It is hard to believe, but the web has been around for a decades now; long enough for fashion trends and ‘retro’ design phenomenon to exist. It is no longer sufficient for a company to just have a website – users expect those websites to be functional, appealing and easy to use.
Over the last few years a lot of formerly popular design trends have fallen out of fashion, and some famous websites, such as the well-known LingsCars, were never in fashion in the first place, but have succeeded in spite of this.
Some old trends that have gone out of fashion include excessive ‘chrome’, auto-playing videos and long animated intros. In this instance, ‘chrome’ refers not to the web browser, but to fancy UI elements. There was a time when making a button or a knob look like their real world analogue was a good thing, but now that is considered to be confusing, and not best practice.
Trends vs Function
One common misconception is that having the latest design elements on your website is all it takes to make your website popular. While things like immersive interaction design are certainly nice to have, and quite impressive, they are not by any means a requirement.
What visitors are looking for is a site that is clean, easy to navigate on any device (desktop, tablet or smartphone), quick to load, informative, and representative of your brand. If your bricks and mortar brand features a blue triangular logo and all of your stores have blue shelves with silver trim, then your website should not be red with a square logo in a different font. This may sound obvious, but clashes of branding are a common problem. If a web designer re-vamps your brand, follow through and re-vamp your real world brand to match.
Designs that Last
If it’s been a while since you have updated your website, and you’re concerned that it is closer to the first set of examples than the second, then now is a good time to get in touch with a company such as enovate, who offers local web design In Essex. They will be able to help you to revitalize your website, in line with current trends.
Invest in your website today, and find a timeless design that will serve you well.