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Website Design Trends for 2016

In an industry as fast paced as the internet it is vital that as a web agency we keep on top of the latest trends and technology. Although many would argue that web design has recently moved away from very bespoke looking designs in favour of a more clean, flat and minimal look, there is no telling what could be waiting round the corner.

Change is good and it’s always important to stay ahead of the game when it comes to web design. The design of your website is likely to be the first thing a potential customer will see when wanting to learn about your business. They will make a judgement on whether you are the right company for them within a matter of seconds solely based on the design, content and usability of your site. Many a customer has been lost to outdated design layouts and poorly placed content. Fear not, as we move forward to 2016, let’s have a look at some of the latest design trends and why using these could benefit your business.

Clever coding

Over the last few years HTML5 and CSS3 have grown in popularity, to the point where most modern browsers are taking full advantage of these languages. Using CSS3’s Flexbox for example offers a way of quickly creating responsive layouts that will offer faster load times of pages.

Also having your website built in HTML5 can help to improve those all important rankings in search engines. How does this relate to design you say? Well, using these technologies will benefit the user experience of your website and will help you to push what can be achieved with the design.

Moving images

Full screen video backgrounds were all the rage in 2015 and although the image slider still makes it into designs there is now a growing trend towards unique and bespoke featured images as the main focal point of your website’s homepage. With Apple introducing live photos as part of its new features on the iphone 6s, there are also calls to introduce this style of photography on websites as well. These cinemagraph style images look great as a first introduction and can help to drive users to discover what else you have in store for them.

Example of Cinemagraph imagery

Bespoke iconography

I spend my life looking through icon set after icon set in search for that one icon to represent a subject or part of a company’s business and although there are many to choose from, it can become a tedious and drawn out process. Bespoke icons and illustrations are the way forward. Not only do they look great they help to feed vital information to your users quickly so they make the right choice when clicking around the content on your website. Illustrations and infographics are also great tools to help users visually understand the all important information that could be the deal breaker in any website conversion.

Colours and typography

If you’ve seen the latest Now TV branding you will notice that it is far from subtle. This is no accident, there is a real point to it and that is exactly why we are talking about it! Bold colours can really make your brand stand out from the crowd and 2016 looks set to be a big year for colour. Obviously we don’t want to go back to the 80s with your design and the use of vibrant and eye grabbing colours can help make your design jump off the screen.

Fonts on websites started off in a very small and humble way, with only a handful of fonts that could be used on a website design. Today is a very different affair with many font libraries to choose from including Google web fonts. Bespoke font designs are becoming more and more popular and it is set to grow in 2016. Clever typographical treatments will help to create more magazine style layouts on pages, drawing the print and digital world ever closer together.

Micro experiences

One element we always advise our clients to have on their homepage is good featured areas that help to direct users to specific content. These could be special offers or vital information about a new product or service. One trend which is going to make it big next year are micro experiences. Having a small featured area on your website is great, but making it become an interactive hotspot is even better.

You could invite your user to click a button that will expand the featured area to display a more in-depth explanation of a product, or have a contact form that fills the entire screen. These mini app-like design elements are great and will help you to increase the interactivity on your website.

How can we help?

Whether you are considering giving your current website a much needed makeover or commissioning a new one, we can help to produce a responsive design that will be professional, engaging and user friendly. Contact us.

Additional articles on Website Design Trends:
Web design prediction for 2016
6 design trends for 2016

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