Having a website is essential for companies of all sizes, but can be a struggle for many small businesses.
Beyond simply having a .com to call your own, it needs to be able to help you stay ahead of your competition. One of the ways to do that is by looking at current web design trends.
Although 2020 is still months away, now is the perfect time to start tweaking your website to make sure it’s ready for the upcoming year. Keep reading to learn more about some of the web design trends you can expect to see next year.
Visual Web Design Trends
First, let’s take a look at the visual trends that have started popping up and will start to gain momentum as we go into the next year.
1. Simplistic Design
According to Albert Einstien, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” That is, you can make a mathematical equation easy to understand, but if you take things too far, you lose its original purpose.
This can be applied to web design today. You want your website to be so simple that anyone can easily use it, but not so much so that it loses any of its functionality.
2. Bold Colors
One of the ways to keep your design simple and to help it stand out is to use bold colors. There are many companies already using this concept.
Think of Spirit Airlines, and what color comes to mind? Bright yellow. It catches your attention and is something that any company can easily include in their web design.
3. GIFs and Animations
Anything that moves on a screen is great for keeping a reader on the page longer. However, videos can cause pages to load too slowly which is a huge turn-off for viewers.
To resolve that, many businesses are now turning to GIFs and other simple animations to provide moving visuals without the heavy file size.
Making your logo form before a person’s eyes when each new page loads is a great way to incorporate this design element in a way that’s fun and interesting without interfering with the rest of the site.
4. Eye-Catching Typography
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes you only need one word to say it all. That’s why many web designers are now using bold typography to get a message across.
5. Hand-Drawn Images
With the myriad of computer-generated drawings and stock photos to choose from, it’s easy for someone to tune out these visuals. That’s why web design professionals started looking for other ways to draw in readers.
One way they began doing this is with hand-drawn images. These are unique and can have various lines and other elements to excite viewers.
Hand-drawn images can also be used to suit nearly any purpose which is another reason they’ve continued to gain popularity and will be an even bigger design trend in 2020.
6. Asymmetrical Layouts
For many years, the extremely symmetrical grid layout was the only way to go when it came to web design. However, as businesses look for ways to stand out in the crowd, one of the ways they found was with asymmetrical layouts.
You do have to be careful with this because it’s easy to take it too far and end up with a chaotic web page. But, with the right web design team at your side, you can create a visually stunning asymmetrical design that people will love.
Other Design Trends
There are a few other web design trends to look at. These focus on the functionality of your website along with how it’s marketed. As you can imagine, these are just as important as the design trends that are strictly visual.
1. More Videos
The first thing that we’re already seeing a lot of are videos. They’re an incredible marketing tool that businesses are getting great results from. Numerous studies have been done that show how videos out-perform all other forms of content.
So, if you’re not currently investing time and resources into video marketing, now is the time to get started. The sooner you jump into this trend, the sooner you’ll get results.
2. Voice User Interfaces
Siri, Alexa, and other responsive voice interfaces have been given a lot of updates and developments recently by their respective companies.
As more people use these interfaces to ask questions, surf the web, and even order products online, it’s crucial for other businesses to step up their games so these interfaces can interact with them.
A huge part of this is keeping designs simple. With a simple design, it’s easy for these computerized assistants to find the information the user is looking for.
3. Virtual Chatboxes
If you spend any time on the internet, you’ve likely already seen countless chatboxes pop up on websites you’re visiting.
These can be a great way for individuals to quickly connect with a real person to get the assistance they need. However, it can also be expensive for a company to keep real people on call 24/7 for these chatboxes.
This is why more and more businesses are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) for this type of service. When properly programmed, AI in the chatbox can provide the same level of customer service as a human but at a fraction of the cost.
4. Mobile Optimization
Over half of people browsing the web today are doing so from a mobile device. If your website isn’t optimized for these users, it’s going to be difficult to use, load slowly, and provide a bad user experience.
For this reason, many web designers today actually start by designing a company’s mobile website. This ensures the majority of their users have an interface designed for them which keeps them on your site for longer.
If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, it should be!
Ready to Take Your Website into the Future?
Now you know some of the top web design trends that you’ll start seeing in 2020. However, if you want to get ahead of the competition, you’ll want to begin implementing them now.
If you need help with your company’s website, contact us today. We would be more than happy to provide you with an innovative and modern site that will help you grow your business next year and beyond.