Website Design Trends of 2017 | A Design Forecast
As 2016 begins to turn to fall, we can start to look back at the year, and make some predictions regarding the website design trends of 2017. A lot has changed in the last year. Web designers hone their focus on UI and sleek, ultra modern designs.
Dark Themes
Dark website themes have become more and more prevalent in website design over the course of 2016. There are no indications that the use of high contrasting, dark color schemes with white or lighter typography will change any time soon.
Micro Interactions
What is a mirco interaction? Reinvently.com describes them as
"Micro UX is an element of a design, often small, fully devoted to fulfilling a single task. Even though relatively simple, these elements are capable of creating unique user experiences, making the product usage a rewarding and joyful experience. Microinteractions author Dan Saffer described micro UX as a number of “details that make systems feel more human, and more humane”.
An Example of a microinteraction would be the pull down, and release to refresh feature that is now integrated into nearly any app that has a newsfeed feature. Other examples of micro interactions include: "Is Typing" on iphones: 
"Hover for Product Detail":
The world of micro interactions is expanding as designers look towards 2017. Designers and developers are finding newer, better, faster and more imaginative ways to incorporate these tiny interactions into their UX designs. It is crucial element we expect to see expand as one of the many website design trends of 2017
Layers, and the Reemergence of Skeuomorphic Design
The use of layers is a great way to add depth and bring design elements off the screen despite being confined to a 2D world. Countless websites continue to incorporate this fun, lively element to their websight designs. 2015 saw a huge rise in "flat" designs. More specifically, material design. Microsoft was the design front runner for this trend, followed closely by google who incorporated this "dynamic paper" style into almost every facet of their design.
As css3 animations become more and more advanced, one of the many prominent website design trends of 2017 will be the return of skeuomorphic elements, in multiple, animated layers. 
Scroll Effects
Another design element we suspect will be one of the major website design trends of 2017 are scroll effects. Scroll effects are pretty self explanitory: A scroll effect is an effect or animation that is triggered as the user scrolls down the page. There are many great examples of scroll effects out there. One website which does a really fantastic, and dynamic job of incorporating both scroll effects, and the clever use of layers, is Olle
Visiting their website is unusually gratifying. The combination of the delightful scroll effects, and use of layered elements makes their website seem to come off the screen.
We expect to see more and more websites incorporate interesting scroll effects such as these into their website design going into 2017.
Typography Trends
Typography is its own microcosm in the world of website design trends of 2017. Watercolor Fonts:
The popularity of water color fonts has grown very rapidly over the course of 2016. Most likely in conjunction with the growth of websites like Pinterest and Instagram that lend to a whimsical environment. We predict that watercolor fonts like Wanderlust, Minty, and Bonjour will carry the torch in website design trends of 2017.
All Caps Fonts:
In addition to watercolor fonts, all caps fonts will play a major role in website design trends of 2017. Many designers run kicking and screaming from these fonts. It is understandable. All caps fonts will always be associated with screaming at someone. However, the use of sans-serif , all caps fonts in page titles or in navigation elements is both tasteful and stylish.
In Closing
As 2016 begins to come to a close, we look back at the trends which dominated. Using these clues, we can predict the website design trends of 2017. Expect to see these trends continue to grow into the new year!