A new year brings new ideas to consider for your business website. Here’s a list of five trends we anticipate in 2021:
1. Use animation and video to enhance your site’s user experience.
As TikTok videos and Instagram stories have proven, people love moving images and stories. Keep your videos short, friendly and to the point. Make sure your lighting and background elements look professional. Keep in mind that video embedded on your website won’t display on smartphones, so you’ll need to include a backup still image.
2. Increase your site’s white space to achieve an uncluttered, modern, more minimalist look.
Resist “wall-to-wall” text! Add breathing space (and interest) to your site with sufficient padding between sections and lines of text. Check your site’s mobile display and adjust it as necessary to optimize legibility and user experience. More white space translates to a more sophisticated, elegant look.
3. Incorporate custom illustrations.
Instead of sticking exclusively to stock images, surprise and delight visitors by manipulating purchased image files or creating custom art to present a fresh face. Your website will stand out from the crowd with character and charm.
4. Try vintage-inspired colors and typography.
Everything old is new again in colors and typefaces in 2021. Find color inspiration from old signs, home decor and fashion. Check out some of the interesting typefaces shown here.
5. Ensure accessibility and availability.
Make sure people with disabilities can use your site with ease. Open your site to a more inclusive audience with:
• Strong color contrast between text and backgrounds;
• Help users understand where they are in a website or page by providing orientation cues, such as breadcrumbs and clear headings;
• Use an asterisk in addition to color to indicate required form fields, and use labels to distinguish areas on graphs.
View more about website accessibility tips here.
Contact me for a complimentary 15-minute review of your website. I’ll provide some helpful suggestions on how you can improve your website content, messaging and design.