Website design is an evolving discipline that strives to re-create the familiar in ways that increase visitor engagement, support a site’s message and thrill visitors. Designs must provide a sense of harmony and a logical layout that makes them functionally useful as well. The best trends support one or more of those goals.
Web Push Notifications
The addition of web push notifications continues to increase visitor engagement without them having to share detailed contact information:
– It reaches across all popular browsers
– A separate app is not needed
– It enjoys higher opt-ins compared to email subscriptions
– Opt-out rates are lower
Some visitors may find web push notifications a little … well … pushy, but if a site follows best practices, such as correct timing, effective content and an attractive image, then the intrusion is likely to be forgiven. Plugins like PushCrew and OneSignal make adding push notifications easy.
Single-Page Websites
The growth of minimalist sites continues with the latest sub-trend toward single-page sites. These feature full-width, bold, evocative images with a de-emphasized topic menu tucked away along an edge.
There are dozens of one-page WordPress themes, so finding one that fits the bill for your message is not difficult. Take, for example, the clear, clean look of Sydney Pro or the serious, down-to-business professional look of BizOne.
Parallax
Many single-page sites, especially those with landscape images, beg for a parallax effect that provides a third-dimension depth to draw in visitors. The difference in scrolling speed between the background and foreground is what creates this striking impression.
WordPress themes supporting parallax are trending upward, such as Create, Divi, The Moon and, of course, Parallax. The fun does not stop there, however. These themes are easily customized with different layouts, fonts or by adding a video backdrop.
Custom Illustrations
Stock photos or animations to which users have become inured are being replaced with commissioned illustrations that impart a distinctive identity to landing pages. Chosen well, these make your site’s design pop out from the rest. An additional benefit is that talented illustrators are often less expensive to hire than photographers.
When using illustrations, pick themes with a full-width layout such as TheGem or Illustrator. Obviously, the latter was explicitly designed to enhance the use of illustrations.
Vibrant Color Schemes and Gradients
About 80 percent of our brains are engaged when processing visual data. New designs with saturated colors and high contrasts are taking advantage of that fact to create instant visceral reactions for website visitors.
Color-centric WordPress themes, such as the Skin and Piñata themes, let you choose a two-color combination with custom gradients, patterns and textures. Piñata especially features heightened contrasts.
Mobile-Friendly Design
A couple of years ago, the number of mobile devices surpassed non-mobile devices. That trend continues to accelerate. It is surprising then how many “old school” websites have still not caught up. Fortunately, WordPress designers are all over that though.
Customizable mobile-friendliness is easy to add with the WPtouch plugin. Elementor also gives your site cross-platform capability plus a view into how it looks across various devices including desktops. Kalium, Soledad, Total, Doyle and Blogging are additional examples of mobile-friendly WordPress themes among dozens more.
Try to Keep Up
WordPress users are blessed to have so many visually exciting effects, layouts, trends and plugins at their disposal that support their personal and business presence on the web like never before. As site design continues to evolve, keep your eyes out for how the current trends play out and new ones appear on the horizon so your site always maintains the pace.