Modern website design – how modern is your website? It’s the question that many website owners must continually ask themselves, as they seek to remain ahead of the curve in the competitive online world.
The world of web design changes so quickly, it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends. Every year sees new features and styles emerge as favourites – and while it’s not advisable to try and incorporate every single one of these new trends into your design, many of them will have the potential to enhance the user-friendliness of your site and contribute to a much improved user experience. Check out our top tips for modernising your website and remaining at the cutting-edge of web development.
It’s never been more important to ensure that your website can be viewed as effectively on a smartphone screen as it can on a laptop. Mobile-friendly websites not only have an enormous effect on your user experience, they also contribute to SEO as a valid ranking factor nowadays. This is the number one tip for modern website design and ensure you can compete with your rivals.
For a long time, the key style of web design involved making everything appear as three-dimensional as possible – but times have changed. For the last two or three years, it’s been all about flat design. This is a style of interface which reduces the appearance of three-dimensions for a more minimalist approach. Think of Apple’s website and how it’s changed in recent years – it used to be packed with bevelled icons, but now it’s all entirely flat and very minimal. This trend has been followed in everything from the design of operating systems to the development of new website layouts.
These are the large banners that sit prominently at the top of modern website design nowadays. They’re often powerful images, or images which represent the brand perfectly – check out The Art of Sculpting and Uber for two great examples. This high-quality images have grown in popularity as HD-compatible devices become more prevalent – they’re a fantastic way to ensure your homepage has a big impact.
Open source fonts, and particularly Google’s range, have become the go-to choice for website designers and developers everywhere. The expansive collection offers a range of advantages – they’re all totally free to use (even commercially), they look the same on every platform, and they offer faster loading times, which can also help your SEO efforts. If you’re not using open source fonts on your website right now, make it a priority to switch.
The online world is slowly moving away from cringe-inducing stock photos – illustrations and animations are now where it’s at. Visuals have a massive impact on the brain, and they can be processed much faster, which might explain why so many businesses are commissioning their own animations or set of personalised illustrations to adorn their websites.
How will you be modernising your website?