The Web is ever-evolving. Because it is not restricted by any boundary other than the browser and the designer’s imagination, there is a constant stream of new ideas and concepts that mix the visually appealing with the functional.
New trends are always emerging, the most significant of which explore new possibilities and build upon existing techniques to reveal something even more remarkable. In 2010, we saw the grid layout mature through minimal CMS and blog design, an explosion of large typography and textured backgrounds to mimic print design, the death of Google ad blocks, and the widespread use of Facebook widgets.
With the release of HTML5 and CSS3 compatibility in some browsers and devices, design in 2011 focuses far more on user interface, adaptive design, and using the entire screen. Not everything about these trends is good though. Let’s take a look at some of the most recent trends and what makes them hot…or not.
Full-Screen Design
Just about everyone has a wide-screen monitor these days, and most mobile devices are supporting the landscape orientation. Full-screen design aspires to take advantage of this extra space, where in earlier years the Grid 960 layout was a popular system used to standardize design for the 1024×768 screen resolution.
Today, the average visitor to a website is likely viewing it from an iPhone, iPad or desktop monitor using 1680×1050 or higher. A lot can go wrong if this is not executed properly, however. You want your designs to fill the entire page no matter what resolution the viewer is in. One trick being used is the Viewport Meta tag, which allows designers to control the size of the design’s visible area on the viewer’s chosen device. This is an extremely hot trend that will continue to grow and expand as mobile computing becomes more common in the next couple years.
(http://www.miraclestudios.in/)
Every designer knows that portfolio is the only way to introduce you and your works to the potential clients. And it is not only about the works you put into it, but at least 50 percent of the impression is made by the very design of your portfolio. And just like the quality of your design describes you as a specialist, the style and conception of your portfolio can tell a lot about your creativity and personality. This is a reason why designers seek to have a unique, creative and interesting portfolio design.
And there is such a variety of creative web designs for portfolios, that it is hard to choose 20 or 30 best designs. Besides that, designs differ by the type of the portfolio, for example photographers portfolios are likely to have one type of gallery, and web design portfolios – another one. In spite that you still can find a lot of top lists and reviews on this topic.
It is useless to try to determine which of the following portfolio websites has the best design and which one will be on the second place, so I just tried to select 20 web designs that are either very creative and have a unique feature or simply look very elegant.
This website makes a visitor stay on the page and play around with the menu and pictures.
In fact, it is not that much about website design, as about the graphic design works, presented on the page.
Nice graphics on the background work very well for a graphic design company.
Grey and pink web page looks good. Also has nice drawings.
The disposition of the blocks on the page is not very usual though easy to use.
