Web designers need to have a lot more up their sleeve than a few technical skills. Success doesn’t come easy, which makes it super important to keep up with the changing web design trends to increase productivity and conversion rates while keeping things fresh and interesting at the same time. Given below are some web design tips by web design Kennesaw experts to get going in 2016:
Website designers building their own guides ensure sites built with uniform styles throughout. This is mostly true for designers collaborating with freelancers. The guide offered by Google is an excellent example of a well-written style guide. When looking for a generic style set of rules or guides to apply to work don’t forget to check the typography books for 2016. Style guides are essential and are available in different formats such as books, large documents to media publications for maintaining the uniform style through information. This has everything from the states and countries to written numbers.
Sidebars create a lot of clutter. They are means to improve the usability of sites through a display of navigation elements such as popular content links and recent posts. A lot of marketers have started using them as a means to opt-in subscribers. However, the sidebars with links are not used by a majority of users as suggested by heatmap tests by ConversionXL. This is why, don’t compromise the visuals of design with a sidebar, and, in fact, avoid a sidebar in your design if a site doesn’t need it. Make content important part of a page using designs to force readers to focus on it.
If the sidebars sound annoying to you, go through a theme for publishing full-width content in addition to traditional layouts featuring an accompanying sidebar. There is a lot to be done through a WP sidebar and the important tip is to smartly use it.
When creating code and screen designs at a quick rate; try a new approach in 2016. Instead of figuring things out, use a whiteboard to plan a site. Arrange the design elements to get an idea of where you want the elements to go, the same way architects use a floor plan for plotting the doors, rooms, and windows. There are many online wireframing tools which will help you to organize a few ideas before prototyping it in Photoshop.
Typography is not a new trend or design aspect; however, it is still important to follow in 2016. This is because it helps in grabbing the reader’s attention to place focus on content. Mobile screen readability plays a huge role in the increasing popularity and fits well with the trending flat and minimal design trends. One tip is to incorporate the big font sizes as minimum as 18 points for body text where it makes sense. Focus on choosing a web-friendly typeface instead of working on the size you want to choose.
Too much information and design elements will confuse a reader, making a site complicated. This is why phasing the sidebars is suggested. When trying to create more space in general, focus on including as many elements as you can on a web page. It also helps the readers in focusing the important design elements to produce innovative designs.
More space is mostly referred to as “whitespace” or the “negative space.” Space doesn’t need to be white when building a site using large images on headers and homepage. You need to reduce the clutter in designs to include more space between elements for guiding users through the site. Whitespace helps in making it clear where the reader’s attention has to be focused.
As mobile device continue to increase and grow, it has become severely important to make a site mobile-friendly. One tip is to go responsive. This means to check off the responsive design box on a to-do list. You also need to consider the fluid layouts including elements such as hamburger etc. 2016 is the year where embracing mobile first web is a compulsion.
Google presented Material Design in 2014 and digital designers have implemented it in their work. For designers working on flat web design, it’s time to start implementing the material design to update styles for 2016. The main concept is to use layers for creating shadows at the side of element edges and add style and depth to the minimal flat design trend.
Just like the new web design tips, there are new web design tools which are always emerging. Try to explore a few to see if they can make your life a bit easier such as Adobe CC apps for web designers. It is important to look for something which will help in improving the enjoyment levels and workflow for you.
Using links in the navigation menu, blog posts and sidebar is a great way to keep people on a site. Complex navigation helps in the creation of options for people so much that they turn away from a site. Try to put few links and eliminate the sidebars to cut down the clutter existing on a site. This will help in building better-looking designs without the user experience or Conversion rate optimization.
Use quality images as part of web design work to elevate projects. Instead of using the free images which everyone has access to, it is time to invest in a paid stock image service. The next way is to commission or create own images from scratch. You can take your own photographs or mix two or more images for creating a new one. Use typography with a chosen image to make it look more original and assist in delivering the message.
Images will always attract audience attention to your site. Contact Medialinkers web design agency to produce stunning designs and images for business sites.
