The start of a new year is a fantastic time to break out of old habits. Whether it’s in your personal life, your career or how you act and operate towards your clients, there are small improvements we can all make when it comes to our day to day lives. Here at Bob we hope that you’ve started 2016 with some good intentions and some even better ways to achieve your goals for this year. To help you get set in the right direction, here are our recommendations for New Year design resolutions to help you put the best foot forward and assist you in learning and improving!
Diversification of how websites look
The ease of use of platforms such as WordPress, and a plethora of excellent web building and template tools, mean that many websites these days look very similar, especially within certain fields. In 2016, expect it to be easier to find websites that use templates that are a little different than what you’ve used in the past.
Resolution for the New Year: find out about how to make your website stand out from the crowd – and investigate new templates and styles that may suit your business more closely.
Long Scroll
Wide, long scroll website are becoming commonplace, as users are becoming very accustomed to accessing content on mobile platforms. The myth that your most important content should go above the fold has now been busted. 2016 will see many imitating a multi-page, dividing the scroll into 3 segments.
Resolution for the New Year: think about how your website is laid out – and consider longer, wide layouts that give a better impression on both large and small screens.
Storytelling
With wide, long scroll websites increasing in popularity, a tendency towards storytelling and a cinematic approach to the way websites are developed are becoming increasingly popular. Users these days are ever more exigent and looking for a human approach to the way website are put together and a website that translates the brand’s story innovatively.
Resolution for the New Year: Think about your brand’s story, or your own personal story behind how and why your company works, and try to convey that within your website or design.
Big ‘hero’ images
With internet speeds getting faster and data compression getting a lot more sophisticated, hero images are something that you’ll see a lot more online in 2016. Hero images are big, ultra-HD images that usually sit in the header or at the top of a website.
Resolution for the New Year: Think about the kind of imaging you want on your site, and implement a design and look that suits HD hero imaging. Free stock photography sites such as Unsplash are a great place to start.
Smarter animation, scrolling and slideshows
Galleries, slideshows and animations have been around on websites since the beginning of the internet, but they’ve always been very similar and always followed a similar theme. Advancements in web technology now means that animation and scrolling systems can appear a lot more attractive, adding interest and intrigue as well as slick design that will likely to appeal to a wider range of users. Our eyes are drawn naturally to motion, so expect more movement and smoother transitions in web designs for next year.
Resolution for the New Year: look at how your website could be improved by adding motion and animation – and make tweaks to drawn the eye in and immerse the user, rather than them trying to find the next opportunity to move on to something else.