In the past year, it’s likely your website has become the forefront of your business. Replacing the reception area of your office with the landing page of your website, your website has become the first port of call for both new and existing customers. And, without the friendly face of your receptionist to greet new clients, your website needs to do all the talking to engage users with your business and provide an exceptional user experience.
So, what are the latest web design trends that can help to boost the UX of your website and inspire your digital strategy?
1. Full page headers
Gone are the days when your website header was just your brand logo and navigation menu. Full page headers are the ultimate modern web design trend, creating a billboard of visual design and concise information for users to see as soon as they land on your site. From a high-quality hero image to an interactive animated video, your full-page header is your opportunity to grab the attention of new users and encourage them to interact with your website further.
2. White space
White space is all about thoughtful design. As the area between each element on a page, white space can help you to avoid overcrowding your website with content, which could lead to a poor user experience. When used effectively, white space can provide a clear structure to your site and make browsing a more pleasant and enjoyable experience for users. With roots in minimalist design, white space is the key to a simple yet sophisticated website.
3. Asymmetric layouts
2021 is the year to push the boundaries of design and embrace asymmetric layouts. With overlapping content and irregular shapes, asymmetric layouts allow you to build a website that’s truly unique to your business, setting the tone for the rest of your digital strategy. By considering the overall layout of each page, you can use shape, text, colour and images to balance each element and design a website that is visually engaging and reflective of your brand.
4. Bold fonts
Goodbye cursive fonts, hello simple typography! A clean font on a contrasting background will provide users with content that’s easy to read, making for a better overall experience. Though remember, it’s important to choose a single font to be used across your entire website to ensure design consistency.
If you really want to catch the attention of users, why not use that clean typography to create a bold title on a full-page header?
5. Illustrations
Recently, there has been a huge influx of brands using illustrations as part of their web designs, and for good reason. If your website lacks imagery, illustrations can be a great way of adding personality to your design by producing bespoke illustrations that complement your content. This will not only make your website more visually engaging but allow you to build a characterful identity for your business that’s relevant and recognisable.
6. Web animation
Animations are a great way of making your web design more visually exciting for users. From a simple loading animation to a sliding image gallery, once you’ve developed a web animation style, you can use this throughout your digital strategy to produce promotional material that’s cohesive with your website and brand. Web animation is your chance to bring your website to life!
7. Videos
If you’re looking to grab the attention of users as soon as they land on your site, incorporate a video into the design of your website. From a captivating background video to an informative explainer video, using a video on your website will create a more interactive and interesting user experience. Thanks to the storytelling capabilities of video, video can also be used to present your brand, products and services to users across various digital platforms.
8. Custom cursors
Custom cursors make for an overall more enjoyable user experience. By simply changing the shape or colour of your cursor, you can make your web design more enjoyable and memorable, increasing the time users spend on your site.
9. Dark mode
Dark mode may as well be a necessity to modern web design. With leading apps such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter offering dark mode to users, it’s only a matter of time before website’s offer the same function. With reduced eyestrain and improved visibility, dark mode is an easy way to tailor your web design around your users’ needs.
10. Chatbots
If you haven’t already noticed, 2021 web design is all about creating exceptional user experience, which is why a chatbot is essential to your web design. While less on the visual side of design and more on the functional, chatbots are a great way to encourage and enable users to interact with your business.
Interested in integrating one of these modern web design trends into your own website? Feel free to get in touch below to find out more about our bespoke web design services.