5 Web design trends you need to know for 2017

While websites are here to stay, their layouts and designs are constantly evolving. This is probably because those who design them know that, more than ever, people have trouble focusing. We spend so much time on our phones and tablets that we have become nearly immune to everything. For a design to really catch our eyes, it has to pop, or at least be different than something we’ve seen a thousand times before. Otherwise, you risk that the end user is going to “jump” to another website. So what have these web development masterminds decided will do the trick? Read on for five web design trends that will take a site from ordinary to extraordinary.

 

  1. Long Live the GIF

Cinemagraphs—gifs or videos that run on a continuous loop—are eye-catching enough to entice the reader to visit your site. They are often entertaining and colorful and, for a society of people with attention deficits, this is key. People are enjoying their foray into becoming amateur developers by using easy-to-use applications like Boomerang. As this Hubspot article notes, these cinemagraphs “have become a popular way to add movement and visual interest to otherwise static pages.” Videos are always great as well as you can tag them so people can find them in their searches, and anything that improves your SEO rankings is always good. Plus, a video done well in the background of a website makes it look more modern, which is more appealing to those who have an eye for marketing.

 

  1. A Lovely Landing Page

This isn’t so much a trend as much as something that’s here to stay but because of its importance we want to mention it here. Your landing page is your chance to make a first impression. No takebacks! You want it to be clean and sleek looking, as busy web pages tend to be an assault on the eyes and are likely to cause your visitor to jump right away. As mentioned above, a well done video or GIF running in the background is always nice, but try to keep your copy to a minimum so as not to overwhelm. That said, you need to get your point across, so succinct copy is necessary. Quick, simple landing pages like We Buy House’s Denver’s example are ideal. And don’t forget a CTA (call to action) if your goal is to get something from the end user, whether it be a purchase or simply to explore the site beyond the landing page. Once you get them further into the site, you can work your magic with things like innovative Wordress plug-ins.

 

  1. Bright Colors

Black and white is cool for photos but not for engaging website users. That’s probably why Facebook developers recently added those color choices for updating Facebook statuses. Some people might dislike them but, overall, they are a nice change of pace from the boring white space in the background of statuses of old. As this article on web designs notes, gradients are back in a big way, much like last year’s huge ombre hair trend! The gradual increase in vibrancy of color is appealing to users, so whether it’s a large part of your page or just a section, we say go for it.Duotones—or adding one color on one side of the page and another on the other—are another cool way to mix things up. You can even add some fun and funky colors and designs to frame your photos to make them even more engaging.

 

  1. Mix Your Vertical and Horizontal Text

This might sound like a ploy to get attention. Guess what? It is! And the cool thing is it looks cool, too. Listen, grabbing the attention from your readers is your goal, so if you have to put your type upside down (okay, not literally), do it! People do not like reading a lot of words on a page, so keep the word count down but the innovation up.

 

  1. Bold Typography

What you say and how you say it are crucial to your website success, but never underestimate the power of the font, and fonts that people hate! Bold typography that grabs the reader is totally in, while smaller fonts that smash words together make the reader miserable. Remember, less is more when it comes to word count, but more is more when it comes to typography. Check out BestlyProducts.com for a unique example.

 

Combat short attention spans with creativity. Follow these five website design trends and you’re on your way to making your web visitors very happy.


About the author

With a passion for Knowledge, Smashinghub has been created to explore things like Free Resources For Designers, Photographers, Web Developers and Inspiration.

Twitter Visit author website

Subscribe to Smashing Hub


Comments are closed.