In 2015, we saw content marketing, mobile optimization and flat design take center stage (to name a few). As the year is coming to an end, we asked our experts—ranging from engineering and ux to design and business development—what they anticipate the B2B web design landscape will look like in 2016.
1. Early & Incremental Release Cycles
“In 2016, I hope to see more businesses embrace the practice of releasing early. For a long time consumer sites and apps have started with a minimum viable product then iterated and enhanced based on a real-world feedback cycle. I hope that B2B and business-focused apps follow suit. Start with a well-polished but small slice of functionality. Limit the feature set, but incorporate the full spectrum of design: functional, reliable, usable and emotional (in the sense of Jussi Pasanen's infographic). Then build upon that initial release with many small incremental releases. Traditionally B2B has shied away from this methodology, but in 2016, I expect more businesses to embrace early and incremental release cycles."
-Dave Tufts, Chief Technology Officer
2. Semi-Flat Design, Typography & Cinemagraphs
"In the coming year, I predict we'll see Semi-Flat Design emerge as the most wildly popular web design trend across new B2B websites. Enhancing our favorite flat-design features, while avoiding most of its pitfalls. There will also be more attention placed onto Typography this year. Google has done us all a real solid lately by adding more free web fonts to use and perfect how we visually present messages to our audiences. Finally high quality cinemagraphs are going to heat up the web in 2016, adding delightful motion to webpages, while staying leaner than traditional embedded videos."
-Jared Laham, Creative Director
3. Sales & Marketing Alignment
“I think in 2015 we started to see the connection made between business development and marketing and the impact marketing has on leads and conversion. As 2016 evolves we will see the line between of sales and marketing fade and the ever-growing need to develop rich, targeted content grow."
-Katie Desmond, Chief Business Development Officer:
4. Responsive as a Give-in, Targeted Content & Micro Interactions
"Firstly, responsive design is a default functionality at this point. Secondly, content will become engaging and more strategic. Story telling will still be very important for B2Bs, as companies try to break out of the standard sales pitch. Brands will start to better focus on speaking to potential customers as humans and in ways that resonates with their goals, desires and needs; communicating through highly targeted content. Thirdly, animations and micro interactions will continue to drive rich digital experiences, providing unique forms of feedback to users--informing users when action is needed --directing tasks and informing status."
-Thomas Saraceno, Director of Experience
5. TLS, HTTP/2 & Docker and ContainerInfrastructure
"More and more sites will be using TLS to secure their users, even if no sensitive information needs to be transmitted. Services like LetsEncrypt will help usher this in. Also, I think HTTP/2 is going to gain a lot of traction in 2016. Using HTTP/2 means less bundling and minification of javascript and css. Development teams get simpler tools and build steps. Lastly, docker and Container infrastructure. Deploying production apps with containers will continue gaining popularity. They allow fully reproducible application environments locally, for continuous integrations tools, or on cloud servers. The instructions needed to run your app are sharable and version controlled."
-Jeff Turcotte, Director of Engineering
As we look to 2016, what do you predict the year will hold for web design? Tweet us your thoughts @ImarcAgency!
