The topic of design is quite a complex one irrespective of what medium you apply it in, and the same goes for web designing as well. Today, well designed websites need to be innovative and interactive. They need to constantly shift from minimalist themes to image heavy backgrounds, while still making room for vast amounts of content. However, keeping up with these ever-evolving web design trends can be a pain and if you're a small business, you probably will not have the needed resources to do so. Plus, there are drawbacks to constantly changing your website design. For starters, the user experience can get compromised. Although, sticking to the same design might seem monotonous, the monotony can result in advantages such as brand recognition, familiarity, and easy usage.
As of 2015, web design trends point in the direction of interactive design. Concepts such as ghost buttons or hidden menu bars seem to be gaining attention, even though they are in direct conflict with tried and tested design practices. Other trends are centered around ideas such as brand-story telling or dynamic backgrounds, where websites use videos as the actual background of the site. Trends are going to come and go, but that does not mean you constantly need to update your website in order to incorporate these trends. It may seem tempting to move with the times, but before you decide to redesign or overhaul your website, here are a few things you need to consider.
The industry
Your business obviously caters to or is a part of a particular industry, which means your website's design is going to be in line with the industry's general image. For instance, if you are a bank, your website's design can not be the same as the one used for a fashion website. Each industry has a perceived image and your website needs to fit that image. If the latest design trend does not match that image, then there is no point in following it.
Study your competitors
Although you probably will not like admitting it, there is a very good chance that your competitor is getting a couple of things right with their website. So, what do you do? You observe their website to get an idea of what the industry standard is. Once you get an idea of what is expected, you'll be able to incorporate similar ideas into your website design. You can also seek out customer feedback to get a clear picture.
Go beyond just web design
A well designed web site will definitely drive sales and revenue as long as your customers find it easy to use and responsive. However, that is not enough. Web development is not exclusive to just website design. It also encompasss several aspects such as Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Effective E-Mail Marketing etc. The point here is that following design trends maybe a good idea provided that you actually find some use for it. Simply changing your website as you please is not going to benefit you at all. For a website to be really effective, it needs to start incorporating effective digital / online marketing practices and not just following the latest design trends.
