Website Design Round-Up: June 2016 Edition

By Jason McClain | June 22, 2016 | 0 Comment

Do you ever consider how much website design has changed over the years? I remember the web of the mid-90’s through the early 2000’s as a galaxy of blinking GIF’s and bad interfaces not unlike the famous and still online Heaven’s Gate website. They say if you send an email, someone answers it even though the entire cult committed mass suicide in 1997. I know it’s kind of a morbid story, but it’s the only example of how far we’ve come in website design that I can recall.

Website Design Trends to Watch in 2016

This is the part of the show where we try to keep up with all the changes website design is going through right now. One thing you will notice overall here is the big, bold images and shrinking text areas above the fold. Everything is going visual, so you need to find out how you can tell your story with visual content, and that includes video.

• Material Design – Developed by Google, Material Design uses light and shadow to give more depth to otherwise flat designs
• Typography – Since the images are loud and proud, but the website designs are minimalistic, it allows for bold, dramatic fonts
• Background Videos – Sometimes those HD images are replaced by a full-on video or animation. We’ve used this on the EntraLife site if you’d like to see an example
• Hover Animations – Instead of just an alt tag to tell you what an image is about when you hover your cursor over it, these are full animations to give you a thorough explanation
• Infinite Scroll – This is a new trend that allows users to keep on scrolling down on a webpage instead of scrolling to the bottom of one and clicking the “Next” button.
• Fullscreen Forms – This web design trend for web forms means a much easier page to interact with and less distractions for users trying to complete information
• Duotone Color Schemes – This is using two complimentary colors that kind of fade into each other with bold gradients. It’s a very visually stimulating web design element that is starting to catch on

Go Responsive

I’m only going to touch on this briefly because I may have mentioned it in my last website design round-up as well. However, it’s that important! If your website is not mobile-friendly, do what it takes to get it that way. You’re leaving money, search engine rankings, and customers on the table if you ignore it.

Chatbots: The Future of Website Design?

User Experience Designer, Adrian Zumbrunnen, decided to run a little test on his personal website with what is called a “conversational interface.” This means that instead of things like navigational menus, a chat window or bot asks users what they would like do or see. The bot can also tell jokes or give visitors links to specific articles and/or pages.

Much to his surprise, Adrian’s traffic shot up 1000% and he received 250 emails as a result of the test. A good bit of the banter was just people trying to trick the bot, and of course, there was some inappropriate stuff. However, for the most part, the bot was a huge hit. The bot also accomplished something that traditional website design could never do: it allowed Adrian to create a sort of clone of himself to talk and connect with visitors to his website.

So will website design with personality become the next big thing on the web? You never can tell.

Wrap Up

What is your favorite website design trend? I really like the big videos and images that are dominating landing pages right now. They really drive the message and prompt visitors to respond. Let me hear from you in the comments.

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