Metro, not just a bus system: New Design Trend of 2014

windows 8

As technology dies, we upgrade. And for those who are PC users, we have experienced the new Microsoft OS, Windows 8. With this new update, our design world as we know it as changed. We’re flat, baby, and there is no going back. No more semi-realistic icons. Instead we rejoice with the simplistic and minimalist. This Swiss inspired style focuses more on the content, letting the elements follow a square or grid-like arrangement. The colors may be bright but they do not have any sort of gradient. The icons may be plentiful but they are all meaningful. Gone are the overused gradients, gone are the plethora of drop shadows and highlights. Instead a cleaner sleeker design has replaced our Windows screen and it hasn’t even stopped there.

This design is commonly referred to Metro, because it was inspired by the signs for the King County Metro transit system. This design is known for it’s emphasis of typography and large text. Making it all the more easy to emphasize content over images. It also uses the icon-based interface that is popular in Windows, Andriod and iOS. It also groups common tasks together on the canvas (or grid) to get rid of the superfluous.

What’s the deal?

Why is this design so popular? Simply put, it’s easy to load. With it’s minimal style, it is less images to load. It also has less styling code to load as well. All of this shaves off time the user spends staring at a half loaded screen and hopefully prevents the awful splash screen that was so popular during the skeuomorphic age in the 90’s.

Byte-sized information

Because it also follows the less is more mentality it is easier to digest the content than other designs. The grouping of similar content into ‘bite-sized’ pieces allows users to easier understand what the website is about and how to navigate on the site. A well thought out Metro-inspired design will have clear and understandable small groups of information on a page spaced apart in order of importance. It will not have everything and the kitchen sink on the screen all bunched together so tightly that users have a hard time understanding where is the information they need while not wanting to fall asleep at the screen while trudging through all the other irrelevant information.

Examples

So you can get the hang of this new style, here are some examples of the Metro Style.

Form Responsive Metro Design

form

Buffalo Design Inspiration

buffalo

 

Flat UI Kit

flat UIOrlando Web Design

Whether you are interested in redesigning your website with the latest trends or simply adding a few updates, Orlando web design company authenticWEB is happy to help. We have experienced web designers and developers on our team who understand the importance of staying ahead of the trends, and we can design any website to your standards.

 

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