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The Ultimate Guide to Innovative Web Design

In 2018, the user experience is the most important element of a website. A well-designed site can increase your conversion rate by 200% to 400%.

 

That’s serious growth that your business could be seeing if your site were designed with user experience in mind. As websites become more and more of a necessity in today’s marketplace, the user experience is essential to consider if you want to stand out from your competition.

 

Want to learn more about the hottest innovative web design concepts and how to implement them into your site’s design? Read on.

Responsive Design is King

Over half of the world’s internetting is done on the go. Yes, you read that right. And 79% of website users who are dissatisfied with a website’s performance won’t return.

 

When you put two and two together, that means your website needs to operate as smooth as butter on a smartphone.

 

Every professional web designer knows the importance of responsive design, and you should too. Luckily, DIY website platforms like Squarespace and Wix feature themes that have responsive layouts.

 

Since it’s easy as ever now to make sure your site is responsive, there’s no reason to miss out on potential clients just because they prefer their smartphone to their computer!

 

This is especially important for creatives like architects, bloggers, and photographers because target demographics for creatives are usually on their smartphones. If you’re an architect or another creative professional, read more here.

Moving Backgrounds

One of the biggest website design techniques of 2018 is implementing a moving background onto your landing page. The average human attention span is eight seconds, so it’s essential to grab their attention as quickly as possible.

 

Photos just won’t cut it anymore.

 

Video backgrounds that embody your brand are your best bet. Have you hosted an event recently which was recorded? Make that your video background to show you’re making moves.

 

If you don’t have any footage available, investing in a brand video is a good idea. It’s a great way to share more about your brand with your audience, and it’ll be the perfect video background for your home page.

 

If your hosting service won’t allow a video background to load fast enough, though, remember that performance should outweigh design. Your audience won’t get the chance to view your website at all if a video background is bogging down your website’s speed.

 

If that’s the case, create a particle video background for your landing page. Particle backgrounds are essentially like moving illustrations. It’ll create interest and grab your audience’s attention span without affecting your site’s performance.

Create an Experience

Gone are the days when ease of navigation and simple design were the only things that made a good website. Sure, those are still important, but in 2018 it’s all about creating an immersive experience for your audience.

 

That means taking them on a journey. Horizontal scrolling is the best way to do this. Horizontal scrolling layouts give you the power to take your reader on the exact journey you want them to go on.

 

Think of it as feeding your readers the next line, or the next page on your site you want them to visit.

 

An immersive user experience also means delighting your audience’s senses. This can be done with the new trend in web design called broken grid layouts.

 

Broken grid layouts take traditional column-oriented web design and throw those sensibilities out the window. They’re all about juxtaposing layout elements all over the screen, creating many places for your audience’s eyes to look, which is a fun and interactive experience for a reader.

Go Bold

Now’s not the time to play it safe. Don’t be afraid to push the envelope a little bit when it comes to web design concepts.

Color

Black and white will always be classic. How about adding a pop of a signature color into the mix to set you apart, like this photographer? By keeping his color consistent, he creates a memorable brand for himself while pushing the boundaries of what “classic design” means on his website.

 

If you’re struggling to find the perfect color for your “pop,” try Ultra Violet— it’s Pantone’s color of the year.

 

Don’t be afraid to play with multiple colors. Vibrant color schemes are trending right now, so ditch the pastels in favor of something louder (unless pastels speak more to your brand).

Typography

Back in the 1990s, when web design was still finding its footing, typography was one of the most important elements of your website. It’s still that way today– your typography choices can speak volumes about your brand, and make people feel a certain way regardless of the text it’s displaying.

 

In 2018, the typography trend is bigger + bolder = better. Don’t be afraid to make your title 1,000 point font, taking up most of the screen. That’s a good design move that comes across as forward-thinking, clean, and simple.

 

This can apply to you regardless of your font choice, too. Sans serif fonts aren’t the only fonts that lend themselves well to large titles. Serif fonts can have their day in the sun, too.

 

Besides bigger titles, mixing serif and sans serif fonts in your site’s copy is also trending. It needs to be done thoughtfully, but breaking the rules is trendy web design in 2018. Make sure to stick to this mix-up in titles and captions, mostly– in body text, it can be difficult to read.

Break All the Rules

There are lots of rules for beautiful and effective web design. SEO-optimization, maintaining a blog, staying up on innovative trends, etc.

 

Pablo Picasso famously insisted that you must learn rules like a professional so you can break them like an artist.

 

Picasso’s legendary statement here applies to web design, too. The goal of innovative design in 2018 is to cater to the user’s experience. Well, give them an experience they won’t forget.

 

Once you’ve learned the rules, play around with breaking them. See if you can create something entirely new for your audience, something they’ll tell their friends about and bookmark in their web browsers because they’ve never seen anything like it before.

 

Check out Balenciaga’s minimalistic design that bucks all the rules for eCommerce sites. It features barely any of the important web design trends discussed here, yet it’s a memorable experience for the user because it’s different.

 

Gucci Gift does the same thing by creating a magical and utterly confusing world which haphazardly links out to their products. Purchasing from a site like this makes the user feel cutting-edge and smart by taking them on a journey they’ve likely not experienced on other eCommerce sites.

 

We think Picasso was onto something.

More Innovative Web Design Ideas

You’ve read up on the most innovative web design ideas of 2018. Hopefully, you’ve picked up a few tricks that you can apply to your own website to appeal to your audience better and increase conversion rates.

Want to learn more about cool web design to get those creative juices flowing? We have tons of other web design articles that are sure to inspire you!

 

Written by CrazyLeaf Editorial

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