Modern Web Design: Trends and Recommendations

Web design, no different than other businesses, has always been firmly associated with the trends and fashions of a given time period. Existing in the world of technology means that changes to these trends and fashions can happen in the blink of an eye as technological developments and innovations occur.

Just as you can view the evolution of design in print when comparing artwork from each decade, so too can you see the evolution of online web design when exploring websites and the changes they’ve undergone since the advent of the internet.

Access to the internet has become more available with tiny computers (aka smartphones) in the pockets of most consumers. In addition, most consumers have more than one device with access to the internet increasing the number of screens that users employ to browse online. Both of these factors have had a significant influence on many of the newest trends you’ll find in web design.

We take a look here at some of the biggest trends and our recommendations on how to approach them.

Content Comes First:

It’s no secret that Google’s (and other search engines) goal is to connect users with the most high-quality and relevant content as it relates to each search that occurs on their platform. While there are hundreds of factors used to calculate website ranking, there is no doubt that content plays a key role.

When building your website be sure to create content that displays in a way that will make it efficient for users to view across multiple platforms. Try posting to your website blog and then ensure that your blog has sharing buttons so that your own business, as well as readers, can easily share the information across multiple social media channels and email.

Readability:

Going hand in hand with the content is ensuring that this content is readable. Ensure a great user experience by selecting an easy-to-read font style, select a good font size for easy reading on both desktop and mobile devices, and make good use of white space, paragraph breaks, and break up the text by using imagery and video content.

Design Focused on Usability:

When designing your website make sure to consider the end-user. If you were navigating through the website what would you want to see and what would be the most intuitive and easiest way to navigate there. Poor user experience is a surefire way to lose potential customers. Adding icons to your website helps enhance the user experience and improve navigation. Read more about how to implement WordPress icon fonts on your website.

Responsive Design:

It’s essential today to make sure that your website is designed for both desktop and mobile devices. Over 50% of consumers today use mobile devices to access the internet and websites. It is essential for the user experience to ensure your website renders well on phone screens.

Use of parallax scrolls:

This special form of a scroll in which the background images move at a different speed than the images in front, creating a sensation of movement in two dimensions, is being used more and more and gives life to a website.

Web fonts:

Fonts that are excellent for viewing in print media are not necessarily as easy to read or view on a screen. More and more specific fonts are created specifically for online use and these are the ones that should be used in the design.

Specific designs for retina displays:

The amazing screen resolution of some devices on the market makes the visual experience go much further, some web designers are already taking note of this and are making their designs directly for this type of screen.

Fixed header bars:

These bars, created with CSS, ensure user navigation opportunities are always present on the screen. This helps them, helping to return to previous pages without having to go back with the browser.

Large Image-Based Wallpapers:

They are a very effective way to attract attention and return quality photography to the first page of web design news, as long as we think about their weight and optimize their size to avoid slow loading times.

CSS transparencies:

The transparency effects in CSS3 allow you to open new navigation windows showing the background of the main design, the effect is very attractive and creates easy navigation back to previous pages.

Minimalist landing pages:

Focused on the message you want to convey is often an ideal way to funnel consumers to conversion opportunities. Focusing on the primary goal or call to action in a simple and direct way.

Inclusion of QR codes:

The inclusion of this type of code helps mobile interactivity and saves steps when reaching the goal.

Social media icons:

Social networks are an ingrained part of our lives and are one of the primary ways that users share the content of interest to their network of family and friends. Using social media icons on your website allows users to quickly navigate to and engage with your company. In addition, they can serve as a great way to encourage sharing of information to each users to own social media channels.

If your website needs a design shakeup you can implement any or all of these points to help improve the overall aesthetic and functionality of your site. The thing is that having a proper website is a necessity these days, thus collaborating with an agency which is experienced in web design would be much better. There are a lot of experienced agencies that you can collaborate with; Dynamic Web Agency, Sinfa Digital, Wholegrain Digital and many more.