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Page 1: Web Design Trends in 2014

It´s Pretty But … (Web Design Trends in 2014)yourdigitalstory.com /its-pretty-but-web-design-trends- in-2014/

Back to list15 Apr2014By Helen Mere in Conversion DesignPlease consider sharing

All marketers can probably agree that website content marketing is growing in importance. Doesthis mean that the design is no longer important? It is actually the opposite – the expectationsof great design have become more specif ic and clear. These expectations are not based onan advertising agency´s point of view but f rom the point of view of the user.

As the content now has a greater role, it is essential that the design helps to highlight thecontent in an understandable and clear manner. In addition, a

modern web design needs to bring out the brand identity, whether it is excit ing experiences,excellent quality or something else.

Web designer Tanel Eero from YourDigitalStory talks about four important design trendsin 2014.

FIRSTLY- the majority of the inf ormation is shared via bold images.

SECONDLY- the minimalistic approach - the pages are clear, clutter- f ree and laconic.

THIRDLY- everyone wants to be dif f erent and new technologies allow designers to usespecial and unexpected ef f ects.

LASTLY and most importantly – despite all these f ancy tactics, the site must remain userf riendly and inf ormation should be easy to f ind.

Page 2: Web Design Trends in 2014

Say it with a picture!

Normally, the most important part of a website is the text, but more and more images are used inorder to catch the visitor ’s attention, or to communicate complex data in a visual f ormat.

VIDEO on a website brings out its dynamics and emotion. Classical 30-second clips are nolonger a popular choice on the web as the experience shows that the

six-second clips are more likely to go viral. In Estonia, the understanding of “viral videos” isslightly dif f erent and usually you can see 3 minute long videos online. The price, of course, is anissue as making a high quality clip is expensive but a badly made clip can really hurt your brand.

Videos are very usef ul when there is a need to explain the complexity of a product regardless ofwhether it is a technical device, sof tware, or another appliance with many f eatures. Long usermanuals may f righten consumers but a short video will be viewed much more willingly.

LARGE IMAGES are also a new trend in web design. It does not just mean using large f ormatphotographs, but a simple landing page, which has a single picture and CTA button . Obviously,there is a very wide range of products to which such extreme impractical solution does not f it, butif your strategy is to add emotional aspect to your product in order to get the sale thenusing an image is most effective. The picture must be very high quality and in some cases thephotographer might become kind of a “web designer” as the main part of the design is a greatphoto!

Another option is to use a good header image and keeping the web site´s f unctionality. This is af airly common solution f or “simple websites”.

Page 3: Web Design Trends in 2014

Less is more!

Beautif ul is not the same as complicated. The f ashion industry of ten talks about “the simpleelegance”, and the Nordic f urniture and interior design is characterized by the words “bright”,“crisp” and “clean”. Now, the same trends have also reached the web design,

the new trends are minimalistic graphics, clutter- f ree space and caref ully chosen details.

Web 2.0 has “died” and the new “rockstar” is called f lat design which can be described as a designwith f ewer elements. For example, there are no shadows or weird “decorations”. It ’s important tounderstand that these changes are not yet another “f ashion trend” but it ’s about UX which issupported by modern, clean design. It ’s clearly a style that our customers increasingly demand.

SIMPLICITY has become the main keyword to describe web design f or three reasons. First of all,the elegant overall impression creates quality brand image. Secondly, the use of f ewer elementsmakes it easier to guide the customer through the pages as it is not possible f or them tolook/click anywhere else. And thirdly, modest design allows the content to get the most attention.

Since the content (f resh and original!) has an increasingly important role in the web, you shouldhave a design that supports it, rather than distracts the visitor. When it comes to the pageswhere multiple photos cannot be used, the emotion and excitement is created with a vividmonochrome color scheme.

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TYPOGRAPHY as one of the design elements didn’t get any special attention f or a long time. Itwas thought to be technically complex and everyone thought it should be the same as company´sprinted materials. When it comes to simple design then typography plays an important part. Thef onts have changed (bye bye TimesNewRoman and Arial!), there are new sizes, colors andspaces. Thorough CVIs today look f or how to shape the text of the website so that it would f itany other company graphics.

Since the text is still a key element of a wider range of websites, it is these typographic solutionsthat allow us to signif icantly customize the layout. For example, with responsive websites thebasic text has changed a couple of points higher so that it becomes equally readable with variousdevices.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL is important, all buttons and icons must be caref ully planned andexecuted with quality. For example, moving the mouse pointer over it does not change the colour,but the button has some sort of animated activity attached to it. With carefully designed iconsthe visitor will intuit ively know what they mean and where he has to click next.

Stand out, surprise, entertain!

Today’s technology has come so f ar that the animation is relatively easy to bring to the web.Flash animations are no longer used as mobile devices do not support it. Instead, solutions suchas HTML5 and CSS3 are becoming popular. Web design does not mean cartoon animation but thesimple moving solutions such as shif t ing, scaling and rotating elements as you scroll the page.

ANIMATIONS are one of the best ways to make the website more interesting. They create theimpression as if there is a direct contact between the page and the visitor.

PARALLAX is a design where some areas are moving (sometimes unnaturally) while others willremain in place. It is used primarily by large well-known brands that want to create a strong visualWOW ef f ect. Parallax is a bold creative solution that requires a lot of work, but really makes youstand out. There is no point to do it just to grab the visitors’ attention, but if the target audienceappreciates the uniqueness and new techniques it may be something to consider.

Convenient and practical

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As more and more people are visit ing websites using their mobile devices, it is important that awebsite is designed in a way that it adapts to various devices. Until recently responsive webdesign was merely one of the design options. Today, however, it has become a standard. Thisdoesn’t mean that mobile webs will disappear since a mobile web is great f or online retailers.

NAVIGATION must keep pace with consumer habits. There was a time when the navigation menuwas on the lef t – then it was moved to the top. Today, the main menu is located mostly at the topof the page and the sub-menu is on the lef t. The menu is considerably shorter (3-4 in the mainmenu categories), hidden menu trends are driven by mobile devices.

Another simplistic solution is a single page website where the majority of the site’s content andnavigation is arranged on one page. When clicking on navigation links, the user scrolls down thepage or jumps to that particular content’s section and this solution is particularly suited f orwebsites with compact content. You can also go f or a mix of the two or the “half and half solution”in which the main menu leads to separate pages, but the lower pages have single page type ofnavigation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that the time when all the websites looked the same is over. Today,everyone is trying to dif f erentiate themselves but not f orgetting the purpose of the websitewhich is to provide visitors with quality information combined with great user experience.

When choosing your web designer you need to make sure you are getting more than just a prettydesign. Don´t f orget that the site’s key role is to generate business, and demonstratingcreativity is only part of what converts a visitor into a prospect.

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