2012 Predictions: Interview with Designers, Developers and Bloggers

• 47 minutes READ

Today we have decided to publish the biggest article on DesignModo. These past days we have worked on an ample research – giving some simple questions to some of the best designers, developers and bloggers from around the world. They have answered these questions their own ways and you will have the chance to read their answers below.

We have chosen the most simple and obvious questions to ask all of them, especially because a new year is coming soon (2012) and the one that is leaving us (2011) brought lots of new things and achievements. We are sure you would be interested to know what would the best of the best say about the things that happened in 2011 and what can we expect in 2012.

The questions we decided to ask are:
1. What are the greatest news of 2011?
2. What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
3. What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
4. What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
5. What are your plans for 2012?
6. Something else you would like to add?

These might sound like the most simple and obvious questions, but this is the best way to see what will these professionals tell us. We are sure you will like the answers, as they are diverse and pretty interesting. So, let’s start learning something from the best.

Scott Belsky

Scott Belsky

Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Behance, a company helping organize and empower creative professionals. The Behance Network is the leading online platform to showcase and discover creative work, and serves as the backbone for AdWeek, LinkedIn, and thousands of other portfolio sites and online galleries of creative talent. Millions of people use Behance to get exposure for their work and find talent to hire.

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Sites: behance.net – prosite.com – Twitter: @scottbelsky

What was the greatest news of 2011 in the creative industry?
I think the power of tablets and mobile devices and the new applications people use to create were the biggest “events” of 2011. Products like SketchBook from Autodesk, Instagram, Soundcloud, and others are making it easier than every before for people to create professional quality work. Behance is trying to help people get exposure for their creative work, so we are integrating with many services to empower the careers of creative professionals.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
I think we will see a shift away from “crowd sourcing” and find more designers and other creative people building meaningful relationships with clients online. The top creatives will start working more on their own terms (and less so for large companies). The era of the creative professional is finally upon us!

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
I think the way we consume news and other information that interests us will change in 2012. This is one reason I became an advisor/investor in Pinterest, a new platform to express and enhance your interests, and FLUD, a mobile social news reader that lets you creative powerful “reading lists” and curate what’s worth reading for others.

What are your plans for 2012?
We are extending the Behance Network ) to help companies sort through the world’s creative work. We are also building more networks for top schools and organizations and powering more online portfolios via https://ProSite.com/. Everything will continue to be connected to Behance’s central platform.

Yummygum

YummygumYummygum is a small design company located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Yummygum exists of Leon Ephraïm & Vince Schwidder, both designers with a huge pixel pushing passion  and endless creativity.
Yummygum creates icons and makes detailed designs for web apps,  native apps and iOS apps.

Site: yummygum.com – Dribbble: yummygum – Twitter: @yummygum

What are the greatest news of 2011?
Somewhere in the second week of December we took note of a blogpost on geek.com stating Microsoft will be persuading Windows users to upgrade to the newest version of Internet Explorer. For us that’s great news since it increases more people will look at browsers as pieces of software that constantly need to be improved. Hopefully it helps people to think more progressively about the web, which naturally has a huge impact on the time web designers and developer have to spend worrying about browser compatibility.

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What are the trends for 2010 and what can we expect from this year?
We’ve got a hunch circular masked avatars will be the next big thing. Path is one of the apps that’s begun using circular avatars. Speaking of Path, we wouldn’t be surprised if more small scale social networks/apps will arise that have a focus on sharing with an inner circle versus sharing with the entire world.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Nothing really.

What are your plans for 2012?
Since a while we’ve been focusing on designing 99% of the time. We hope to be fortunate enough with clients that want to hire us for design jobs only. If possible we’d love to outsource the amount of time spend on development even more than we’re already doing.

Something else you would like to add?
We wish DesignModo a happy 2012!

Christian Budschedl (Kriesi)

Hey! My name is Christian Budschedl, better known as Kriesi. I sell WordPress themes for a living, just recently became the first Million Dollar author on themeforest.

Site: kriesi.at – Dribbble: Kriesi – Twitter: @Kriesi

What are the greatest news of 2011?
For me it’s probably the general direction the web is heading for, with vast improvements on every level. The devices are better and more sophisticated (iPhones, Android Smartphones, tablets etc.) the browsers get better (faster release cycles, auto updates, better feature support) and websites become really versatile and beautiful applications, thanks to HTML5, CSS3, custom typefaces, media queries, etc.

And all of that happens at an astonishing pace of speed, that makes it damn interesting, challenging and worthwhile to work in this industry :)

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
I think trends do very seldom change from one moment to another so I guess we will see an iteration of what we saw last year. More focus on mobile devices, clean responsive web design and HTML5 + CSS3 Applications.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Well I would say in 2011 CSS3 really hit the mainstream. Browsers that don’t support those features lose marketshare as we speak. This makes my job as web developer much more fun, since I get to use these fancy new CSS3 features and no longer need to test for every crap browser on the planet ;D (I am looking at you IE)

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
I think the most important part to stay tuned is to get yourself connected and participate in todays social web. Blogging, tweeting, dribbling, commenting. In short: participating. Sounds more like a Buzzword parade but nevertheless this is something which worked well for the last few years and will probably work for some more to come :)

What are your plans for 2012?
Since WordPress keeps growing and growing I will probably keep investing most of my time into this great piece of software and keep developing themes :)
I will also follow my own advice and be more collaborative during the next year. Do an open source project or two. Learn iOS programming. And get more sleep… hardest challenge of all :)

6. Something else you would like to add?
If the Maya are correct 2012 will be the last year of our lives. Don’t waste it ;D

Sebastien Gabriel

Sebastien GabrielSebastien Gabriel is French interface designer, blogging, dribbbling and creating free .psd just for the love of it. Now work for Google.

Blog: kbsportfolio.com – Dribbble: kounterb – Twitter: @kounterb

What are the greatest news of 2011?
I guess the greatest news for me in 2011 was the growth of the HTML5 and javascript technologies reducing the use of Flash. I never liked this technology but I don’t really know why. Maybe because I really sucked at it. Don’t get me wrong, Flash brought some beautiful thing on the internet… probably as much as ugly flashy non-usuable websites. I just look forward to see what we’ll be able to do with HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript, even if there is some crazy things out there already done. Speaking as an user interface designer, I think it’ll produce prettier, smoother and even more user friendly interfaces as ever.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
I think that 2012 will be the strengthening of interface design. With the multiplication of different connected devices and services. I think that UI design will slowly replace web design as we know it. Adaptation and content quality is key. For me, responsive design is a proof. Beautiful, simple and adaptable design, leaving the graphical part aside to focus on content reading. Another example is that I don’t see a website anymore, I navigate through my Google Reader feeds, Twitter and my iPhone and iPad apps. I think it’s for the best even if the graphical creativity we can discover by viewing a classical website we’ll be truly missed (and will not completely disappear though).

Finally it doesn’t mean that it’ll be less beautiful, the difference is that instead of having beautiful surroundings, it’s the content itself which will be.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
It’s a little linked to my previous point. I got more interface related work and less web design work. But it’s probably because I wanted these kind of work unconsciously. Also, a lot of my contacts were for iPhone / iPad app design. These directions affects me a lot, I switched from web design to designing buttons and interfaces for various devices but it’s ok, I love it.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Mobility. Watch what is happening there and you’ll got the trends.

What are your plans for 2012?
Moving from France to San Francisco and take my Job at Google. I’m very excited about it. I wish I’ll also be able to keep my blog updated and create some more freebies.

Something else you would like to add?
Merry Christmas and happy New Year :)

Martin LeBlanc Eigtved

Martin LeBlanc EigtvedMartin LeBlanc Eigtved is web designer, developer and the founder of Iconfinder.
He working with web design, development and online marketing since 2001.

Site: iconfinder.com – Twitter: @iconfinder

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The greatest news for Iconfinder was probably winning a large startup-competition in Denmark called Venture Cup. We got some cash, press and a lot of attention here. Winning the competition kick-started us to think about Iconfinder as a more serious business. We are now two persons working full-time and currently getting investors on board and building a plan for the future on how to take over the world!

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year? 
Apps and mobile devices will continue to dominate the tech space. The bar for entry is getting really high – you have to master both design, tech and start with a strong concept if you are going to be at the top. On the traditional web pages the new browser technologies; CSS3, HTML5 etc. moves much more responsibility to the designer and front-end developer. Mastering front-end-technologies will be extremely important in 2012. I really think Photoshop is becoming a much less suitable tool e.g. when designing for responsive design – Photoshop is too static and locked up in the whole idea of a fixed sized canvas. I haven’t really seen the perfect solution for this problem, but I’m increasingly using tools such as OmniGraffle that offers a faster way to design.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally? 
Steve Jobs’ death really made me sad. I think it’s inspiring that a CEO’s death can create such strong emotions in so many people. Perhaps it shows how far you can actually go by putting personality in products. I read his biography and even though he could be a real asshole to other people, his sense of what people would love to use and his to extreme focus on details in product development, is something other CEO’s should learn from.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends? 
I think that trying out new technologies is always important. In 2012 I think creating an iPhone or Android app by using Amazon Web Services would be a smart way to spend your time. Mobile and cloud technologies is so important to understand.

What are your plans for 2012?
For me personally I’m planning to run two Marathons; Copenhagen and Berlin. Also, I have just bought tickets to a Pearl Jam concert in Amsterdam which I’m really excited about experiencing live.
For Iconfinder, we are planning to build a team and relaunch Iconfinder with a lot of new features which we really believe will create value for users and designers. 2012 is going to be really exciting for us!

Something else you would like to add?
Yes, Merry Christmas!

Jon Phillips

Jon PhillipsJon Phillips is a maker of fine internet things. He’s a web and UX designer, entrepreneur, creative thinker and amateur photographer.

He’s currently working as an Advertising Relations Manager at BuySellAds.com on their Fusion, Ad Packs and Yoggrt networks.

Blog: jonphillips.ca – Twitter: @jophillips.

What are the greatest news of 2011?
There’s been a lot of great news in 2011, especially in the design and development world where things are in constant evolution. The simple fact that we’re seeing more modern browsers like Chrome and Safari grab more and more market share over IE is awesome enough.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
They’re not really trends, in fact I think those things are here to stay and are even redefining how we’re building and developing websites, but we’re seeing more and more sites using font services like Typekit, FontDeck and Google fonts.
That combined with a growing interest for responsive and adaptive web-design may mean some very interesting improvements in 2012.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
My biggest discovery was definitely responsive web design. Media Queries have been around for quite some time, but I’ve only started using them about a year ago and I’ve been loving rediscovering how to develop websites – it’s a complete mind-shift from the old (and let’s admit it, not flexible at all) model where fixed width layouts were king.
Responsive is where it’s at and it’s here to stay.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
I could mention font embedding services and responsive web-design again but rather I’ll say that we should keep a close eye on how the web is being used by people.
More and more we’re seeing web-apps and iOS and Android apps that are absolutely gorgeous. Path is one that comes to mind. Designing and developing iOS apps is something I think a lot of web-designers and developers will try their luck with.

What are your plans for 2012?
I’m not one to plan too far in advance, but some of my plans for 2012 consist of releasing an icon set I’ve been working on for a while, redesign my personal site at some point, working on some (responsive) designs for freelance clients and maybe I’ll finally get around to releasing an app at some point. All that and of course work at BuySellAds where I’m filling the Advertising Relations Manager position.

Something else you would like to add?
Did I mention font embedding services and responsive web-design? :)

Claudio Guglieri

Claudio GuglieriClaudio Guglieri, Senior Designer in Fantasy Interactive Nyc and Speaker/Lecturer on Interactive Design. As a designer I’ve worked for clients like Google, Range Rover, Porsche, EA and helping teams at  AOL or CNN. As a lecturer I’ve had the opportunity to talk in forums like the UNAM  in Mexico, University of Málaga in Spain.

Site: f-i.com – whydontwetry – Dribbble: claudioguglieri – Twitter: @claudioguglieri

What are the greatest news of 2011?
Greatest news? I moved to Brooklyn! :) In terms of Interactive Design I ‘m happy to see how the web, functional sites overall, is going to a more App-like structure and functionality wise. Heavy content sites are getting rid of the clutter, trying to be monetized in different ways. Also we are moving towards a more Editorial layout in general, this practice have been there for a long while in blogs and trendy sites but it’s now when big portals are changing to a cleaner, spaced out, clear layout where it really doesn’t matter that much where the fold ends but showing what it is relevant to the user at first. Web design looked at print design for new layouts, new ways to consume information, real typefaces used as a visual resource.

For me 2011 has been the year of the explosion of HTML / javascript, misused in so many ways, long scrolls, parallaxes and in general taking advantage of what it was there before but no one dare to use. Somehow we have gone too far on this and at the same time, Interactive wise, we have gone backward too much, constraining ourselves to a specific technology when we were already years ahead in a different one! So hopefully we will get this back during next year.

Something also important, webgl taking over the web with awesome experiments!!! Hopefully at some point during next year Webgl will stop being part of an “experiment” and will become a more natural /accesible technology in the web letting us, creators, push the internet where it should be.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Ha! I was waiting for this This one is a really broad and scary Question! Well, let me list some of them
– More mature layouts, Print/editorial more integrated, more liquid and responsive layouts no longer constrained to a specific width in heavy content sites. Responsive design will lead eventually in the dead of the Mobile App, used as a source of pure information, hopefully this will level up the existing apps and therefore the internet mobile.
– App’s interactivity more established, less web-ish more app-ish sites. More and new ways to interact, regardless the technology, besides clicks and drags. More gaming interactivity and something really important lacking nowadays in the current html development, more visual feedback to user responses. Videogames have a long tradition in user-interaction that we need to take and apply to our work in the interactive field.
– More editorial look and feel with interactive capabilities.
– A more mature Html5 use.
– More sites using WebGL, less “experimental” and more user centered & functional.
– More and better webfonts,

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally
In general I could see how big companies wanted/asked to move away from flash as a requirement. They were still open to imagination and innovation but that was a key restriction. More liquids layout and less 1024 restrictions, more mature infographics sense, more app-ish sites. It all affected me in my work as I’ve been trying to push clients to move ahead, depending on the nature of the project I always pushed for moving away from old browsers and therefore pushing the experience besides any technical limitation.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
There are a lot of innovators in our industry, at the end of the day I believe these are the people who do, developers, designers, and Interaction designers might not take always the credit but those are the professional that besides getting new business to a company sit behind their desks and push for a better and new internet. I always find interesting reading internet gurus articles but those are not the one creating trends, they just analyze them once they are there.

As any other year I would pay attention to the main game changers in our industry, companies like Google, and so many small one always daring to do something new. Old game changers and new ones popping up everyday at twitter, new agencies and studios with little to loose and lot to win.

What are your plans for 2012?
Continue trying to create awesome stuff at any level. Over client constrains, limited resources & budgets this is what makes me go to work everyday. The innovation may come, depending on the project, in small doses but it has to be always there. Some other times I found myself saying that an icon is the most innovative part of a whole site (truly!). Some other times however the whole picture is just amazing. Finding new places to innovate, design and interactivity wise, continue getting the clients to do this is my plan for 2012, teaming up with my good fellas developers on this race, be in the right place to do it, and help improving the reality of internet.

Something else you would like to add?
Well, thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts, just to wrap it up a final thought /advise to the professionals out there or people trying to get in the industry:  Be happy and be nice to people. Push yourself and push boundaries with every project.

Jacob Cass

Jacob CassJacob Cass is a cross disciplinary designer & art director living in NYC. He is the founder of the design studio & blog Just Creative Design as well as the logo award scheme Logo of the Day.

Sites: justcreativedesign.com – logooftheday.com – Twitter: @justcreative

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The greatest news for me on a personal level would be getting my US Working Visa and a new job at an awesome agency in NYC. On a global level, where can I start? SO much happened in 2011, I’m just happy to still be here!

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Storytelling in advertising, marketing and branding is going to increase significantly, with more emphasis on genuine, engaging communication. Responsive web design is also going to gain more traction, along with HTML5, CSS3 & web fonts.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Learning from those in the community has really helped this year and I’m always blown away by all those in the web & design industry who so freely share their knowledge & skills with others! A big thank you!

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Do as you have been doing; read blogs, magazines, articles. Listen to podcasts, network with others, go to events!

What are your plans for 2012?
To keep on hustlin’! A re design of my Just Creative Design blog is in the works, as well as continuing to work for Ammirati here in NYC. Plus lots of travel!

Something else you would like to add?
Thanks for having me and good luck to everyone for the New Year!

Mikita Mikado

Mikita Mikado

Mikita Mikado was born in Minsk, Belarus. Mikita is a co-founder of Quote Roller and CEO of Coding Staff.
Quote Roller is a web based software that helps to create, send, organize and track business proposals with ease. Impress your clients with beautiful proposals created in minutes.

Sites: quoteroller.com – codingstaff.com – Twitter: @mikitamikado

What are the greatest news of 2011?
Well, as any year 2011 had many news. We had good and bad ones. Tech industry was shocked with death of Steve Jobs. Unfortunately the bright man went to past at the peak of Apple’s success.
There were also quite a few interesting IPO  files including Zynga, LinkedIn, Pandora, AirBnB, HomeAway, Groupon, which clearly states: our industry is growing

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
I would say that a lot of things that happened to the industry of graphic design and development is going to happen in healthcare, educational, and government. Slowly but surely those industries will also become digitalized, agile and lean. This is a long process, I don’t think this will be it in 2012 but I think we’ll see a start of it next year.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Well, we launched a startup. That was the biggest thing for me this year. Our application, Quote Roller, changed tremendously over the year. The whole 2011 for me was, actually, a year of Quote Roller. Building, launching, analyzing…

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Mobile devices, especially tablets. I think tablets will be more and more adopted by people vs computers. Besides, I believe those devices are going to become more common in business use.

What are your plans for 2012?
Well… to be honest, get the Quote Roller to pay its bills :)

Something else you would like to add?
I’d add that everyone reading this article must feel extremely lucky. We live in the decade of digital revolution. It is definitely the time of geeks and techies.

David Rydell

David RydellDavid works as CMO at the web monitoring company Pingdom and focuses on marketing, product development and design. His headphones are always blasting beats while he’s working and keeping his eyes open on whats happening in the web development field. Before joining Pingdom, he worked with marketing and design at Sweden’s largest web hosting company, Loopia.

Site: pingdom.com – Twitter: @pingdom

What are the greatest news of 2011?
For Pingdom the greatest news has been the increased awareness of how important uptime and web performance really is. During 2011 most site owners have started to realize this. Before, it was mostly larger companies with resources that cared about this.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Increased focus on the mobile web and mobile e-commerce is on the rise. And since the mobile web is growing, the high latency and limited speed of mobile connections will really highlight the importance of web performance. This will push web developers and designers to think more about optimizing their websites for size and speed. If they don’t, they will deliver a subpar mobile experience.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
If I can only mention one thing, it would be the mobile web (I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but it really is that big of a deal!). It has really started to move from the early adopters into the hands of everyone. The growth has been tremendous. I bet a good portion of you are reading this on a mobile device.

And still, this is just the beginning, the initial baby steps. We visited Asia a couple of weeks ago and everywhere in the streets people where walking around with their “pads.” It all makes sense, we spend a lot of time away from the computer but still we want to be connected. It’s bringing “personal computing” to a whole new level.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Your blog? Seriously though, I would have my eyes open for everything that’s happening around the mobile web. It’s easily the fastest growing segment out there, and we will all have to adapt accordingly.

What are your plans for 2012?
To continue evolving Pingdom. We have hired a lot of new people in 2011 and will continue doing so in 2012. Our ambition is to keep making uptime and performance monitoring easy, so everyone can use it and benefit from it. This has always been our goal. We will of course also release some new features and services during the year.

Something else you would like to add?
Well, yes… If it wasn’t already exceedingly obvious, we are uptime and performance geeks. Our open question to everyone out there is: “Are you monitoring your website? Do you know for a fact that it is working properly 24/7/365?” If you can’t answer yes to that question, you might be losing visitors and revenue and should really look around for an uptime monitoring service and sign up as soon as possible. Rumor has it that there are actually completely free options out there… ;)

Steven Bradley

Steven BradleySteven Bradley is a web designer and WordPress developer who moved to Boulder, Colorado to be near the mountains. He blogs at Vanseo Design and owns and operates a small business forum helping people learn how to run and market their business better.

Sites: vanseodesign.comsmall-business-forum.net – Twitter: @vangogh

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The most significant change for designers and developers in 2011 was the spread of responsive design and associated ideas like designing for mobile first. They weren’t first talked about in 2011, but this past year was the one in which the ideas reached most of the industry.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
I don’t like to think in trends as much as I do solid design and development principles. I think 2012 will see even more adoption of responsive design ideas and I think there will be a continued attention paid to grids and typography.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Again the biggest industry change for me was the rise of responsive design thinking. I spent a large part of the year working to understand how to best build a responsive site and as a result put off one or two personal projects while I learned.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Responsive design, mobile first, html5, grids and typography. One interesting change that could be coming in 2012 is automatic updates to Internet Explorer. If Microsoft does start automatically upgrading all versions of IE from 8 on up, it could be the first time on the web where most IE users are capable of getting the latest and greatest techniques.

While there will naturally be some holdouts using IE6 and IE7 this might be the year, where designers and developers can move fully into html5 and css3. If it does happen expect to see a lot more use of cutting edge html5 and css3.

What are your plans for 2012?
I’m currently redesigning my own site and looking for partners in a new project. Hopefully the rest of the time is filled with client work with an occasional break so I can recharge by batteries. As I plan for every year, I also expect 2012 to be filled with learning more about web design and practicing what I’ve learned.

Something else you would like to add?
I mentioned responsive design in answer to most questions. I think it, along with the ideas of mobile first are ushering in significant changes in how websites are designed and developed. These are more than a few techniques to keep up with the latest. They signal a complete overhaul in how we all think about the process of building sites. These changes will be on a similar level as when the industry moved from table-based design to using css.

Leonhard Widrich

Leonhard WidrichLeo is the Co-Founder of Buffer, a smarter way share your Tweets and Facebook posts. Simply add any article to your Buffer and it will be posted for you at the best times.
Leo blogs for Mashable, TheNextWeb and other news outlets. He is a very nice guy, happy to chat at any time.

Site: bufferapp.com – Twitter: @leowid

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The biggest news in 2011, was how solidly Twitter established itself as the most powerful and beneficial social network for me in the Social Media space.
I also believe, that with Google+ jumping onto the Social Media bandwagon, it just shows that there will be a lot more innovation to come for sure in this space.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
As I am mainly Social Media focus with my work, I believe we can expect some big changes here in the future. Here, I think the key is to find tools that help us cut through the clutter and get to the most relevant Facebook posts and Tweets in the shortest time span. At the same time, we don’t want to overload our followers and optimize the way we share too.

I think this will be the focus of 2012 at least. Making more efficient content discovery and sharing the spotlight of new apps. I am sure there will be some amazing things coming regarding this.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
For me personally 2011 was a crazy year. I dropped out of college, moved from Europe to Silicon Valley, raised money for my startup and hired our first employees. It’s been an amazing and incredible at the same time. I think it taught me the one thing that whatever you love to do, do it and keep at it until you make progress. It’s extremely tough at times, but the only way forward.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
I think in order to stay tuned on the latest things in 2012 it is key to start building a personal brand on Twitter. It will become more and more important that people can find you online. It’s no longer important to have a nice resume, or wear a suit. If you can show influence and thought leadership, you are much more likely to get acceptance. I think online will become a new standard of influence and recognition.

What are your plans for 2012?
Personally, I will dedicate 2012 completely to the work on Buffer. Our goal is to turn it into a new sharing standard. This means especially to spread the Buffer button across the web and working with news reading Apps to integrate a Buffer button for easier sharing.
I also plan to travel the world a bit, starting with Hong Kong, Chile and then San Francisco again.
Oh and to get a better gym routine going. :)

Something else you would like to add?
I have been greatly enjoying to read DesignModo particularly in 2012 and believe it adds a huge amount of value. Since I try my first baby steps in design too, it is a great resource to help me get started. Kudos to Adrian and the team!

Kevin Liew

Kevin LiewKevin Liew is the founder of Queness and Favbulous web development websites. He’s also a web developer/designer who specializes in frontend development (HTML, CSS and Javascript).

Sites: queness.comfavbulous.com – Twitter: @quenesswebblog

What are the greatest news of 2011?
Well, not that great, but the greatest news of 2011would be the death of Steve Jobs. Apple products are famous in web development industry and they have many great products especially its mobile platform – iOS. Apple’s decision on not supporting flash in iOS platform forces Adobe abandoned mobile flash development and focus on HTML5.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
The era of HTML5 is here! In 2012, HTML5 implementation will continue to mature, some features that aren’t well-supported such as canvas, local data storage and form elements will be implemented. Mobile development will prevail. More and more companies will build mobile version, and/or develop native apps for theirs services/websites. Social media integration will continue to be the norm of all websites.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Frontend development has gained a lot of attention this year. The rise of HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript framework have changed the way websites are built. Thanks for the push from mobile platform (iOS, android etc) and limitations of Flash, people are moving on to HTML5 at faster pace. As for myself, I found the exact field I want – frontend development. Now I’m working full time as a frontend developer specializes in UX and building interactive web interface with jQuery framework.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Pay attention on web typography, HTML5 and mobile App! Flash will still has its own place in web development because HTML 5 couldn’t deliver a full interactive and animation user experience yet. However, you will see many company move out from flash to take the  advantages of HTML 5 website. Many new mobile framework will emerge, existing framework will continue to develop to its perfection. Adopt one, or create your own, familiar yourself with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Also, knowing how to use jQuery framework would add credit to your resume.

What are your plans for 2012?
Frontend UI and UX will still be my main focus, I will spare some times and do some experiements with HTML5 (animation and canvas). Finally, I will keep myself busy with my web development blogs and other personal projects.

Something else you would like to add?
Almost 10 years in web development industry, I still love it. It’s a very exciting industry because there are so many technologies working together to make a working website. It allows us to think creatively to create different solutions to fix a single problem. If you’re new to web development, I wish you all the best in year 2012, keep learning and keep building the Internet.

Syed Balkhi

Syed BalkhiSyed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner. He is known for his agressive marketing skills, creative designs, and expertise in SEO.
Syed has been in the industry for over eight years, and he has worked with some of the top brands in the industry.

Site: wpbeginner.com – Twitter: @wpbeginner

What are the greatest news of 2011? 
HTML 5 and CSS 3 is being adapted and going mainstream. Typekit being acquired by Adobe (meaning more fonts and faster growth). WordPress coming out as the most dominant CMS in many studies. Last but certainly not the least, launch of the HTML 5 version of WPBeginner (WPBeginner.com) that is totally responsive along with the launch of our site List25 (list25.com) was pretty great news for our company.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year? 
We will see a huge increase in the number of mobile site as well as mobile advertisement. Up till now, we see a lot of mobile versions of websites, but I think that the trend will be responsive designs.
Another trend that I think will grow more is recurring subscription models. People are more inclined to pay a web-based app monthly rather than buying a software at a higher price which they have to upgrade yearly (a la quickbook etc).

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally? 
Facebook launched the send button and bunch of other cool platforms that affected me personally. Twitter accepted us in their promoted program which affected the way we used twitter.
The responsive design trend was on a rise, so we converted WPBeginner’s design to being a responsive design.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends? 
I try to read as many technology related / design related sites possible. This includes Mashable, TechCrunch, Smashing Magazine, Css-Tricks, and many many more. I pay close attention to what gets approved through CSS galleries such as CSS Mania, Best-Web-Gallery etc.
Most importantly, I follow my list of favorite people on Twitter that always keep me up with the trends.

What are your plans for 2012?
My plans are to grow WPBeginner and List25. I may be joining as a co-founder of another startup that I cannot talk much about. But the goal is pretty much the same every year. Enhance efficiency, improve productivity and have fun.

Something else you would like to add?
Go check out List25.com (You will love it)

Brad Wayland

Brad Wayland Brad Wayland – is the Owner of DesignMag Inc and Bittbox Inc (sites include DesignM.ag, SpyreStudios.com, DzineBlog.com, FreelanceFolder.com, and Bittbox.com).

Also co-own custom t-shirt ecommerce company BlueCotton.com.

Twitter: @bradwayland

What are the greatest news of 2011?
For me the greatest news was the acquisition of 4 additional design properties to fit with DesignM.ag.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year? 
Loaded question. I think we will continue to see growth in the deals and bundling sites. Products continue to become an increasingly important part of the design and development community. I know for my properties we plan to do a better job of engaging with our visitors and offer them our products to help them with their designs or business.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
In 2011 I believe we saw a steady increase in ad spend from advertisers on both the BuySellAds network and Google Adsense. This has empowered us to produce the best content and create the best products we possibly can.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends? 
It’s clear to me that the design industry is heating up. A rollup of the properties is on the horizon. Not exactly sure when it will hit but the industry is far too fragmented. Some player with cash is going to emerge looking to take 25-30 properties and merge them into a monster design brand. There is too much money on the table for the big media companies for this not to happen in the not too distant future. The beauty of it is that a collection of the top 25-30 sites would not cost that much… say $30-50 million if you are willing to exclude the Envato’s and Smashing Mags of the world.

What are your plans for 2012? 
Quality content, quality emails and newsletters, quality product offerings, growth in revenue.

Something else you would like to add? 
Why do design bloggers use pen names? Some of the biggest names are not even using their real name. Strange trend that makes no sense to me. I know a few real names for the pen people :)

Angelina Lee

Angelina LeeAngelina Lee is the Online Marketing Executive for 123RF.com, one of the world’s largest players in the royalty-free stock photography industry. 123RF.com hosts more than 11 million stock photographs and vector illustrations with over 100,000 contributing photographers and illustrators.

Site: 123rf.com – Twitter: @123rf

What are the greatest news of 2011?
As a person who comes from the microstock industry, there were many developments this year. However, I would say “123RF to start accepting motion submission” would be the greatest news for us. This illustrates would mean that a more competitive stock footage market is coming soon.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Due to the world economic pressures being generally downcast for the year 2011 which looks like it will continue affecting everyone till 2012. The USA might recover a little bit by the end of 2012, nonetheless, the microstock industry will continue growing from strength to strength in the year ahead and gain popularity among big corporations as well as designers and advertisers. Well maybe the iPhone 5 will be unveiled in 2012, since everyone’s so excited about it!

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Steve Jobs demise, he was and still is a beacon of shining inspiration for everyone. His famous quote of “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” has reminded me to not always live in a comfort zone and satisfied with your current work. It is important to have a positive mindset of continuous development and learning and staying open-minded.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
The global news and the news that related to your industry, of course.

What are your plans for 2012?
Change! However, which part or area of change? This remains a secret.

Something else you would like to add?
Always stay alert of things that happen around you, your industry and the world. Let common sense prevail!

Sergey Perets

Sergey PeretsSergey Perets, CEO and co-founder of Artua Design Agency which started as a small group of enthusiastic artists in 2002 and is now a team of more than 20 professional designers guided by a responsive and customer focused management team. We offer a full range of services, concentrating on Icons / GUI and iOS platform.

Site: artua.com – Dribbble: Artua – Twitter: @artua_design

What are the greatest news of 2011?
What… Osama? Japan? EU? Wall Street? Floods? Jobs? Unfortunately this year wasn’t full of good news, but we believe that the next year will prove itself to be absolutely remarkable. It has to be.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Speaking of icons, they will get even more photo-realistic using a lot of 3D. At the same time icons will tend to lose the level of details, while keeping simple and clear style. Websites will certainly get more dynamics and interaction with users with HTML5 and CSS3. The layouts will get simpler, elements bigger, less colours, etc.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Well, we painted the walls and replaced the sofa in studio :) In fact everything was pretty smooth and stable. Sometimes even too stable -_-

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Don’t be lazy and pay attention to details. They are important and, in the end of the day, these small things make the final piece shine. And of course follow the guru.

What are your plans for 2012?
We are planning to move to a new office and reorganize work places a bit. Probably we’ll be taking more Web / UI orders. And you’ll have a chance to meet us at Rock am Ring this year.

Henry Mones

Henry MonesHenry Mones is an Interactive ArtDirector with 15 years of experience and founder of Bestwebdesignaward.com.

Site: bestwebdesignaward.com

What are the greatest news of 2011?
In my mind the rise of HTML5 is a candidate for “greatest news of  2011”. It gives us as developers and unique opportunity to make  engaging, explorative, ultra interactive web design without the use of  flash or other plugin based technologies.

That being said I wish the next question on this list was “What are the  WORST news of 2011?” because my answer would be almost the same:  “HTML5  !!”… before you leave this page in anger let me add the word “HYPE” to it…”HTML 5 HYPE !!”. HTML5 shows great promise and I am convinced  that it is going to archive great things in the future. But it’s not  ready yet. And I am not talking about that HTML5 still has a long  roadmap and such. I mean it IS ready to be used but it is not ready to replace flash a 100%. I feel that in some situations the HYPE is forcing  us as developers and designers to compromise, not making the best sites  we can, with the best technology.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
If I was to choose one “trend word” for 2012 it would be “FUSION”. I  think we will see a movement towards that, mobile apps, desktop  software, and websites will be fused in to one. Webapps will become more  and more popular and in some areas replace the native apps. The approach  many people currently take is to develop a website + an IOS app + an  Android App and very soon + a windows phone App also. In the long run I  don’t believe that it is a viable solution to develop all projects in 3+ technologies.

“Develop once; deploy anywhere” has to come… Please :-). I believe it  will be a combination of cross platform development “frameworks” like  Mono, PhoneGap, Adobe Air and a rise in the number of HTML based online  webApps being developed. The same basically also goes for HTML. I think  we will soon see tools and frameworks that will allow developers to  spend more time on making cool stuff and less time on cross browsers  testing and such.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you  personally?
A lot of energy in the community has gone in to the fact that Adobe  discontinued the flash mobile player and the way they communicated it.
Also the overall battle between HTML5 / Flash has taken its toll. This  has led to much turmoil and confusion among both developers and clients… which unfortunately has taken away some focus from what should be the  main objective:
“Creating fantastic digital projects, that makes a difference”. I say  reclaim that… I know I will!

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Don’t pay attention to anything! :-). Start listening more to yourself, than to the “gurus”. Start thinking more and listening less. Start Leading more and following less. That is my advice.

What are your plans for 2012?
At Bestwebdesignaward.com we will continue to make space for innovative and creative web design on our site. Right now we are separating between HTML and Flash site. Hopefully we won’t have to do that in 2012 if people can move past the hype and buzzword frenzy and start enjoying sites no matter the technology that was used to make them.

Michael Martin

Michael MartinMichael Martin is a WordPress developer from Northern Ireland. He blogs at Pro Blog Design.

Site: problogdesign.com – Twitter: @problogdesign

What are the greatest news of 2011? 
For me, one of the best was seeing Microsoft also join in the fight to end IE6 with their IE6 Countdown site (ie6countdown.com). On the other end of the browser scale, it’s been a great year for HTML5 and CSS3. There’s still a lot to be done, but largely led by Chrome’s release schedule, browsers are iterating quickly, updates are becoming more seamless, and as a result, progress is happening very quickly now.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year? 
It’s hard to discuss web trends without mentioning mobile. The smartphone market is only getting larger and larger and everyone understands the importance of mobile.
The interesting thing will be the battle of native apps vs web apps. At the minute, the native apps seem to be firmly in the lead, but the cross-platform nature of web apps will continue appealing to smaller teams who can’t afford the cost of maintaining apps on several different platforms. And where there’s usage, there will be innovation too.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally? 
Joining the iPad owners club was fun! I can’t pretend that it has really affected my workflow yet, but the potential is there. There are new apps coming out all the time, and as they do, I’m sure we’ll see more and more aimed at improving workflows.
For now though, Flipboard is still my main reason for loving the iPad!

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends? 
As always with the tech world, just about everything changes. It’s hard to keep on top of it all, but I think the main thing right now is to keep on top of the design world.
Design has always been important, but more so than ever, I think companies of all sizes (One-man teams included!) are really appreciating this and investing their time in it. App sites are a great example of this, how often have you loaded a one page site for an app and instantly wanted it?

What are your plans for 2012?
As a WordPress developer, I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years in PHP and every in and out of WordPress. In 2012, I’m finally branching properly into new technologies. Right now, I’m focusing on Rails, but there are dozens of other technologies out there that I’d love to work more with, such as Redis and Node.js.

Something else you would like to add?
On a slightly related note, it seems a fun time to be using Mac text editors. With Espresso 2 recently released, and Textmate 2’s alpha released, and Coda 2 taking signups to a private beta, it’s great to see some progress in this area at last too.

R. Bhavesh

R. Bhavesh R. Bhavesh is a proud net entrepreneur from India and founder of leading WordPress theme store – Templatic.com. He is passionate about bringing in practical web solutions for end users that helps them build quick, easy and affordable easily using WordPress.

Site: templatic.com – Twitter: @templatic

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The web is maturing. The focus has changed from building a website to Building a context focused web presence. With a smart phone in literally everyone’s hand, building solutions for mass people has actually become fruitful.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Responsive design has really became popular and it seems to be growing. Personally, I think this is really a smart way to build things for web wherein you become device independent. Adaptive/Responsive design will take its place and it will become the way to build the things for web. It wouldn’t be a choice but rather, a necessity for web development people.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Responsive designs became popular this year. We are a theme business and it becomes a necessity for us to adapt the change. It affects us in a good way since now we will be able to build even better, practical solutions that everyone can use.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Mobile web has really became popular and it will continue to grow. In fact, don’t be surprised if it takes first place in terms of content assumption.
Focus on context instead of just content this year.

What are your plans for 2012?
At templatic, we will adapt the change massively. We will shift from organization to a company phase and bring in consistent, stable and more quality products that help end user build professional websites easily.

Something else you would like to add?
We are going through a massive change the in web. Be open to change and adapt what’s good for the end user.

Ben Lang

Ben LangBen Lang is the 18 year old founder of EpicLaunch.com, one of the top blogs for young entrepreneurs. He also works for Wibiya and manages their blog.

Sites: benjaminlang.com – wibiya.com – Twitter: @entrepreneurpro

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The most entertaining and dramatic news in the blogging world of 2011 was that of TechCrunch. After AOL purchased the blog chaos ensued. The founder of TechCrunch, Michael Arrington, left followed by many other of his colleagues. It was a nasty fight that received a lot of coverage.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Micro-blogging through platforms such as Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Quora and Path is definitely going to be a growing trend in 2012. No longer do people want to write long, time consuming blog posts but rather short, simple posts filled with pictures.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
The loss of Steve Jobs was a huge blow to the entire tech sector. He represented so much innovation and passion to the entire industry. It’s fair to say that everyone felt a personal connection to him through his inventions.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Important to keep up with all of the new services that are constantly coming out. As difficult as it may be to find time to check out all of these new services it’s important. You don’t want to be late to the game when the next Twitter or Tumblr comes around.

What are your plans for 2012?
My plans are to continue growing my blog EpicLaunch and working on my startup MySchoolHelp. My goal is stay up to date on everything going on in the tech world and to continue being an early adopter.

Victor Conesa

Victor Conesa Victor Conesa is Product Manager at Justinmind. In his role as Product Manager for Justinmind, Victor’s professional focus in on designing the most powerful yet easy to use software to prototype web and mobile apps.

Site: justinmind.com – Twitter: @just_in_mind

What are the greatest news of 2011?
In my opinion the two most relevant news for web and mobile developers this year are the growing maturity of responsive/adaptive design and the consolidation of Android as an alternative to iOS. Both have direct implications on what web and mobile developers must focus their attention on and be ready for the explosion of the coming of HTML5.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
The use of HTML5 will explode. Smartphones, tablets and laptops with gestures like the new Macs will force the app developers to make their apps the more cross-device they can. Consumerization will move the UX of the current apps to the companies and a big market of B2B apps will emerge on 2012.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Many web design/development companies have also moved to the world of mobile apps. That made us to rethink our product’s roadmap and add to our prototyping software more capabilities to prototype mobile apps. We had to ship libraries to prototype apps for the main mobile devices and even simulate gestures and run the prototypes in the mobile devices themselves.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
We strongly believe that consumerization will change the way we’ll make software. So I should pay special attention to the devices that people are including to their lives such as smartphones, interactive TVs, and so on because people will expect the same user experience that they have with those devices in the software they have to use in their companies.

What are your plans for 2012?
We will ship our cloud service to publish and review highly interactive prototypes and add a SaaS model to our business model. We plan to give to any entrepreneur, web/mobile developer, student, etc. the ability to visualize their applications without any coding or technical background. We will open our prototyping software to integrations and any kind of export options. And we will make some alliances with user testing tools companies too.

Something else you would like to add?
We are in crisis, we all know that, but I think this is just a chance to wake up from our couch and take the entrepreneur that we all have inside out. You can use our prototyping solutions to help you on that process ;)

Ro Gupta

DisqusRo Gupta works for Disqus, the universal comment platform, used by over a million communities, 60 million commenters and 600 million readers. Disqus focuses on building products that encourage active participation on the web, while allowing designers, developers and bloggers maximum ease and flexibility.

Site: disqus.com – Twitter: @disqus

What are the greatest news of 2011?
From a design perspective it may have to be the passing of Steve Jobs.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Speaking of Mr. Jobs, designing for the touch experience will only continue to rise in importance next year.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
The continued expansion of Facebook outside Facebook.com is certainly a big one. Although Facebook comments are now a formidable competitor, in many ways they actually helped Disqus by bringing more awareness to third party commenting, which has allowed Disqus to become a Quantcast #1 US Network in 2011.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
As always, don’t mind the industry buzz and hype too much — just stay laser focused on what users want and how they actually behave.

What are your plans for 2012?
This will be the biggest year in the history of Disqus from a product and business expansion standpoint (in fact, we are hiring!: https://disqus.com/jobs). Look out for big new releases featuring better identity control, frictionless participation, personalization, discovery, insights and much more. We think 2012 in general will be a breakout year in many ways for web communities of all types. Stay tuned…

Something else you would like to add?
Did I mention we’re hiring? https://disqus.com/jobs

Taylor Jasko

Taylor JaskoTaylor Jasko work for MaxCDN. People call me an all around geek, and you know, they’re right. I’m an expert in web design and development, I enjoy iOS/Mac programming, I fancy the design what I do every day with the Wacom Intuos4, and lastly, I’m an extremely social person being on practically ever social network possible. I also run the technology blog called Tech Cores, which was founded in November of 2008.

MaxCDN strives for one ultimate cause: giving you the most powerful and one of the fastest CDN products, at a price that will not make you heart skip a beat. After being in the CDN business for quite some time, our entire team has turned an already amazing system into one of the best products in the industry.

Site: maxcdn.com – Twitter: @MaxCDN

What are the greatest news of 2011?
As for what we think the greatest news would of been in 2011, it would have to be the death of Steve Jobs. But in all seriousness, in relation to ourselves,  it would have to be our major pricing changes. Not only do we offer consumer-level services, that we call MaxCDN, we also try to deliver an unique enterprise service to customers who need maximum power out of their website(s).

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
2012 has been said to be the year of all the latest and coolest technology in terms of practically everything. As for 2012 in general, we expect the web to have a major overhaul for all the greatest trends in technology like the ever so alleged HTML5 and CSS3.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
This year was an incredible year for overall technology. The main founding father of C and UNIX passed away, Dennis Ritchie, but in relation to the web, the whole concept of Web3.0 and HTML5 has really been kicked into gear. We are all seeing easier to use web applications and services that are taking over our internet browsers!

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
With all of the latest trends in 2012, we get most of our bleeding edge information from the hottest and most social services out there, like Twitter and Facebook.

What are your plans for 2012?
As much as we would love to take a break, we are in fact workaholics. Not only do we look forward to improving our existing system, we also plan on expanding our network even further to many new areas of the globe and making sure we provide ultimate CDN service that everyone can afford.

Something else you would like to add?
MaxCDN is a content delivery network aimed for both regular people and developers who need an easy to set up service. We strive to offer maximum CDN service to all kinds of users while still sustaining a fast and easy to use system.

Mark Evdokimov

Mark Evdokimov Mark Evdokimov is the co-founder of Filter Forge, Inc., a a one-product company solely focused on developing Filter Forge – a high-end innovative graphic software allowing computer artists to generate textures, create visual effects, enhance photos, and process images. It features several thousand ready-made realistic and abstract textures and effects, and a powerful visual editor to create custom ones. Available since 2006, Filter Forge has gained a solid user community and enthusiastic response from many top graphic artists.

Site: filterforge.com – Twitter: @filterforge

What are the greatest news of 2011?
I consider the end of the Iraq war to be the greatest news of the year. Speaking of technology, I can mention the release of Adobe Photoshop CS 5.5 and Android 4.0.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
The most prominent current trends are proliferation of mobile devices and increased use of social media. These trends will go on to 2012, with even more focus on mobile and web applications. In the coming year we’ll also see the release of Windows 8, Photoshop CS 6.0 and Filter Forge 4.0.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Apple’s appetite for releasing numerous minor updates to Mac OS X really affects us because most updates invalidate Filter Forge’s installer. This forces us to quickly make a hotfix ensuring compatibility with Mac OS.

What are your plans for 2012?
Our plan for 2012 is to release Filter Forge 4 which will feature many improvements to the interface and functionality, and our free online filter library should reach the 10,000-filter milestone.

Something else you would like to add?
We wish you all the happiness of the season and peace and prosperity in the New Year!

Moray Taylor

Moray Taylor Moray Taylor is a Partner in The Escapers, and is the lead developer of the web development application, Flux. The Escapers are a Mac software development team who create innovative and powerful software.

Site: theescapers.com – Twitter: @theescapers

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The iPad 2 was massive, and from that, we can see the future of the tech industry is in tablets. The iPhone 4S brought usable speech recognition to the fore, and if Siri is brought to the Mac, I think it’s impact could be tremendous, not just for us geeks, but for people with disabilities, it could be life changing, a lot of people write stuff like this off as gimmicks, and to some, they are, but for others it can make a profound difference, everybody has different needs. Siri is another interface, just like a keyboard or mouse, and could be just as industry changing.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
Mobile and tablets will continue to dominate, and I think it’ll be a really positive year for the web as Flash slowly disappears. We’ll see other platforms such as Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry 10  start to make headway, but I don’t think either will challenge iOS or Android.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
The loss of Steve Jobs certainly had an impact me personally, although I didn’t know him, I had emailed him, and he would always email back, I think that to get that, from the CEO of one of the largest tech companies, is pretty amazing. I hope Apple keeps going this way in the years to come.

 What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
The cloud, it’s still not mainstream, but next year I think we’ll see that begin to happen. I think TV will be big for Apple in 2012, they’ve had a couple of attempts at it, and are making progress, the Apple TV is getting better and better, more and more reliable, but I think to get into most living rooms, they need to make an actual TV.

What are your plans for 2012?
The Escapers is going to release a major new version of Flux, I’m personally very excited about it, it’s going to be the first real assault on DreamWeaver the platform has seen in a long time. 2012 is going to be a really big year for The Escapers.

Jerome Iveson

Jerome IvesonJerome is co-founder and product designer at Thrive. Their ethos is to create beautiful and intuitive web apps for creative professionals. Thrives first product Solo is an all-in-one project management tool for independent creatives. It allows users to manage projects, track time and handle invoicing; making the most of their time and maximizing their business data.

Site: thrivesolo.com – Twitter: @thrivesolo

What are the greatest news of 2011? 
From my position as a developer of web apps I think the continued rise of mobile devices especially tablets is great news. This dovetails well with the widespread adoption of HTML 5 giving us greater scope and flexibility.
As a designer and a lover of typography it’s refreshing to see more type foundries licensing their type for web use. I hope this continues as I really want to use Gotham Rounded – your move Hoefler & Frere-Jones.
From a non design perspective it has to be the Arab Spring. There is obviously still a long way to go. With time and patience hopefully things will keep moving in the right direction giving empowerment and a voice to those who had none.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
I think the transition to mobile will keep moving at a pace. Next year will be very exciting. There are opportunities to create some great seamless user experiences across multiple platforms, always married with great design of course.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Our web app Solo has started to gain a good reputation and market traction which has been good for me personally. As an Apple aficionado Steve’s death was a strange one. Somewhere deep down its made me care less about their products. Maybe there’s that bit of magic missing – or it could all just be a distortion field.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Twitter, Techcrunch, Dribbble & Pintrest

What are your plans for 2012?
I’m going to be very busy designing and building the Multiple user version of Solo alongside Solo version 2.0. I’ve also got a couple of secret projects in the pipeline which should keep things very interesting.

Something else you would like to add?
Hopefully Microsoft will be true to its word and kill off older versions of IE once and for all. Apple will hopefully release an iMac with a retina display.

Marius Klatt

Marius KlattMarius Klatt is Senior sales manager at Depositphotos. Depositphotos is the fastest growing stock photo agency in the world.  Presently it offers over 5 million stock photographs and vector images sold under royalty-free licenses. The stock photo library is increased daily by thousands of images, carefully checked and selected by moderators. The company is headquartered in Florida, USA, and has business offices in Germany, Great Britain and Russia.

Site: depositphotos.com – Twitter: @Depositphotos

What are the greatest news of 2011?
There were many different news in 2011. First of all – acceptance of HTML5/CSS3 and a huge success of mobile devices.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
We believe that in 2012 trends will be an original evolution of trends of 2011 – Responsive Design and Simplicity in Design. Mobile devices will be even more distributed and they will cause a new inquiry wave for mobile apps and mobile web-sites versions. Further growth of screen resolution and increase of prevalence of iPad – format devices will lead mobile devices and web-sites design to a new level.

Owing to that, demand for professional designers and quality authentic pictures will increase. As a microstock agency, we will win because of that and we’ll try to do our best to satisfy an increased demand.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
Mobile devices used to have an extreme success in 2011. Due to the permanent increase of mobile device users (up to 7% of Depositphoto’s users), web-designers needed to adjust client’s web-sites to mobile devices. UX-specialists got even more work – web-sites must be same comfortable on the maximum number of devices.
Lots of recourses, including Depositphotos, have redesigned their web-sites or launched their mobile versions.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
We think to stay tuned with the trends you should keep aware of the latest news and technology and adapt to the situation accordingly.

What are your plans for 2012?
We have big hopes for 2012. First of all, we would like to attract more designers and photographers, who aren’t represented on other microstocks. Secondly, we are going to increase attendance of our service and enlarge the quantity of buyers. As more people buy from us, as more likely authors with quality portfolios will come to us, and this is win-win situation. Authors will earn more and buyers will have a list of fresh works on any subject.
We also plan a lot of innovations in 2012, but so far it’s a secret.
Stay tuned to our latest news to be informed.

Iszlai Zoltan

Iszlai ZoltanZoli is the founder of Psd Slicing, a psd to html service helping design agency’s with front-end development and web development. He is also a founder to the newly launched Psd to email service which converts psd designs to email newsletters.

Site: psdslicing.com – psdtohtmlemail.com

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The greatest news of 2011 from my perspective is the fast and main-stream adoption of HTML5 and CSS3. The adoption of CSS3, responsive web design and the fast releases web browsers allowed web designers to show even more innovative, forward-thinking designs and more innovative user experience.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
The coming year of 2012 is the most exciting, because more and more sites will create a mobile version for their sites. In 2012, more sites will recognize and adapt the full capabilities of HTML5, Javascript API’s and CSS3 based animations.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
The wide adoption of jQuery, jQuery mobile and jQuery UI surprised me, considering all the alternatives that were available (Prototype, Moo tools, Script aculo, …). I spent a considerable time learning it inside-out to use it everywhere. WordPress became a widely appreciated CMS system and I had to rapidly learn everything about it and become very good integrating WordPress themes. Many front-end development tools became available to speed up the front-end development process: OOCSS, Modernizr, Less CSS, Sass, Compass, 960gs… All of these tools help up speed up and modernize the way we create websites.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
We should pay attention to responsive web design, mobile websites and for graceful degradation for older browsers in 2012. I suggest participating at the Carsonified conferences: Future of web apps, Future of web design New York and London and paying attention of the web design news.

What are your plans for 2012?
In 2012 I planning to redesigning a couple of my sites, and I want to learn everything these is about HTML5 and CSS3 and learn more about designing websites. I’m also planning a big trip across Europe with my family.

Something else you would like to add?
For front-end coders and web designers, I suggest improving their skill sets by watching the web design news and testing out new techniques. I recommend learning from Think vitamin’s new training program: Treehouse. I wish everyone a happy New Year and I look forward to it since I feel more exciting things will happen.

Chris Rivers

ChrisLocated in the Seattle Washington area Webtreats is the design/development team behind Mysitemyway.com & the WebtreatsETC resource blog webtreats.mysitemyway.com.

Site: mysitemyway.com – Twitter: @WebTreatsEtc

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The greatest news for us anyways in 2011 is that we launched our Premium WordPress Theme site Mysitemyway.com

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
We’ll continue to see more and more responsive and adaptive layouts in 2012 as people/business want their online content to look good on a myriad of devices (e.g. iPad, iPhones, Android Phones)

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
I think in 2011 WordPress has really come into its own as the dominate content management system and as of August 2011 powers 22% of all new websites. This effects us personally as we now solely develop for WordPress.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Sites like dribbble.com are great places to stay up to date on design trends, but obviously the best place on the web to stay up to date with design trends is designmodo.com ;)

What are your plans for 2012?
We’re going to be incorporating responsive layout options into our Mysitemyway.com themes, we’ll also continue to focus on making WordPress themes that are user friendly as more people with little coding knowledge can build website using WordPress.

Something else you would like to add?
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. ~ RIP Steve Jobs

Jonathan Saragossi

Jonathan SaragossiJonathan Saragossi is the CEO & Founder of IM Creator. IM-Creator is a new way to create your website: choose a design, insert your content and publish it to the world – all in one simple, clear and seamless process.

Site: imcreator.com

What are the greatest news of 2011?
The death of Flash and the the revival of HTML.

What are the trends for 2012 and what can we expect from this year?
The look and feel of the new windows phone (‘Metro’) is going to be the new standard in design and UI, with strong typography and solid colors. When you look at Apple’s GUI it  suddenly seems so 2010… :)
More and more sites are going to look like magazines – layouts are going to be broken and more creative.
Mobile sites are going to be even more important and popular than regular ones.

What changes happened in 2011 and how did they affect you personally?
We launched IMCreator.com and were overwalmed by the huge need for HTML creation.

What do we have to pay attention to in 2012 in order to stay tuned with the trends?
Japanese fashion and music magazines. London’s fashion runways.

What are your plans for 2012?
Make HTML-creation available for the masses!!

Something else you would like to add?
Make 2012 the year you quit your job and start your own company. It’s much more fun.

Andrian Valeanu

Andrian is a skilled web designer, email marketer, and SEO expert with over 20 years of experience. He founded Designmodo, a reputable company specializing in website and email building. Andrian shares his knowledge through guest lectures, interviews, and online publications, and is a respected voice in the industry.

Posts by Andrian Valeanu
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