Content Is King! - Five New Trends in Website Designs
Have you noticed the evolution going on in website design? Is your website design still dominated by menus and the three column, boxy look? Here are my thoughts as a web consumer only, I am not a web designer.
If your website is still old school, then you haven't noticed the big changes quietly taking place in web design. It's an evolution to new looks dominated by one column, big photos, with content and stories taking over space given in the past to menus and navigation. Take a look at the new San Diego State University website as a dramatic example of the change happening all over the web.
The visitor to www.sdsu.edu is greeted by a bold message and big photo, Leadership Starts Here. But where are the menus? In this desktop view there is a navigation channel at the top but it does not dominate the page. In the mobile iPad view, you only see a menu icon at the top that must be tapped to reveal a full off-screen menu to begin site navigation. On this page the content is king and navigation is encouraged by clicking on content blocks not lists of links to other pages on the site.
This new design accomplishes it's goal. It makes an emotional impact on visitors, delivers a message, tells you a story first, then offers navigation to information.
So here are five positive trends that I am seeing in website design. Is your website keeping up with these changes?
Trend #1 - Three Columns Are Old School
So many "old school" websites are based on a three column design. Columns are great ways to stuff a lot of information on a page both menus and stories. But with all that information cramped into the webspace, the message and the story you want to tell visitors gets lost.
Three column design is very common across the web. I just picked one example of many, Portland Public Schools. Portland has a fine website that delivers information but just compare the message impact of the three column Portland Public Schools design with the SDSU website above. Portland delivers much more information on its page, but it is overwhelmed with text, and menus that reduce the impact of the messages delivered.
Trend #2 - One Column With Content Blocks Is In.
In today's website world, content is king. Ted.com is one of many examples of the new style of one column content dominated design. Ted is marketing content, stories on its website. To find stories you are interested in you just scroll up and down. The content is offered in blocks, each with a message and a photo to draw you in. On this site there is no need to search menus and site links to navigate.
Trend #3 - Please Hide Your Menus.
Visit the City of San Diego website and you are bombarded with menus, on the top on the left and on the right. Very little messaging or story telling. Visitors are expected to just keep clicking until they find the information they are looking for. To the City's credit, under the new leadership of Mayor Faulconer, they are beginning a process to redesign the website. Hopefully they will consider new style designs that are de-emphasizing visible menu links and freeing up space for storytelling.
Trend #4 - Go BIG With Photos.
Photos are worth a thousand words. Visit the City of Los Angeles website and you are greeted by a rotating collage of huge photos that tell the stories about LA that the City wants you to know about. The navigation buttons are still there but they don't dominate the page. The photo with a story behind it makes the impact, not the search for information.
Trend #5 - Mobile Responsive Drives Design
Test your favorite website for mobile responsiveness. On your desktop pull in the window to reduce the size of the site on your screen and see if it changes like the www.urbanairship.com site below. If it does, the site is mobile responsive and will adapt to the size of screen being used. No matter if you visit the site on your tablet or your smart phone, no more pinch and zoom to read the site. With 30-40% of all website visits now coming from mobile devices, responsive web design is a must for all websites.
Desktop view.
iPhone view.
Deliver Your Message First, then Navigation Tools
These five trends are rapidly changing what we are seeing on the web. With so much information coming into all of us and with our limited web attention spans, message delivery must take the front seat on your website. By getting with these trends, your can make your website deliver the message first with powerful digital story telling tools.
I love the SDSU website so I just have to share take one more look at how positive storytelling dominates over information menus!
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