Trends in web design change quickly, so what is modern-day will be considered “old school” in the future. For anyone interested in building a responsive site, it’s essential to understand the essentials of Modern Web Design. But for now, here are some of the web design trends that every business owner should know for the New Year.
The Minimalist Approach
It’s no secret that modern website browsers are impatient, to say the least. The only thing a modern-day searcher wants to know is if the website they’re on has the information they need. And they want to find that out as quickly as possible. This is one of the main reasons why the most successful websites always place information based on its importance, with the most important getting prime real estate, which is the top half of their home page, while the rest is packed into sub-categories that are easy to find via drop-down menus.
The minimalist approach to web design means that the website is user centric, as in, providing the user only with the information they need. That being said, the e-commerce market demands the effective use of white space on a website to make it easy to read. Moreover, the selective use of design, graphics, videos, and animation works wonders in setting the tone for your website, rather than just using a wall of text, which will not only be confusing but also result in the visitor moving on to another site that’s easier to understand.
Rise of the Hero Image
More and more businesses are incorporating high-resolution images to tell their story. This image is often placed in the background of the page, with only a small amount of content overlaid on it. Using the right imagery for your website can do wonders to draw in the attention of your visitors and make them interested in what you have to say, and more importantly, your brand. That being said, it is important to use responsive images that can adjust in size based on the resolution and screen size used by the searcher.
Putting Your Footer Down
On a modern website, the footer is the perfect place to provide additional information about your business and brand to visitors without breaking the flow of the page. This can include contact or company information, along with a small site map and links that could be useful to your audience. It is important to use a minimalist approach for footers as well, keeping things clean, simple, and easy to understand.
Mobile Friendly
Almost everybody owns a smartphone these days, if not everyone. This means that more people are searching for information using their mobile devices than ever before (60% to be exact), and this is one of the reasons why your website has got to be mobile-friendly, in other words, use a responsive design. In fact, if your business website isn’t already mobile-friendly, you are leaving a lot of cash on the table, and that’s no laughing matter. So, along with making your website look slick and easy on the eyes, it should also look great on mobile devices as well.
Using Typography that’s Web-Safe
Modern-day websites boast of bold typography that’s clean and easy to understand. This also includes the following:
- Appropriate sized text, which is usually bigger than 16px.
- Using web-standard fonts.
- A limited use of multi-colored fonts.
- Using grey or black typography, depending on the page’s background.
- An adequate use of line spacing to enhance readability.
Full Screen Background Videos
We are also seeing a rise in the use of full-screen background videos on websites. These custom videos that play in the background header are growing in popularity for their ability to keep viewers engaged.
Ending Note
Looking at the pace at which website design has evolved, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that website design is a moving target, as designers and developers look to find better ways of creating websites that offer a complete and satisfying user experience. Keeping the aforementioned tips in mind will help you create a website that provides the best user experience for visitors to your business website.