Like many web designers I go through different phases. For a while I was big on using illustrations in my work. Having a solid color silhouette of something. However now I’m starting to really like using real photography. Not the crappy stock photos of business men/women shaking hands, but real photos. The same photo you would hang on your wall, you should be able to put on your website. I’m also a big fan of black and white photos, and I think a good B & W can compliment a design without being too much of a distraction.

A trend that people have used, but I have not tried yet, is using a photograph as the background of the site. One my favorite websites to do this is My Kinetic Kreations.

For some reason I really like this style. It is something different then the boring backgrounds you usually see. I think using real photos will be a good trend that will help get designers out of the whole web 2.0 craze. Stripped, gradient backgrounds, and glossy, reflecting logos are getting old. I say lets get out of Photoshop and get behind a lens.