Submitted by; Tony Humberstone, Vooba (www.vooba.co.uk) Post published; 9th May 2019

“A plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or working of a building, garment, or other object before it is made”

As you can see design is not just about the look of a product or object in Web Design there are many factors to take into consideration to ensure a great design. As a part of a wider marketing agency, at Vooba we have a good understanding of what makes good web design so we thought we would share our design predictions for 2019.

Video Content

Video content is not a new concept to web design, Video content continues to be a great addition to a web page. Not only does it make a page more interesting keeping users on your page for longer and improving bounce rate, it caters to mobile and busy audience who do not have time to read a whole article. It is important to consider how video will impact on the load time of the website and it is therefore advised to host the video elsewhere and include the content with a link. YouTube offer an easy integration option to help with this.

Google has moved towards prioritising mixed content pages, resulting in web owners pushing for more video content to improve searchability. The most effective place for video content is creating and sharing it across social media platforms. By including your videos on your website you are giving readers an opportunity to share your content on social media enabling your web page or blog post to reach a wider audience.

Colourful Minimalism

As the well known saying goes, less is often more. In web design the less there is on a page the easier it is for a user to navigate, the faster the page loads and the more compatible it is with different screen sizes. A minimalist design allows for more creativity with animation, engaging scrolling and contrasting typography without having a cluttered look. More white space prevents a cluttered or overcrowded page and gives your content the room to shine.

Minimalism has been a design trend for years with a traditional minimalist design using muted colours. However this year expect to see more splashes of colour. Colour is a key element in our new branding but in our web design we have paired it with a clean minimalist approach to the layout and style.

Geometric Shapes

Geometry in web design continues to grow in popularity. Shapes and lines create a sense of symmetry and balance, naturally leading to an organised clutter free design. We have used geometry in our new logo design which we have reflected in the web design by use of shape throughout to highlight key information and to help guide the user through the site.

No More Sliders

Your landing page needs to grab the attention of the user and tell them what the site is about, what your product genre is or what type of services you offer. Once the user is captured the header should prompt them to scroll and find out more.

No longer is it important to show everything above the fold, it is natural for web users to scroll now and if they like what they see at the top of the page they will read on. This has lead to the home page slider losing its appeal, but not vanishing completely. With the demise of the slider comes the rise of the hero. A single content section that takes up the first fold of a page with one clear goal. This is the look we have gone for with our new website. In order to keep the site new, fresh and interesting for returning users.

Mobile First Design

Now that more browsing is done on mobiles than desktops, design is becoming more focused on being mobile friendly. You may start to see more navigation appearing at the bottom of the screen or the most important links. For a while we have been integrating our sticky footers to our sites, where the contact information sticks to the bottom of your device, allowing users to easily click to call. These easy click conversion techniques are great for boosting business.

Micro Animations

Small animations to make a standard website a little more engaging. With trends of minimalism and geometry there is a move to more simple clean design. Simple does not have to be boring, in fact it allows space to be creative with animation the smallest of interactions within a web experience.

Animations such as links changing colour on hover and hamburger menus expanding let the user know they are doing the right actions as they move through your site. These animations can create a visual hierarchy on a webpage guiding users towards conversion points.