speed is faster than ever, quality images are easily accessed, and their price points are affordable.

4. Infographics are the Way of the Future

Infographics have an amazing way of presenting crucial data to the viewer all in a small amount of space. They’re attention-grabbing and affordable. This is why company owners are requesting them on an increasing basis. They offer an awesome way for the viewer to absorb tons of information in a pleasant and entertaining way.

5. Fixed Navigations

At one point in time, web designers had a thing about over-designing web pages, including the main menu and navigation bars. Fortunately, such is not the case any longer. You don’t have to worry about searching for a flash menu that’s hidden underneath some obscure object somewhere on the screen.

In 2014, navigation bars were increasingly fixed, and available at all times. So, if you have a ton of content on a loaded website, it’s only logical to include a fixed position sidebar or top menu.

What to Look Out for in 2015

1. Ghost Buttons

Ghost buttons are sure to be hot in 2015, and it’s easy to understand why. They’re stylish, minimal, simple, and easy to use. This trend will definitely continue, considering how well ghost buttons pair with big background images.

2. Scrolling More Than Clicking

In case you haven’t noticed, the world of mobile web is growing at an exponential rate, causing web design to be modified somewhat in order to make the mobile experience more enjoyable. As a result, scrolling will continue to be superior to clicking. It’s easier, shaves off load times, and is highly intuitive. Not only that, but scrolling offers better interaction between the user and website.

3. Microinteractions

Microinteractions are a trend to watch out for in 2015. They’re essentially moments within a product that focus on a single use case in order to enhance user engagement. For instance, an email opt-in box may wiggle slightly back and forth to get the user’s attention, as well as to make the user’s experience more playful. Such micro interactions add some pizzazz to an otherwise boring graphic.

4. Typography

Traditionally, websites that relied on typographical design usually needed bigger budgets. Thankfully, this is changing. Type kits are becoming increasingly affordable, which gives web designers more freedom to work with a smaller budget when bringing more typography to the table.

5. Web Page Backgrounds

More and more web page backgrounds are incorporating HTML5 videos as the backdrop. There are an increasing number of ways that videos can be embedded in the HTML, and many brands have already taken advantage of such a feature. This helps create a more engaging, attractive web design.