Hamburger Menu
If you aren’t yet familiar, this term describes three horizontal lines that when clicked on, opens up a detailed navigation menu. It’s a fantastic way to keep a large menu, without cluttering up your screen. This is especially helpful on mobile devices. There’s no doubt that it’s now widespread use is making the function more easily recognizable for users, and next year should show no difference.
Hero Images
Since vision is the strongest human sense, large, clear hero images are one of the fastest ways to grab a user’s attention. Thanks to advances in bandwidth and data compression, users won’t suffer from slow load times either. One common layout you’ll find is a hero image above the scroll, followed by either zig-zagging sections or a block arrangement.
A hero image is placed in extremely valuable real estate on your site, so make it count. What you want for a hero image is totally up to you, just make sure it’s successful at giving off the key information and brand feeling you’re looking to portray.
Long Scroll
Gone are the days of a short, stuffed web page; placing all your important elements “above the fold” is now considered to be a myth. Placing a heat map tracking software, like crazy egg, onto your website will show you that plenty of your viewers scroll and click towards the bottom. And now, almost all modern users are accustomed to long scrolls thanks to mobile devices. A long scroll technique works especially well for sites that want to lure users through storytelling, and you can still mimic a multi-page site by breaking the scroll into clear sections.
This one in particular is being used by Impulse Creative right now in really fun and exciting ways. Pioneered by Pinterest, cards are everywhere on the web because they present information in bite-sized chunks perfect for scanning- and users love that. Make each “card” represents one unified concept, like Pricing, Blog, or About Us. Since they act as “content containers”, their rectangular shape makes them easier to re-arrange for different device breakpoints.
Responsive Design
This has been an emerging trend for several years now, but it’s certainly not going anywhere. Instead of developing a separate website for desktop, cell phone, and tablet users, it’s most more cost-effective and consistent to have one website that can be interacted with no matter which device is accessing it. In fact, by combining many of the above mentioned trends, like a hamburger menu and card layout, you’ll already be designing a website perfect for a responsive platform.
Don’t follow trends just because they’re the “hip” thing to do at the moment. Trends represent popular techniques for good reason, but make sure it’s best for your brand and your ideal users. A locally-owned restaurant may opt to go for a card layout that breaks up their menu selection, but without the long scroll since people are quickly looking to order for pick-up. Or perhaps a photographer wants a deep, story-like website with a long scroll and no hero image. Choose what’s right for you!
If you need help designing a new website, or even deciding if you need a new one in the first place, Impulse Creative is here to help. Begin by clicking on this link and downloading our free eBook Website Re-Design: 5 Easy Steps to a Successful Website and let’s get started!