Web design is constantly changing, and while that is great for website users, for businesses it means that their sites can often start to look stale and outdated very soon. Trends that emerge as fresh and compelling are soon seen all over the place, and your website that once stood out now looks the same as all the others.
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Features such as long vertical scrolling, large background images, and parallax scrolling may well be effective—and other features like responsive design are more-or-less essential—but when everyone starts doing them, you need something more to make your site stand out.
New trends are coming along all the time, and it is important to focus on what the big trends are for next year and beyond to keep your site fresh. So what can we expect to be the exciting trends over the coming years?
More Focus on Almost-Flat Design
Apple and Google have really pushed the flat-design movement over recent years, and this is a good thing for web design. Flat design started on mobile platforms, and it has now moved to the desktop. This stripped down, no frills approach has been very successful, and it is especially effective for menus and icons.
But now the focus is more on almost-flat design. This gives more depth to some elements by using texture and images, and it helps to create more balance. It also makes websites look slightly more interesting.
Use of Original Illustrations
Originality should be rewarded—but there is originality that improves, and originality that simply confuses. For example, some things should be kept simple, like the navigation of your website. If you try to be too original here, you may end up confusing your visitors. But one area where you can ensure your website is original is through the use of illustrations.
Custom illustrations will be completely unique to your website. They are not something that anyone else can simply take and use on their sites, and there are endless ways to make sure your illustrations are inventive, captivating, and original.
Illustrations add personality to your website in a way that other elements simply cannot achieve. They also have the effect of making your brand look friendly and quirky, which is ideal for creative businesses or any other businesses that want to ensure they are approachable and fun to work with.
Illustrations can also be used in animations. Creating animations requires planning and effort to make them pay off, but the results can be something truly original that makes your site stand out a mile from the competition.
More Focus on Visual Storytelling
Copywriters have long known the power of storytelling to help boost engagement and conversions. When it comes to web design, storytelling can be implemented in a more visual way. Interactive storytelling provides you with a way to draw in your visitors and get them immediately engaged in your brand.
You could invite them to answer a question that leads onto an interesting problem that you can then offer to solve. You could pose a surprising statement and ask them to click through a selection of animations until they reach your survey.
Stories are a simple and effective way to create engagement because they are interesting and compelling. Stories use the power of curiosity to draw people into your site in a way that other techniques simply cannot. Speak to your designer about how you can build storytelling into your website to make it more original and compelling.
Renewed Focus on Typography
Typography is a powerful tool that is more-or-less forgotten about in the cookie-cutter world of website templates. Many people do not consider the typography of their websites at all, but this is a mistake. It can be a way to make your site stand out against all of the theme sites, and it can also hurt an otherwise effective website if you get your typography wrong.
Use typography correctly, however, and it can enhance your whole site. Using customized typography rather than resorting to a free font can also help you to emphasize how unique your brand is.
Speak to Your Designer About Updating Your Site
It is important to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to creating a website that provides a fresh and compelling experience for your visitors. You don’t want to constantly be playing catch-up, which will ensure you always have a website that fails to stand out from the competition. Speak to your designer about how you can implement new ideas to ensure your website remains fresh and original over the coming years, which will help to ensure your business stays ahead of the game.
Nick Dafni is the Founder and CEO of Brandnative. Through his career, Nick has strategized, consulted, and managed hundreds of businesses’ marketing, digital, and branding projects. Through the years, Nick and Brandnative have received multiple awards and recognition for their work both locally in Denver and nationally.
