No one could have predicted all the past year’s events and how they would impact our daily lives. One of the biggest shifts we had to get used to was working, learning, shopping, and even visiting a doctor online. What does this mean going forward? Well, if you own a business, keeping up with the latest web design trends is crucial to your success. Instead of visiting your business in person, a website is often the first thing people see when looking for the products and services they want. That’s why we’d like to take a look at the top web design trends for 2021, along with some best practices to ensure you have the best website for your business.
2021 Web Design Trends
An old, outdated website won’t build trust with potential customers. Instead, it often gives the impression that your business is obsolete. Keeping up with web design trends not only shows that you care about your business, but that you value your customers as well. Below are the top six web design trends that you should keep an eye on in 2021.
Dark Mode
This might come as a surprise, but dark backgrounds with lighter text, images, and user interface elements are growing in popularity. Why? Dark mode reduces eye strain, improves battery life, and makes content easier to read. Furthermore, dark mode provides users with a futuristic feel and makes specific colors stand out. This is an excellent way to capture the attention of potential customers visiting your website.
White Space
White space is another growing web design trend. Much like the growing popularity of minimalism, white space simplifies cluttered websites by eliminating distracting images and text. While designers back in the 90s were busy making websites with flashy colors and blinking text, people today find it obnoxious. In fact, most users won’t tolerate a messy website any more than they would a messy house. People want to be able to focus on the point of their visit with a distraction-free website. Bottom line: keep it clean.
Unique Images
Stock images are an easy way to add visual elements to your website. However, they can also do serious harm to your business when it comes to building trust. Users don’t want to visit your website only to see the same image they saw on a competitor’s. That’s why adding unique images to your website is so important. Take the time to hire a professional photographer to help showcase your products, business, and employees. These images will help to showcase your uniqueness compared to generic stock images that people have seen a million times.
Gradient
As technology has evolved over time, websites today have become much more sophisticated, along with the tastes of online viewers. While the use of gradients isn’t anything new, it’s a growing 2021 trend that includes the use of more subtle color overlays to help add depth to content and images. As a result, gradient colors make your website more aesthetically pleasing, which captures the eye of your intended audience.
Micro Interactions
Micro interactions are small changes that happen when a visitor interacts with your website. They can range from simple color hovers to subtle animations that transition as a user views your website. As a wonderful way to improve user experience and boost aesthetic appeal, micro interactions are a growing 2021 trend that makes your website a more memorable experience.
Parallax Animation
Along with micro interactions, parallax animation is another growing web design trend in 2021. Parallax is an optical illusion that makes an image appear more 3D by moving closer or farther away. This makes a website appear more alive and real compared to things we see everyday with our own eyes. This surreal animation helps to capture the attention of your intended audience by making them feel as though they are viewing something they would normally see in a theater.
2021 Web Design Best Practices
There are many factors to consider when building a new website. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your current website this year, below are some of the best practices to follow to get the most out of your investment.
Keep Text To Minimum
Content is king, but it’s best not to go overboard when it comes to the main pages of your website. Instead of writing a book about your company that visitors have to sort through, try to keep text to a minimum with 2-3 paragraphs separated by informational heading. Focus on what you really want visitors to know about you, your company, and your brand without all the fluff.
Tell A Story With Visuals
Images not only break up lengthy blocks of text but they enhance the story you’re trying to tell. Show users who you are and what you offer rather than just write about it. Why? People today need instant gratification. Visuals will help them understand more about your company in a shorter amount of time.
Use The Right Color Scheme
Color is a driving factor when it comes to how people perceive things, which makes it just as important as written content and other web design elements. In fact, most online visitors will judge your website in less than 90 seconds after visiting it based on color alone. That’s why it’s essential to choose a color scheme that creates positive emotions that reflect your brand.
Create A Clear Call-To-Action
A clear CTA is an essential element of your website. It needs to be big and powerful enough to entice a visitor to contact your company or fill out a form. That’s why it’s important to put it in an area that can be spotted in the first three seconds of visiting your website. Furthermore, you should also make sure a clear CTA is included on each of your inner pages. Never expect a visitor to revisit your homepage to contact you.
Simplify Navigation
The last thing you want to do is make your website difficult to navigate. Think like a visitor and how you would navigate your website to view certain information. If a visitor gets lost, they are more likely to leave. While a complex design may seem intriguing, it’s best to stick with a standard format with a horizontal navigation menu. Furthermore, it’s best not to crowd your menu with too many options. This makes it harder for visitors to find what they need.
Optimize For Mobile
Today, nearly 90% of visitors navigate the web using a phone or tablet. That’s why it’s essential to optimize your website for mobile. If your website doesn’t format correctly or look aesthetically pleasing from a smartphone, visitors are more likely to leave.
Optimize For SEO
Everything on your website needs to be optimized for SEO. Why? Doing so will help your website rise closer to the top of the search results on major search engines like Google. Without incorporating SEO at the very beginning, your website won’t be visible to potential customers in your industry or local area. If you’re planning on building a new website in 2021, SEO should never be overlooked.
Proper Loading Speed
If your website takes too long to load, visitors will simply move on. In fact, most visitors will leave your website after four seconds if it won’t load properly. An important part of web design is ensuring you keep users on your site as long as possible by making sure it is up to speed and not bogged down by large image sizes or complex media files.
Thrive Web Designs
At Thrive Web Designs, we’ve been creating cutting edge websites that convert for over a decade and are proud to provide the latest trends and technological advancements in website capability. In fact, we’ve created websites for companies of all industries throughout the world. If you’d like to learn more about ways to take your current website to the next level, contact us by filling out our online form or give us a call at 208.391.2504 for a free quote today.
