We have recently re-designed our website and we are loving the final result – what do you think?
We have stayed true to our brand, using blue as the main colour and a delightful earthy orange for the buttons and highlighted text etc. We have also improved accessibility too, with ‘our blog’ having a button at the top of the page, along with ‘service’ and ‘portfolio’, as well as that all important button ‘get a quote’.
Following the usability checklist, all the important information we want customers to have is at the top of the page and there is no need to scroll horizontally either!
Why re-design your website?
For many companies and businesses, it seems like only yesterday that they laboured for hours with their hardworking web design company over the placement of buttons and re-wrote the content several times. The website was tested, then launched and, in all honesty, with superb search engine optimisation it is doing what you want it to do.
F-a-b-u-l-o-u-s (sit back, savour the moment).
But, as you know, the landscape of the Internet is a crowded place. It is full of businesses that are in direct competition with yours. Websites need to be working hard all of the time and it may be that if you have not updated/re-designed/re-modelled/call-it-what-you-will in recent years, then it could start to miss a trick.
Cast your mind back…
Do you remember, back in the 1990s, every website had a dancing Santa and flashy graphics that were revolutionary and hip? But, attitudes changed and as graphics and photographs improved, these flashy bits started to look dated.
Now, as we march ever closer to 2015, you would never in a million years have a website header with a jerky, ‘flash’ driven graphic with Santa and his trusty reindeers flying across the sky again, and again, and again and…
It would simply not do. It would be cheap and so far from on-trend that you have nearly fallen off the website design in terms of ‘what is hot and what is not’ scale.
But why?
Website design is a ‘critical component in effective marketing and lead generation’ which, put simply means, it is your online shop window to the world. It should be enticing and welcoming, not off-putting and cheesy.
Herein lurks a danger.
We assume that when we read the various articles and studies on how a website should look – or the ’10 things to avoid with your website’ – that because we exhibit none of these guffaws and online faux pas that our website is still doing its job.
It may not be. It may still look and feel a little dated, a little clunky. Is this the image you want to portray?
Website design trends for 2015
Nope. We thought not and so the clever people at Locally spends hours scouring the web and gazing once again in to our crystal ball and we came up with these trends for website for 2015…
Trend 1: Minimalist design
Whereas once everything was flashy and pizzazz-y and ‘fun, fun, fun!’, it now seems the world of website design has matured into a clean, demure and minimalist design approach. Gone is clutter and in comes clarity and purpose. Concise and deliciously simple, adding dashes of colour (that link to your brand and logo etc.) is all that it takes to pull your website right on trend.
Locally thinks…
Whitespace is going to become important in design. This is a design concept that has spaces on the page that are not filled with text, graphics or images etc. The use of whitespace is a clever way of ensuring that the eye has somewhere to ‘res’t on a page, without being bombarded by information. We think of it as allowing the website design to breathe…
Trend 2: Visual engagement
Especially video, it would seem. Consumers and visitors to your website are demanding more and more information and although a lovely bit of copy-write is fabulous, when it starts to run into thousands of words on your homepage, it can become off-putting. Step forward the power of video!
A two to three minute video can introduce more concepts and thoughts about your business and service than 3,000 words of text ever could. This video revolution is going to gather pace so take some time during 2015 to stay on-trend with some well-deigned, scripted and filmed ‘shorts’.
Locally thinks…
Producing video isn’t for everyone and so we think that taking a look at online presentation platforms such as Slide Share is also a valuable option for many companies. Easy to set up and well-within the reach of most proficient IT users, this platform is a great way of getting information across in a fun and entertaining way, but keep the words to a minimum.
Trend 3: the ‘card’ layout
Spend half an hour zooming around the web hitting on a variety of websites, from business-to-business websites and business-to-customer websites and you cannot fail to notice the rather fetching design of a card layout. Possibly taking inspiration form platforms such as Pinterest, this layout is a great way of ordering information into groups and sub-groups. Delivering information in small bites rather than one big colossal main course seems to be the order of the day.
Locally thinks…
We think this card layout is great for some businesses, but not all. However, as a re-design option it really is bringing your website right into the 2015 and could give you a great head start on competitors. It will also ‘force’ you in to a re-think as to how your information is ordered too. We like it!
Trend 4: Responsive
We have just blogged on this with our take on the need for your website to be mobile ready and it seem that the rest of the world agrees with Locally. Not sure how all this is done? It is not complicated or budget-bustin’ and is something that we can do quickly and easily.
Locally thinks…
Responsive website with regards to smartphones, tablets, both android and Apple will actually be more mandatory than an option by the end of 2015…
Trend 5: Parallax scrolling
We’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of this although you will have come across it, without realising. It is the hottest website design trend and will get hotter in 2015 (or so we think!). It gives the visitor to your website a smooth, pleasing experience as they navigate content; check out The Royal British Legion website and you will see what we mean…
Locally thinks…
This is a refined version of those flashy headers from decades ago and that over-doing it can create the same effect; make sure it works with your brand before you invest a decent portion of your website budget in it.
However, we love the fact that it is customer-centred and that it makes navigating a website delightful and smooth…
Being a little passé in website design can mean visitors get the wrong idea. Why not make a website re-design a goal for 2015?
PS Take a look at your fonts too. Using Arial or Times New Roman for example? Time to upgrade…