Top web design trends

Creative Bloq has put together seven of the top web design trends that are making waves online.

From social media to interior design, trends can be fleeting or enduring, and web design also relies on this innovation and creativity, in order to catch the eye of users and consumers.

With vibrancy and clarity being key themes this year, top trends include monochromatic schemes, blocking and hovering, and contrasting with duller colours.

Read more about each trend here and tell us which ones you like.

Old Spice hacks Instagram with 'Choose Your Own Adventure' game

Do you have fond memories of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' games? Well, Old Spice has resurrected them by weaving its brand into Instagram through the use of tagging.

Traditional 'CYOA' games tended to be in book form, with readers playing an active role in deciding the plot's outcome - which often involved fantasy or science fiction elements.

Old Spice's spin on the game lets users search for tags, which lead to new Instagram accounts that one by one reveal the story, with the use of retro monsters, robots, and superheroes giving the game a retro, light-hearted feel. 

Give the game a go here and tell us if other brands should make their own.

Ad turns magazines into WiFi hotspots

In a recent issue of Forbes magazine Microsoft ran an ad about their latest product, Office 365. In a limited number of magazines there was a  surprise for the reader, a WiFi hotspot, courtesy of T-Mobile.

The ad contained a wireless router that would provide 15 days of free WiFi, the router would last for two to three hours per battery charge.

The premise is that Office 365 is a use-anywhere version of Microsoft's Office software, allowing people to work on documents where-ever they are. 

A clever but costly stunt.

Elevated bike path for Regents Canal

The paths along the Regents canal in London are incredibly busy with cyclists and pedestrians, especially under bridges.

To offer a solution for this problem, Anthony Nelson, a landscape architect from Design International, has offered up a design for an elevated path for cyclists. The proposal, which is still being worked on, would see a steel pathway constructed that would hug the canal and it above the current path. 

The new path will offer more than a safe route for the 500 cyclists that use the canal each hour as it will provide retail opportunities at off ramps. The only issue yet to dealt with is how to accommodate the larger boats that use the canal. Nelson will be working on the plans further before presenting them to the city in Autumn.

Planters resemble miniature sustainable buildings

Who wouldn't want to get their hands on this planter series called ienami.

Designed by Japan-based studio Metaphys, these fun planters are made to look like miniature buildings (ienami refers to a row of houses in Japanese).

Inspired by minimalist style buildings with roof gardens, these contemporary micro homes look good with delicate plants like soft mosses and small succulents.

Alley, Plaza, Tunnel and Zig Zag are the four designs included in the collection.

Mobeam advert is a crazy musical

San Francisco based start-up company Mobeam has patented technology that will allow barcodes to be scanned from Smartphone screens at checkouts.

The point-of-sale possibilities are endless for coupons and other far more fun advertising promotions. Plus, it is better than replacing every checkout scanner in the world.  

To promote the technology, Portal A created this heavily Auto-Tuned supermarket musical, in which a frustrated cashier bursts into song over the wonders of Mobeam. It includes an obligatory rap, a talking fish and a dancing janitor. The video is silly in the extreme.  

This however is not an app you can download, it is a technology targeted at business to add to their apps. The reason for this? Modern phone screens are too high definition for normal barcode scanners to read, so the technology sends signals via an LED to the scanner to ‘trick’ it into thinking it is reading a normal barcode.

Whilst the technology will only appeal to developers and advertisers, the video will appeal to everyone. Watch it below.

Pantone song titles

Pantone is a brand that many will recognise and the folks at Chic & Artistic have created this innovative and clever idea of matching the colour chips to songs.

The series, called "panto'n'roll", replaces the name of a colour in a song title with one of the famous Pantone cards, for example 'blue suede shoes' or 'yellow submarine'.

Very simple yet wonderfully creative, we love it, and they mention on their website that they will producing some posters of these too, just email them at pantonroll@chic-artistic.com with the one(s) you like. 

You can see all of the series here.

Can you think of any songs they may have missed?

Sculpture from stacked chairs

For the 2012 Abu Dhabi Art Fair Japanese artist, Tadashi Kawamata, created a huge structure out of chairs.

"Chairs for Abu Dhabi" took five days to create and reached the 20 foot high ceiling of the gallery it was housed in.

It created a focal point for the event and a pavilion for people to try to escape the hustle and bustle of the fair and proved to be a popular meeting point.

Tadashi is renowned for using recycled materials or scrap, using metal, wood, plastic and, in this case, used chairs, ranging from sofas and benches to stools and arm chairs.

A stunning structure that 'pays homage to humanity’s diversity, unity and interconnectedness', according to the artist.

Images from Daniel Suarez for Reuters

Counting with fingers takes a new meaning

In a new publicity campaign, Leo Burnett Toronto has created a count down for the start of the new series of popular zombie TV series "The Walking Dead".  

They have installed a hoarding in Toronto Union Station, featuring two zombie hands, that countdown to the start of the new series. To add to the gore, when a day passes a finger is physically removed from one of the hands and left there to "rot". The company also arranged for some actors to dress up as "walkers", the name the show gives to the zombies, and wander around the station on the Wednesday whilst chained to cement blocks. They also gave away t-shirts and set up a competition via Twitter to win one of the digits from the hands.


This is a great bit of fun and will have an impact but alas it could put a few commuters off their breakfast.

The show starts again in Canada and the US Sunday 10th February, and in the UK on Friday 15th February.

Sonic fountain

Ever felt that the sound of water dripping was slightly rhythmic and musical? If not you may want to reconsider after seeing the new installation at the 303 gallery in New York by American artist Doug Aitken.

The piece, called Sonic Fountain, is part of the gallery's 100 Years exhibition and features five rods that drip water into a pool below. The dripping is not random; it is released at special intervals to create a variety of patterns and shapes, with the sound amplified by the location and the pool itself having been specially excavated out of the floor of the gallery.

The piece is quiet and tranquil with a milky white glow coming from the pool and a breath like rhythm from the water drops.

Watch a video of the exhibition below.

55 Years of the Lego Brick

To celebrate 55 years, Lego has created a tumblr account called "55 years of the brick".

They've released 55 simple but effective print adverts, asking you to imagine a song, band, movie or book.

See if you can guess what the ads represent - there are a few challenging ones.

The Lego posting has a lot of advertising around it, which can be annoying, but you can view them all at Gizmodo here without the ads.

Talk to street furniture in Bristol

The winning project of the first Playable City Awards will allow residents of Bristol to text lamp posts, post boxes and other street furniture.

"Hello Lamp Post" is an interactive art project, that allows users to text a number with the message hello, the objects name and the identifier code used on all street furniture. In turn they will receive a reply from this item, leading to either a conversation or possibly a game.

The project was conceived by London-based Pan Studios and locals will be able to start conversing with bus stops and more from June this year.

You can download the full proposal here.

Dutch architects to build first 3D printed building.

You can't read the news today without seeing something about 3D printers and their possible uses.

Now Janjaap Ruijssenaars of Dutch firm Universe Architecture, is working with the Italian inventor of the D-shape 3D printer, Enrico Dini, to build the world's first 3D printed building.

The project is to create a two storey building, due for completion in 2014, using pieces made by the 3D printer.
It will be made by printing  6 x 9 metre chunks of frame, which will be made of sand and inorganic binder. The frame will be fitted together and then filled with fiber-reinforced concrete, to create a study and solid structure.

Ruijssenaars describes the project as, “One surface folded in an endless möbius band. Floors transform into ceilings, inside into outside. Production with innovative 3D printing techniques. Architecture of continuity with an endless array of applicability.”

Glass farm for Dutch town

After waiting 23 years for their market square to be redeveloped, the people of the Dutch town of Schijndel have an incredible new structure that pays homage to the local farming heritage.

Architects MVRDV noticed that the area put aside by the town planners resembled the layout of a traditional local farm. They used this idea to create a 1.6 times bigger model of a farm, made from glass and printed with images of a variety of different buildings from local farms, taken by artist Frank van der Salm.

The structure isn't just for show, it also houses several retail and business premises on the 1600sqm of Schijndel’s large market square.

Images from MVRDV and Persbureau van Eijndhoven.