Creating Visual Representation
Flat Web Design is a minimalist user interface design style that is being used for corporate websites and applications. A flat web design user interface looks compact, efficient and highly user-friendly to read. This results in the main advantage of flat web design: quick load times, minimal user errors and ease of resizing. With flat designs, your pages load instantly and with minimized crashes and freezing screens. You will be able to enhance your customer experience by providing useful and informative content, but still maintaining a clean and unobtrusive design.
When we talk about minimalistic design, most people think of a very small and very pretty interface. Examples of flat web design can include flowery or gamma icons, minimalistic buttons or menus, and minimalistic layouts. However, even though it’s called minimalistic, it doesn’t mean that everything on the screen is simplified down to a tiny image or that all visual elements are completely invisible. Because it’s still a flat design, you will find all elements on your pages fully visible.
There are two popular aesthetic groups when it comes to flat web design. One group includes aesthetic layouts or skeuomorphism. This aesthetic type is mostly used with websites targeting younger generations, because it gives them an easier time understanding or recognizing the site. Skeuomorphism is the aesthetic that makes things look like another object or they appear to have connections to other things. Great examples of skeuomorphism can be found in things like Facebook or Twitter.
Another aesthetic group includes hybrid ones. These include websites that combine the best aspects of skeuomorphism and functional layouts. As a result, it’s no longer unusual to find websites that have both new trend and older inspiration in them. For example, some sites combine the functionality of a Facebook or Twitter application with an aesthetically-pleasing layout. Another great example of hybrid examples is sites that take inspiration from both traditional web designs and contemporary aesthetics.
The hybrid category includes designers that aren’t necessarily part of either of the above groups. Instead, they use flat web design that mimics as closely as possible the look of a modern desktop computer or handheld device. Their goal is to make the interface as close to real life as possible, sometimes going as far as imitating the device’s physical layout or shape. Some examples of this include devices such as the Amazon Kindle. Bright colours and simple layouts are also part of this style.
New trend web design examples incorporate elements like simple typography into their layouts. Elements like a navigation bar or a menu button often appear on top of text content, which can then be highlighted in other ways depending on the use. A common element among these elements is the colour combination used in the design. Bright colours are used to enhance the readability of the page; darker colours are used for the background or border of the page itself. As with all web design examples, it’s important to think about how you might want people to feel as they first sit on your website. Elements such as the navigation bar or a menu button need to provide a clear call to action.
Skeuomorphism is the most popular aesthetic to use in modern web designs. It takes two styles and mixes them together to create something completely unique. Two different examples of skeuomorphism commonly included in hybrid examples are brick and mortar stores and apparels on the internet. Brick and mortar shops utilise flat icons and typography patterns, whilst on the internet these elements are softened and sometimes even eliminated completely. Apparel on the internet also frequently incorporates skeuomorphism, usually in the form of a uniform background pattern that can be added to buttons, photos and other details.
Although the topics covered above may seem relatively straightforward, it’s important to remember that there are many more details that could be considered when planning the appearance and functionality of your website. Common examples of Flat Web Design include forms, logos, buttons, drop down menus and much more. Although these basics are very popular, you can take these basic components and combine them with others to create your own unique creations. Using examples of Flat Web Design like the ones we’ve looked at here can help you make customised Flat Web Design easier to implement. https://www.youtube.com/embed/sWubHWYnjpQ