New year new you! Well, not quite; new year, same core values and ethos of doing the good stuff for the good people. But we are looking to what’s a-movin and a-shakin in our various zones of genius. So what are the Peaches excited about in 2018? We explore in this mini series.
And finally this week, the brains behind the brawn, our technical and development lovers take centre stage:
CSS Grid Layout
We talked earlier in the week about the space and grid trend in design and the development of the CSS Grid Layout system continues the theme. CSS is a native two-dimensional layout system for building grids in websites and has been a long time coming for designers longing to easily design sophisticated and responsive pages. Browser support is quickly growing (and usage should increase in 2018), making it easier to create more varied web layouts more efficiently. We’re hoping this system encourages a more natural and elegant approach to layouts as a whole.
Push notifications for web apps
Just like push for mobile, push notifications for web allow applications to send messages direct to the user’s device (desktop and mobile) to keep them up to date on events, deals, offers, etc. It’s an instant way of connecting with your users, even when they are not on your website. With relationships and contextual marketing taking a front row seat in 2018, this type of communication seems set to be a natural fit for the new direction of user engagement.
Internet of Things
Turn your heating on remotely; ask your washing machine to start the shirts; get your Teasmaid to get a brew on… The internet of things isn’t a new concept and can be found in almost any industry now; everything’s becoming “smart.” Whether you’re at home, in your car, in the office or out shopping, you’re likely interacting with smart technology. Experts believe this trend will continue to become more pervasive in 2018 as the effective technology moves from popular areas, like the home, into other (all) aspects of life.
Video & Photography
We touched quite a lot already on 2018 continuing the trend of images and video increasing in, well, visibility. Ryan and Michael give us their top 4 tips for images in 2018:
- VR: We called this one some time ago with James taking his talk on how VR will significantly impact the ethical and food worlds, get set for VR, AR and AI to really take off this year.
- Video on every platform: The increase in a desire to connect, form meaningful relationships with users and ‘live your brand’ makes video a necessity for any business hoping to make the difference. Connecting on a daily basis through video with relevant and contextual content is pretty much a basic human need now…
- 6 second bumper ads: Compact nuggets of storytelling that stretch your brand reach, these ads are a beautiful outcome of our age of distraction (when they’re done right).
- Bokeh: Bokeh is the ‘aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens’ and, with the addition of it as a feature on smartphones, we can expect to see a lot more of it. Artsy photography on smartphones isn’t a new thing, but it does have implications for businesses using social as connection. Crummy imagery isn’t going to engage your audiences in the same way that a well thought-out, considered and curated feed will in 2018.
Be sociable! Share your predictions and resolutions for tech and development in 2018 with us @giantpeach #giantpeachpredictions