Website Design Trends for 2018

website design trends

Website design trends are constantly changing from year to year. This makes it hard for designers and agencies to keep up with the latest web design and tech advancements.

We’re here to help though. Let’s take a look at some notable web design trends coming poised to take over in 2018.

Website Design Trends

Bright Colors and Bold Fonts

To complement these modern design styles, you’ll need type font that stands out. Bold font styles help users focus on your content, while the whitespace makes it easier to read and skim through.

The goal is to create an easy and enjoyable experience for the user to keep them on your site for as long as possible and eventually convert them into paying customers.

In 2018, we may also see these fonts and colors taking the place of images. This makes sense for mobile especially. Unlike images, which slow pages down, scaling the size of your typography won’t impact performance.

Sticky Elements

All those tiny ads at the bottom of apps and mobile websites are making their way to desktop and tablet designs as well. And it’s not just ads in this down screen location, chat boxes, pop-ups, notifications, and even navigational elements are sticking to the bottom of the screen.

This less obtrusive location is a prime viewing area and mobile usage has trained users that these types of placements are acceptable.

Animation

Small, simple animations can surprise and delight users. They can also help provide information and lead the user through more active engagement with the design.

But subtle animation isn’t about a loading feature that hides logging time, it’s movement within the design itself.

To make the most of subtle animation in the design stick to a couple of basic rules: pick just one animation “trick” and stick to it, animation should feel realistic and mimic the laws of physics, don’t force sound or click actions to motion and make sure the animation plays on a reliable loop so users know when the animation is complete.

Interested in improving the design of your site? Contact us here!

6 Killer Tips for Great Websites

website

As a business in today’s world, it’s important now more than ever, to have a functioning website that works well and looks amazing.

Today we’re going to discuss the basics that are important to have a website that you and your audience will love.

Colors, colors, colors

Color is critical on web pages, but colors have meanings to people, and using the wrong color can have the wrong connotation if you’re not careful. When you create your web color scheme keep in mind color symbolism.

Spellcheck is your friend

Very few people are tolerant of spelling errors, especially on a professional website. You lose credibility from your readers and audience when you have errors in your text. Having a rigid internal editing process is a great way to cut out the mistakes and put a clean, professional site in front of your customers.

Loading Times

If you do nothing else to improve your web pages, you should make them load as fast as possible. You also need to consider mobile visitors who may not have such wonderful connection speeds at the moment that they are visiting your page! The thing about speed is that people only notice it when it’s absent.

Stop, Navigate and Listen…

If your readers can’t get around on the page or on the website they won’t stick around. You should have navigation on your web pages that are clear, direct, and easy to use. The bottom line is that if your users are confused by a site’s navigation, the only place they will navigate to is a different site altogether.

Be available

If someone cannot easily contact you on a site, they won’t! That likely defeats the purpose of any site hoping to be used for business reasons. If you do have contact information on your site, follow up on it. Answering your contacts is the best way to create a long-lasting customer.

Links need a destination

Broken links are another sign for many readers (and search engines, too) that a site is not well maintained. Unfortunately, link rot is something that happens without even noticing. Even if links were coded properly at the launch of the site, those links may need to be updated now to ensure they are all still valid.

Interested in updating your website or have any questions about design? Let us help! Contact us here.

4 Website Design Tactics That Improve User Engagement

web design

The success of a website design is determined by user engagement. However, what does this mean? As a business, the ultimate engagement you are seeking is a product purchase or a quote request. Nonetheless, if visitors are not interacting with your website design, you are not making sales.

No matter the business, it is essential to create a user engagement strategy. You may have a beautiful website, but if it is not easily usable than engagement and the site’s effectiveness will be low. So, what website design tactics will improve user engagement?

Easy Navigation 

The longer it takes for a visitor to find the information they are looking for, the more likely they will become frustrated and leave. Easily understood navigation is a must. A visitor should find what they are looking for in 3-4 clicks. Once they leave your site, they will find what they are looking for somewhere else.

Stickiness 

Each time a user visits your site, it dramatically increases the likelihood of a sale. In marketing, this is called effective frequency. It takes repeated exposure to your marketing message to make a sale. Therefore, use a blog to share content valuable to visitors, creating a reason to engage and return.

Social Media Integration 

Social signals are an important form of user engagement, and search engines use this behavior to determine a website’s popularity and reliability. Ensure your site encourages following your social media accounts, and provide tools to share your content. Again, this goes back to creating content valuable to visitors.

Become Mobile-Friendly 

Smartphones are increasingly becoming the preferred method for accessing the internet. If your site is not viewable and usable on a mobile device, visitors will become aggravated and move on. A responsive website design will adjust your site based on the device while preserving the content and function.

What haven’t we covered yet that is important to you? If you would like more website design tactics that will improve user engagement, or need additional information, please contact us.

Essential Ways To Improve Your Website Design

website

Everyone understands the need for a great website design. Your website is a reflection of your company. Therefore, your credibility and authority rely on having a top-notch design. Moreover, a design must capture the attention of your audience not only to motivate sales but because user engagement is a major factor in search result placement. Therefore, a design must build trust, keep your visitor’s attention, and encourage clicks and social sharing.

There are hundreds of details and ingredients that go into successful website designing. However, not everything works for every type of business, Nonetheless, there are ways to improve your website design no matter what industry.

1. Diminish Clutter –

An overly cluttered design can confuse visitors, create distractions, and make finding information difficult. Remove everything that diverts attention from your message.

2. Include White Space –

This is the area left empty on your web pages. The great benefit of white space if making your content easier to read and make guiding a reader’s attention to a call to action more manageable.

3. Use the Power of Color –

Marketing firms have long understood the psychology of color and use this power in everything from advertising to logo design. Whether your image is youthful, wealth, or trust, use colors that strongly conveys that message.

4. Stop Using Stock Photos –

Your visitors know that those stock photos do not represent you or your company. Additionally, these images make your website look very generic. A better choice is using a professional photographer.

5. Improve Navigation –

A visitor to your website should find the information they are looking for within a few seconds. Visitors will leave if they become frustrated. Moreover, primary menus should focus only on main pages.

6. Increase Speed –

It is a simple fact that the longer it takes your site to completely load, the more likely a visitor will become aggravated and leave. Optimize your site to load quickly.

What haven’t we covered yet that is important to you? If you would like to talk more about ways to improve your website design, or need more information, please contact us.