4 Web Design Elements You Can’t Afford to Ignore in 2020
Have you ever opened up a website and instantly clicked off it because the design was so bad? Maybe the colors hurt your eyes or it wasn’t properly formatted for the device you were working on.
Many people assume that the website is not the most important thing and that customers will stay if it’s a product they want. Some businesses are old fashioned and think that word of mouth is the best way to bring in the customers.
But the fact is web design elements and thinking about what makes a good website is important to get customers to stay and purchase your services. And website design is an ongoing process, as trends change. Facebook is a perfect example of this.
Here are the best website design elements.
Mobile and Tablet Friendly
When people think of websites and best practices for web design, the trend is to think of someone clicking away on a desktop at their home or a laptop on their bed. The vast majority of people don’t surf the internet like this anymore.
Most people use their tablets or phones to surf the website, often when they are wanting to pass the time or waiting for something. Mobile traffic accounts for most of the traffic to websites.
It’s very important therefore that the website is optimized for mobile. One of the biggest design trends now is to have a simple website that is built for mobile with few components that can be transposed onto a computer. This is a mobile-first website. Mobile-first websites are a key part of good SEO.
Keep the text to a minimum and ensure the site is not cluttered. Feel free to move anything not important to smaller pages with their buttons in the bottom corner of the page rather than on the main menu.
Be sure to include links to your social media platforms which can be updated more regularly.
Accessible Websites
Disabilities come in all shapes and sizes and it is important that websites now cater to everyone. It is important that the website can be read by a voice-over for those who are visually impaired.
If you have videos also be sure to provide subtitles for those with hearing difficulties. Ensure that the website can also be accessed with a mouth stylus pen for those that cannot use a touch screen or a mouse.
But you must also ensure that the text itself is accessible to those who find reading difficult. Be sure to check that the text has an appropriate reading age so that it is easily understood. Many free tools can help you do this such as Hemmingway.
New laws are coming into place in E.U countries to make this mandatory for public and private companies. If you fail to take note of website compliance for the disabled when designing your website, you might be faced with a lawsuit which could ruin your company’s reputation and cost you a fortune. You want to be leading the way with accessibility and not at the end of negative PR for failing to keep up.
Be Colorful
Bland is boring. The websites that stand out today are ones that go with a bold color scheme.
There’s no need to go overboard and use loads of bold colors, sometimes just one bold color is all that is necessary.
When picking the color scheme, be sure to think about what each color means to people. Bright colors are often better because they are brighter and make the viewer feel happier. Green is the color of the environment whilst red often symbolizes romance or drama.
Black gives a gothic, rebellious feel whilst white is the color of peace, calmness, and wellness. This is a perfect color if you have a wellness retreat or a yoga business. Thinking about colors when deciding web design elements can easily be forgotten.
Thinking about how the images and text relate to the user experience is known as U.X. Clay, a U.X business, could assist you here.
Image Heavy
Another one of the big web design trends is to have less text but more images. People are going to want to see your product or service. So hiring a good photographer to get some great shots and mockups of your product or something that represents your service is very important.
Some websites have just one image or a small gallery, so you must find an image that sums up what your business or service is all about.
You must ensure that the file sizes are correct so that the image does not become broken or distorted. But at the same time, you need to ensure that your image is optimized correctly so that it is not so big that it takes ages to load and slows down your customers’ phone.
We live in an instant age and most people will not wait for your site to load so ensure that it loads at a fast speed: invest in the best and fastest web hosting packages rather than trying to keep costs down here.
Which Website Design Elements Are Right for You?
If you are trying to decide which website elements to include when considering what makes a good website then be sure to think about the purpose of your site.
If you can determine who your clients are then you can try to figure out what their values are and what they will respond well too.
But it’s important to think more generally as well. Ensuring your website loads fast so that your customers don’t click off is one aspect of best practices for website design.
So too is thinking in terms of mobile-first. A mobile or tablet is the first way people will access your website so going for a minimal, image-heavy theme that caters to this is important. This will also help with the website’s ranking on Google. They prefer mobile-first websites.
If you are interested in reading more about website design elements then be sure to check out the rest of our website.
