You have undoubtedly witnessed both awe-inspiring and awful Web design. Which trends do YOU want—or need—to get rid of soon?
In an earlier post, we looked at the Top 10 Web Design Trends that will keep your website visitors engaged, entertained, and informed. However, Web design can also alienate, frustrate, and confuse visitors with
1. Too much personalization
Be unique without being perceived as a stalker
2. Lengthy, unnecessary, amateur animation
Keep it short, purposeful, and high-quality
3. Too many eye-popping colors and fonts
Know your audience—you may have to choose between “easy to read” and “cutting edge” when you consider an abundance of neon colors and screaming fonts
4. Tasteless e-mail opt-in pop-ups
Convey a positive message instead of forcing the user to choose the button that says something like “I don’t want to be smart” in order to exit the pop-up without signing up
5. Blurry photos
Use this only if your visitors know this technique speeds up page loading time or, better yet, find another way to speed up load time
6. Too much emphasis on SEO and/or shareable content
Make web design and content about the consumer instead of about how much quicker it is to create a video than a well-written article
7. Long pages that take forever to load
Make sure your pages load quickly no matter what their length
8. Minimalist design that is impossible to navigate
Again—know your ideal demographic and whether 2-4 tabs may be easier for them to navigate than a “hamburger” drop-down menu
9. Responsive design that is worthless on a desktop computer
It’s important to be mobile-friendly but not to the exclusion of those who will be viewing your site on a PC
10. “It’s all about me” design
Treat your website visitors with respect and get them where they want to go quickly—no hijacking their screens or navigation, no download speeds that are slower than watching paint dry, no annoying pop-ups or animation, and no lack of “back”/“undo” buttons
While we at Tate Design can’t get rid of marketing trends, we can help you choose the best trends—and avoid the worst ones—for your online audience. Call Tate Design at 610.725.0702 or e-mail [email protected] for a distinctive website and to get rid of the Web design trends that aren’t working for you.
