Top 5 Website Design Trends for 2021

Rapid developments of technology over recent years have provided vast improvements to many industries, especially design. Changing technologies has forced designers to constantly adapt, bringing in new elements to their work to improve user engagement and response. Throughout this blog, we will be looking at the different website design trends for 2021 that’ll keep you relevant and up to date.

Mobile-First Design

This is a trend that has gained promising traction over recent years. With studies showing the constant growth of mobile searching over desktop, this is a no-negotiable element to consider. For a lot of industries, the vast majority of online sales are from searches on mobile devices. If your one of those industries, it seems silly to specialise your website for devices that aren’t used.

It’s important to define that mobile-first design is not the same thing as mobile responsive design. The latter is more desktop-focused, but features of the design are scalable for a mobile device. One of the key benefits of a mobile-first design is google ranking improvements. Google has proven that mobile-first designs will rank better for people searching on their phone. Also, by providing a better browsing experience for mobile users, you will see greater conversion rates and lead generation.

Speed matters

It’s needless to say that in this age of instant information, user patience is a rarity. For example, Google dictates that if your website takes longer then 3 seconds to load, 40% of your people will abandon the site. What’s worse is that 80% of those visitors won’t come back. 

There are a few ways to improve your website speed, including HTML codes, videos, images and style page elements. For a few of these issues, you may need to take it up with your website developer. If you can see that your page takes too long to load, have a conversation about how to get the speed up. It can be quite a long and complicated task, so if you need further help there are tons of fantastic resources online, such as https://moz.com/learn/seo/page-speed.

Accessibility and usability 

One of the biggest failures modern websites face is a lack of accessibility. It is not good enough to just consider what’s on your website, but how the different people using your website interacts with the content. Accessibility involves designing a website to provide an equally positive experience to all users, including those with disabilities. This can be done by equipping your website with tools that help the navigation for people who may find it difficult. Some examples of this can be by implementing videos with subtitles and allow for voice recognition software to be used on your website This then links in with usability, which encompasses the effectiveness and satisfaction your website brings, regardless of who uses it.

Micro animations

Another key element to consider when designing a website is micro animations. This isn’t exactly a new concept, but the technologies behind it are evolving and implementations are becoming more sophisticated. Micro animations will especially hold its place in website design when looking at e-commerce stores. There have been some fantastic uses of it that have set companies apart from competitors. For example in the clothing industry, businesses have started showing what clothes will look like when worn, after interaction with the product. This presented a competitive professional edge over competitors that lead to increased conversions and website engagement.

Chat Bots

This may seem controversial, as many people believe chatbots to be intrusive and annoying. But with increasing technology and smarter integration, they can become a great tool for providing relevant, direct information to a customer. One of the most annoying experiences you can have on a website is not being able to find the information you want. Chatbots can provide a personal 24hr service to customers who want to find out information quickly and efficiently. They can also act as the first line of defence against busy customer service lines. With an effective chatbot, you can answer customer queries quickly and automatically. Then if the issue is too complicated the chatbot can connect customer service. This will improve people’s perceptions of the company as they will be pleased with the efficiency of service and information.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and feel it has equipped you with some important considerations for designing a website in 2021. If you would like any further help, don’t hesitate to contact us Here.

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Written by Matt on behalf of ClearBrand, December 2020.

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