Which Website Design Trends Are Worth Following?

A conversation I had with someone a little while ago sparked the idea for this blog post. She asked if there were any trends that were worth jumping on when it comes to websites and specifically which website design trends are worth following?

In short, I wanted to say, “none” and leave it at that but I will elaborate.

Website Design Trends Over the Last Couple of Years Which Have Faded

There are three website design trends from the last few years that stick in my mind and they have been adopted across slightly different online spaces.

The first is…

The Parallax

Do you remember this? If you don’t know what a parallax is, it’s when you scroll down a web page and the background behind a row doesn’t move with the row but moves behind the next row, creating visual interest and movement in the design.

In some ways this is pretty cool and it was kind of impressive when it first appeared but then it quickly became overused and in many cases was not used well. This type of design could be a bit distracting and take the website visitors’ attention away from the content and most importantly, with browsing on mobile devices becoming more popular at this time, it didn’t tend to work well on those devices.

The Over Vibrant Website

We saw this in the online business world, especially amongst online coaches and online marketing specialists. It felt like everyone started using incredibly bright pinks, yellows and greens. Imagine someone went mad with a pack of highlighters on your screen. And the result was that nobody stood out.

The Minimal to the Point of Non-Existent Web Design

We’ve seen this a lot in creative businesses. A single page website, with just a business name, possibly a strapline, an email address and some visual examples of work with no context.

Firstly, this looks so pretentious. Secondly, it’s an SEO disaster with no text for search engines to read. Thirdly, why would people get in contact with you if they have no real idea of your services, prices or the way you work?

Bad Website Design Trends Which Have Unfortunately Hung Around

On the whole I don’t tend to see much of the above anymore we do still see people doing these…

The Website Splash Page

You know the websites where a page loads but it doesn’t have anything useful on it and has wasted your time just being there because you have to click on a button to get into the actual website.

WHY?!!

It’s also another big SEO fail and something that should have died out 10 years ago but for some reason we still come across it from time to time.

The Instant Playing Video with Sound

I’m not talking about a background video behind the hero area at the top of a website which is unobtrusive and can be great if relevant to the business the website is for. I’m talking about the voice of the business owner suddenly booming out of nowhere when you’re in the quiet carriage of a train, making you panic and start looking for the pause button.

It still happens.

Using good quality video on a website can be great to engage people and get your message across but wait until you’re asked to talk by them pressing play. Don’t just shout at them. That’s just rude.

My Advice for Your Website Design

Be led by your brand.

Base your design around your content and the actions you want your website visitor to take on your website.

Focus on talking to your website visitor and conveying the type of information they want to find which is the reason they’ve come to your website in the first place.

Get these simple things in place and you’re likely to create a useful, timeless website.

“Design is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs

If the purpose of your website is to drive clients and customers to using your business and it’s not doing this, then something isn’t working and it could be the design.

For more tips and support on getting your website working better, take a look at our resources. And if you want to have a bit of fun, Google, “really bad websites” and take a look at some of the blogs that come up. It’s easy to forget how bad some early websites were and how far we’ve come!

Photo by Theme Photos on Unsplash