Web Design DOs & DON’Ts in 2015

Every year, there are new trends in web design that come and go; web designers, you might find this useful when coming to design new websites or are planning on revamping current sites.

That’s why we decided to round up a list of design trends that should be left back in 2014 and start preparing ourselves for exciting, new web design trends in 2015!

Design DON’Ts:

1) Distracting Backgrounds

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This is a given, whether it’s in web design or any other form of design; things should always be kept simple, especially if the objective of your site is to provide information, as people can’t focus on that if you keep putting obstacles for them and steer them away from your main purpose and of course having a simple looking website ALWAYS looks better, more attractive and less of a hassle.

 

1)    Too Many Pages

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Having too many pages is a common mistake when creating a website; when people visit a website, it’s because they’re looking for something and the trick is to keep people intrigued by providing them with really informative content and make them feel like they’re flying smoothly throughout the website, otherwise known as impeccable user experience.

When designing your website, think about the function of each page, be efficient and keep your content organized structured and easily accessible to the user.

 

2)    Stock Photos

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Oh, stock photos, where should I begin? People don’t want to open your website and find a bunch of posers who look lifeless and awkward.

These commonly used stock photos could be used in certain situations, however, please steer clear of using them excessively and if you can avoid them altogether, you would be doing everyone a favour.

 

3)    Pop Ups & Splash Pages

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Pop ups are evil and obnoxious in a website, as they badger users into subscribing to their newsletter, follow them on social media or pester them into taking action in order to get discounts and offers; it’s just another distraction from what the user was planning on doing in the first place & it could very well alienate many users and potential clients for your business. Your website needs to provide a user friendly and uninterrupted browsing experience.

Splash pages are just as evil and are definitely a thing of the past, why should visitors be interrupted with a page they don’t need to see just to get to the actual website, it’s unnecessary and redundant.

 

4)    Flash Intros:

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Adobe Flash, a development platform used for creating web-based animations and games was used by many business websites to make Flash intros, it even went as far as being used to create entire websites.

However, it’s a nuisance because then the site takes forever to load, in addition to it not being compatible with mobile devices and cannot be indexed by search engines.

 

There are many outdated techniques to leave behind, however, despite the design trends we need to let go of, there are some design trends in 2015 that web designers should adopt.

 

Design DOs:

1)    Card Design

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Card-based web design is great for mobile and responsive designs; card designs come in all shapes and sizes and include information such as titles, user name, a picture and various icons. With mobile browsing continually on the rise, it has forced web to become more modular, where pages can be broken into their integral parts and reordered on the fly depending on browsers and screen sizes.

 

2)    Ghost Buttons:

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Ghost buttons are definitely something we’re seeing more often this year; they are especially cool for landing pages and themes with large images.

Remember when we mentioned distractions earlier? Well, this is the complete opposite of that, as it is meant to attract the attention of users in a subtle way; they are transparent buttons with a very thin line and contain light, sans-serif fonts.

 

3)    Site Performance & Speed:

While site performance and speed have nothing to do with the visual side of design, page-loading speed has become more of an issue and has grown in significance in 2015.

Site performance is incredibly important for optimal user experience, in addition to it being a ranking factor in on-site SEO.

Site speediness is a given across all devices and that’s why designers and developers have to increase their skill set to ensure rapid display on visitor’s screens.

 

4)    The Fly-Out Menu:

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The Fly-Out menu is not just strictly for mobile anymore, it has proven to be more popular in websites, especially that it has many uses, such as space saving and the lack of need to expose users to a menu that isn’t necessary unless clicked when needed.

The famously named “hamburger icon” is going to become a thing in 2015.

 

5)    Big Fonts:

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Get ready for large, in-your-face fonts; with Google Fonts and the availability of affordable typekits, beautiful typography is out there and spreading like wildfire in the world of web.

It is especially used in combination with full screen images and ghost buttons.

There you have it, a breakdown of the web design Dos & Don’ts of 2015.