Many elements go into planning and designing your website.
A well-designed website will reflect your brand’s identity and plays an important role in engaging users and driving conversions.
However, business owners who are using a website builder to DIY their website, or even the most well-intentioned designers can fall victim to certain common web design mistakes that will hinder the overall effectiveness of your website.
Let's go over 5 of the most prevalent web design mistakes and insights on how to avoid falling victim to them.
- Neglecting Mobile Responsiveness
Most of those browsing online are accessing websites on their mobile devices, this goes for all kinds of businesses, but eCommerce stores especially need to keep this in mind.
Due to the abundance of mobile users, you have to ensure your website is mobile-responsive.
If you fail to optimise your website for a range of different screen sizes, it can lead to poor user experience, slow loading times, generally bad aesthetics, and lost opportunities for engagement.
To deal with this issue, designers will often adopt a mobile-first approach which prioritises responsive design from the start, ensuring all elements, from images to navigation menus, adapt seamlessly across any device.
- Cluttered and Complex Layouts
Showing your brand personality throughout your website is important, but trying to convey loud personalities with a cluttered and complex website layout can overwhelm your users; as well as making navigation and finding desired information a nightmare.
Overloading pages with excessive text, images, and multimedia elements will eventually lead to absolute chaos, and hinder usability and navigation.
Designers should aim for a clean and organised layout, that intuitively guides users’ attention to key elements, uses whitespace effectively, and maintain a logical content hierarchy.
Simplifying your design can enhance user experience and make your website more aesthetically appealing, while still reflecting your brand personality.
- Ignoring Loading Times
We live in a time that values instant gratification and results, so a slow-loading website will quickly deter users.
Take a look and download our infographic below, which highlights some of the most important website load speed statistics for your business in 2023:
Web designers should optimise images for the website, minimise the use of external scripts, and prioritise efficient coding practices to ensure quick loading times.
You can also use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and address speed-related issues on your website.
- Inadequate Typography and Readability
The choice of typography and its presentation on your website will have a large influence on how users will consume the content they are seeing.
As well as fonts affecting tone, they can also affect readability.
Whether it's using illegible fonts, insufficient contrast between text and background, too small a font size, or improper line spacing, can strain users’ eyes and discourage them from engaging with your content.
A designer should select fonts that align with your brand identity but ultimately prioritise readability.
Additionally, there should be a font hierarchy that is used consistently which uses appropriate font sizes and changes to enhance intuitive navigation and user experience overall.
- Neglecting SEO Principles
A visually appealing website is only one part of the equation; it must also be easily discoverable by search engines, which is achieved through search engine optimisation (SEO).
Ignoring SEO principles will result in poor rankings on search engines, and limited organic traffic.
When designing your website, on-page elements such as meta titles, descriptions, header tags, image alt text, and more, should all be optimised.
Integrating an SEO-friendly URL structure and employing proper internal linking strategies can further improve your website's visibility in search engine results.
Conclusion
Web design is a multifaceted endeavour that requires a healthy balance between aesthetic appeal and functional usability.
By being aware of and avoiding these five common web design mistakes- neglecting mobile responsiveness, cluttered layouts, slow loading times, inadequate typography, and ignoring SEO principles- you can create a website that not only captures visitors’ attention but also provides a seamless and enjoyable browsing experience.
This can be difficult to achieve by yourself, which is why working with a managed website provider can allow you to acquire the perfect website for your business.
Remember, a well-designed website not only reflects positively on your brand but also serves as a powerful tool for achieving your business’s digital goals.
Contact us at PageNorth to learn more and get the help you need with your website.
Web design projects take time and effort.
The planning portion isn’t just about sketches and wireframes, to bring your vision to life and create a seamless user experience, mastering the prototyping process is essential.
Discover the benefits, best practices, and tools that will help you create interactive prototypes that will bridge the gap between initial concepts and the final product.
So, what is the power of prototyping in web design?
The Importance of Prototyping in Web Design
Prototyping will help foster collaboration within your team, as there will be plenty of communication between the client, designers, and developers, this ensures a shared understanding of the vision and produces the best product.
It also has an important role in testing and validation, as prototypes allow for early-stage user testing and validation, exposing usability issues, gathering feedback, and refining the design before development begins.
Lastly, it allows you to visualise user interactions, and bring your static designs to life by showcasing user interactions, transitions, and animations, prototypes provide a realistic preview of the final product.
Planning the Prototyping Process
The planning and thought that go into any project are very important, and planning your prototyping process is the same.
The first step is defining your objectives and scope, as it will be for a majority of projects.
Setting clear goals makes it much easier to plan tasks that align with those goals and project requirements.
If you know what you want, you can work backwards from there to outline the essential tasks and processes.
You should also investigate what the right fidelity for you is.
A low-fidelity prototype is a quick, easy, and low-cost method of prototyping.
It will often be paper-based, and it won’t include all design elements, often opting for shapes, boxes, and simple interpretations of the final design, simply to test functionality.
As well as paper lo-fi prototypes, clickable wireframes are another option that many designers will use.
The second option is a high-fidelity prototype, which functions very similarly to the final product and shows the most accurate representation.
Hi-fi prototypes will take much more time and money to produce, as you will likely need prototype software to execute this.
Most designers will create lo-fi prototypes during the early stages of design, and then hi-fi once the concept is closer to being finalised.
Finally, you must establish the user flow to ensure that the website will be optimised and designed with the user’s experience in mind.
There are many techniques you can use to map out user flows and interactions, so find which works best for you and familiarise yourself with the expected user flow.
The prototype should accurately represent the intended user experience, so this research is essential.
Creating Interactive Prototypes
As mentioned above, you have lo-fi and hi-fi prototypes.
Lo-fi will typically be created using paper, or simple clickthrough wireframes made on PowerPoint and similar applications, but what are the options during end-stage planning?
For hi-fi prototyping, there are plenty of applications and software that allow designers to create an interactive prototype.
For example, our web design team will use Figma when designing.
Coded prototypes are also an option, many will use the code as a starting point for the rest of development.
There are many options, so ensure you opt for one that suits your project, and within your skill level.
You should also design your prototype with interactivity in mind.
Buttons, form inputs, navigation, and animations, there are many interactive features you can add.
All of which will make the prototype more realistic and engaging, if it’s accurate to the final product then it makes the planning and testing process much more streamlined.
Prototyping is part of an iterative design process.
Iterative design is a method of design which includes a cycle of prototyping, testing, analysing, and refining the product.
When prototyping, you can gather user feedback at various stages, to then use to improve the design.
Using this methodology can help you ensure peak performance and optimisation of your design, which is why it’s important to keep in mind when thinking about prototypes.
Once you have your prototype, testing and refining is the final stage.
Usability testing will provide incredibly valuable insights into problem areas and the overall user experience.
Identifying these areas for improvement before the development phase will help development run quickly and smoothly, assisting with the final product coming out as desired.
If you use iterative refinement, the final design is much more likely to meet user expectations and the project objectives.
Data is key!
Collaboration and Handoff
Once prototyping has been completed, you have to collaborate with the development team to ensure the website comes out as planned.
You need to ensure that all the relevant documentation and assets are handed over to the web dev team, for seamless implementation.
Overall communication between departments is essential for the process to run as planned.
One way that many design and development teams will do this is by creating design systems and style guides.
This allows for the design team to have fully planned out guidelines for the development team to follow while building the final product.
There should be consistent branding and a design system throughout a website, as it provides a seamless browsing experience for the user, and staying on brand is always important for memorability.
Beyond Prototyping: Going Live
Prototyping is a great asset for design and development, and it provides an easier transition for the development team to begin creating the final product.
Prototypes can then be referred to before the website goes live, to ensure they meet expectations and align with the initial goals of the project.
Mastering the prototyping process in web design is crucial for translating ideas into tangible experiences.
By using them, designers can collaborate effectively, gather user feedback, and refine their designs before development begins.
So, from wireframes to the final product, embrace prototyping as a transformative tool that allows you to create intuitive, user-friendly web experiences that captivate your users.
If you need help designing and developing your website, we have a team of experts who are ready to help.
Contact us today.
Your website allows possible customers to window shop without any real commitment, and you can take this a step further with eCommerce websites.
Online shopping is on the rise, as it’s straightforward for the customer.
The majority of people don’t shop in physical stores anymore, consumers value convenience.
This is why having an eCommerce site is important; your site must be well-designed and fully functional.
So, what makes an eCommerce site effective?
Clear and Intuitive Navigation
User experience (UX) is everything, if using your site is at all complicated or unpleasant for the customer, they likely won’t make a sale, and won’t consider using your site again in the future.
All listed products must be clearly categorised, so they can find the exact product or type of product they desire.
It’s also important to establish a hierarchy in the website structure, such as main categories of products, and then more specific subcategories for the variations.
You should also ensure you have an effective search function so that products can be easily found.
Responsive and Mobile-Friendly Design
You want to provide a seamless experience across devices for the user when they are using your eCommerce site, which is why responsiveness is important.
Nowadays, using mobile for online shopping is the standard, so a website that is ineffective on mobile will lose you many sales.
Many eCommerce web designers will take a mobile-first approach to design, this incorporates touch-friendly design interfaces, resizing, and design that is optimised for mobile.
High-Quality Product Imagery
When online shopping, seeing the products is one of the most important aspects.
A description can only tell you so much, so high-quality imagery must be available, so users know what the product looks like.
Visual content will have a massive influence on customer perception and their trust in your business and products.
It’s also important that high-quality imagery can be seen from different angles, either with multiple images or you can implement zoom and 360-degree product view for the user, which can also assist with customer engagement.
Streamlined Checkout Process
Abandoned carts are a hindrance for anyone with an eCommerce site, and ensuring a smooth checkout experience can help you avoid this.
You should always offer an account checkout option, so details can be saved, and you need a guest checkout option to reduce barriers for the user.
Secure payments and checkout are also important for the customer’s trust in you.
There is a large range of payment options you can offer, such as card, apple/Samsung pay, PayPal, and more; the more options you have the more people you will appeal to.
To assure the user that the payment is safe, you need to be aware of SSL certificates, encryption, and overall data security.
Trust Signals and Social Proof
You need your customers to have trust in your products and services, but you need to prove to them that you can be trusted.
Some good methods of proving your reliability include customer reviews and ratings, testimonials, trust badges, certificates, and social proof.
Users will trust previous customers more than they will trust your word, which is why you should encourage reviews and ratings on purchases for your products, as well as reviews of your business as a whole.
Social proof is also key, a good way of getting this is by encouraging customers to interact/post about your product online, many businesses do this through partnerships, where they will send free products to influencers for review.
More trust leads to more conversions.
Effective Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons
If you think of your eCommerce site as a sales funnel, the CTA is the final level.
Your website should lead users to a CTA, and the CTA should encourage either a sale, getting in contact, or any action you want the user to take.
An effective CTA button should be prominent, visually appealing and persuasive.
The copy in a CTA is also important, you should use action words, and the copy needs to be clear, actionable, and convincing.
Conclusion
There are plenty of methods and actions you can take to ensure your eCommerce website is effective:
- Clear and intuitive navigation
- Responsive and mobile-friendly design
- High-quality product imagery
- Streamlined checkout process
- Effective product search and filtering
- Trust signals and social proof
- Seamless integration with payment gateways
- User-friendly account management
- Effective call-to-action (CTA) buttons
You must always prioritise user experience and website functionality, as this will drive sales and a positive reputation.
Implementing these elements to your eCommerce site is certainly our recommendation, but doing this alone or without a managed website provider can be tough.
If you need help building and maintaining a bespoke, user-friendly, and functional eCommerce site, we are the right option for you!
Contact our team and let us help you start your journey.
When designing your website, you need to find the perfect balance between staying true to your brand, and not falling behind the curve with web design trends and best practices.
You should never blindly follow the current trends you see without any consideration of how it reflects your business.
But there is definitely some inspiration you can take from trends, some may work for you, and you can even adapt some to be more personalised.
You want to ensure that your website doesn’t look dated and boring, or your user retention can plummet.
So, let’s have a look at some of the current trends in web design, and how they can improve your online presence.
What are some of the main web design trends for 2023?
- Bold and colourful designs
- 3D elements and graphics
- Dark mode
- Minimalism and whitespace
- Micro-interactions and animations
Bold and colourful designs
A bold and colourful design will catch the eye of your viewers and keep their attention.
If you want to make an impactful first impression, this design style will help you stand out from your competitors.
It can also be good for user engagement and encourage your visitors to spend more time on your website.
When you create an aesthetically pleasing design with a good colour palette, your business can provide a more immersive and enjoyable user experience.
It’s also an effective medium for solidifying your brand’s appearance.
Using your brand’s colour palette will reinforce your recognisability and brand identity to the user.
Hey Tempo is a job-hunting website that uses a bold and colourful design.
The website has a cartoon-style design and features lots of colourful and exciting fonts, buttons, imagery, and illustrations.
The website is eye-catching and fun, overall.
3D elements and graphics
Using 3D elements and graphics on your website helps create a more immersive experience for the user.
When interacting with your site, 3D elements can make the interactions appear more tangible and real.
It enhances the overall visual appeal, making your website stand out and adding an extra layer of interest to the full design.
One great benefit of 3D elements is the effect it has on storytelling, as it brings the narratives to life on the page.
This is also reflected in product visualisation, if you’re selling your products on your web store, 3D graphics help the shopper see the product fully and from all angles, giving them a better understanding of its appearance and features.
Lastly, it’s creative!
There are loads of possibilities you can take when using 3D elements in your design, allowing for unique and memorable user experiences.
Clou provides a large range of services and showcases this using a 3D interactive carousel of everything they do.
This fluid and sleek design reflects their brand perfectly and is fun to use.
Dark mode
Most of us at PageNorth prefer to use dark mode on our devices, whether it’s mobile or the computers we use daily.
Dark mode isn’t a new concept when it comes to websites, the first computers operated on dark mode! (Illuminating the entire screen would burn the screen, but we can pretend it was a creative choice)
Allowing your users to switch between light and dark can improve the experience for them greatly.
It can help the users read your content with ease, as some prefer reading with a certain background, and dark mode can help with eyestrain in general.
As well as individual experience, you can use dark mode to convey a message.
My favourite example of dark mode in web design is Max Joles, who uses his website to showcase the tech services he provides.
Toggling light and dark modes actually show his two ‘different sides’.
Light mode is the more professional work, with a picture fit for LinkedIn, and a headline perfect to attract businesses looking for help.
The dark mode is showing his creative side, with a more fun image, headline, and services that are less corporate and non-code oriented.
Minimalism and whitespace
Minimalism and whitespace can provide the user with a sense of ease.
It gives off a more professional, calm, and refined energy.
It’s also great for bringing attention to what you really want the user to be looking at, minimal clutter means minimal distraction.
It’s easy on the eyes and appeals to specific customer personas.
Many people find it easier to consume the content on your site if it’s presented in a minimalistic style, and it can also make navigation quick and easy.
We’ve all heard that sometimes more is less, so keep your website balanced with minimalism and whitespace.
Of course, Apple almost always gets a shoutout when we write about whitespace.
Their website is uncluttered, with a minimalistic white background and plenty of breathing room around the main attraction; the products.
They do a great job of keeping your attention on the product on the screen, and the site has a modern and straightforward feel to it, while also feeling futuristic and innovative.
Micro-interactions and animations
Have you ever found yourself browsing a website, and repeatedly hovering or clicking on a page animation to see a micro animation?
It’s an incredibly simple way to keep people immersed in your website and improve their experience overall.
Using any form of animation is helpful if you want to show multiple elements in the same area, to avoid taking up too much page room.
But it also can just be fun!
It feels advanced and very current.
Like 3D elements, if you are selling products on your website, animations can give the user a good idea of what it looks like, how it functions, and the general features of what you are selling.
Itek uses its website to show the IT managed service provider services they provide and uses a range of micro-interactions on its site, to passively keep the user engaged while scrolling.
There is movement all over the homepage, without it being overwhelming or disorienting.
Simple messages are conveyed through micro-interactions, such as a sad-looking computer getting a smile when you hover over the contact button.
Of course, there are plenty more trends we’ve seen this year so far, but that’s just some of our favourites.
When updating or building your website from scratch, you can take inspiration from these trends, but you have to remain true to your brand.
You also have to ensure your website is usable and accessible, even when implementing exciting new design aspects.
This can be stressful, which is why working with a web design agency can really help you make sure your website is perfect.
If you need help building your website, we have a team of experts more than happy to help.
Contact our team and see what we can do for you.
By now, you’re bound to know that having a website is essential for a business’s growth and success.
A website acts as the face of your brand and company, and more than often is the first point of contact with potential customers.
With importance, comes time and responsibility.
Managing your own website can be a time-consuming and complex task, and these problems grow at the same rate as your business.
We have seen this issue time and time again, so we offer a solution, Managed Websites.
So, what are the benefits of having a managed website?
Ease of Use
They are easy to use!
When you have a managed website, you aren’t worrying about the technical details of hosting, security, or updates.
Instead, providers like us take care of everything, letting you focus on running your business.
This is great for businesses that don’t have or want to expand their IT department or staff to manage their website.
When you outsource your website management, you can completely forget about website management and concentrate on what you do best.
A managed website will typically use a CMS (content management system), which allows you to make changes or upload to your website whenever you want.
To make this easier, if you contact your provider, they can do this for you.
Unlimited Updates and Maintenance
Managed websites are also helpful when it comes to having a dynamic and current website.
We offer unlimited updates and maintenance at no extra cost, although some providers may offer more limited amounts of changes you can have.
This means that you can get a full website redesign at no extra cost.
It also means that your website is always up-to-date, secure, and optimised for performance.
This all helps with your ranking on search engines, allowing more people to come to your website.
Your provider will take care of everything, from server maintenance to security updates, so your website can always run smoothly.
You don’t have to take the time to learn and continuously update and maintain your business’s website, it’s all being taken care of and gives you more time to run your business.
Plus, any issues or concerns you may have can be addressed and dealt with quickly by the provider’s support team, with no hassle.
Bespoke Design
When you have a managed website, the design will be bespoke and perfectly tailored to your business.
Having a bespoke design makes your website stand out from your competitors and represents your brand effectively.
When working with a managed website provider, you will be able to discuss and plan with the design team to create a website that captures your brand personality and values, as well as having the functionality that you need.
A personalised design will improve your website’s usability, engagement, and conversion rates, which will lead to increased revenue and growth.
Along with being personalised, the design should be professional which makes your website more user-friendly, improving the overall customer experience and encouraging repeat visits.
Perfectly Customised for Your Business
When you have a bespoke design and customised features, your website is tailored to your business’s unique needs and requirements.
The functionality, features, and design are all aligned with your business objectives, making sure that your website can act as an effective marketing tool.
A managed website provides a platform for you to showcase your products and services, connect with customers, and ultimately drive sales.
Having this level of customisation can help you stand out from your competition and create a unique brand identity.
Controlled Cost
Lastly, if you are working with a managed website provider, your costs are controlled, and a monthly subscription is predictable and reoccurring so you can include it in your budgeting.
This means there are no unexpected costs with hiring an IT team, purchasing expensive software and hardware, or any costs for updates and changes.
You are simply paying a fixed monthly fee to your provider, which covers all the associated costs of creating, managing, and maintaining your website.
This consistency allows you to budget effectively and avoids any unwelcome surprises when it comes to your costs.
What’s the verdict?
A managed website is a great option for businesses of all sizes.
It’s easy to use, you get unlimited updates and maintenance, a bespoke design, customisation that’s perfect for your business, and it’s a controlled cost.
When you choose to have a managed website, you can focus on what you do best, while your provider takes care of everything else.
If you’re a business owner looking for a hassle-free and effective way to manage your website, get in contact with our team and see how our solution can innovate your business.
When creating your website, most understand the importance of it being visually appealing and user-friendly.
But have you thought about the importance of accessibility on your website?
Making your website accessible will benefit those with disabilities, and also improve your website’s SEO and keyword rankings.
What is website accessibility?
Website accessibility refers to the practice of designing and developing a website that is usable by those with disabilities.
This includes making sure that the website is compatible with a range of assistive technologies.
Such as screen readers, which are text-to-speech applications for those who are visually impaired, and alternative input devices for people with motor impairments.
Why is website accessibility important?
Website accessibility is important for many reasons.
Firstly, it makes sure that people with disabilities can access your website and content.
This is a legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010 in the UK, but it is also the right thing to do.
Second, making your website accessible can improve UX (user experience) for all users, not just those with disabilities.
As an example, adding captions to videos featured on your site can benefit people who are browsing in public or a noisy environment, or just work for those who prefer to read.
Larger font sizes can help people who struggle to read small text on a mobile device.
There are plenty of ways that accessibility can improve everyone’s experience on your website.
Lastly, website accessibility can also play a part in your website’s SEO and keyword rankings.
How can it help?
Accessibility and SEO
Google is constantly updating its algorithm for search to make sure it’s delivering the most relevant and useful search results to its users.
One way it does this is by taking website accessibility into account when it comes to ranking.
Google has stated that it rewards websites that are accessible to all users, regardless of disability.
Meaning, if your website is accessible, it’s much more likely to rank high in the SERP (search engine results page).
Google’s algorithm also takes other factors, like page speed, responsiveness, and UX, into account, these are also closely related to accessibility.
Accessibility and Keywords
Alongside improving your SEO, accessibility can also benefit your keyword strategy.
When you are designing an accessible website, you will need to use descriptive alt text on images, captions for videos, and transcripts for audio content.
All these elements improve UX for those with disabilities but also provide more context for search engines to understand your website content.
By using descriptive alt text and captions, you can target specific keywords that are relevant to your content.
As an example, if you are a retailer selling trainers, you could use alt text and captions that include keywords like “running trainers” or “men’s blue trainers”.
This would help your website rank higher in the SERP for those search terms.
Make sense?
Overall, it’s safe to say that website accessibility is a very important consideration when it comes to your website.
By making it accessible, you are making sure that all users can access your content, improving usability, and boosting your website’s SEO and keyword rankings.
When we are building your website, we ensure that accessibility is kept in mind throughout the design and development process and use it as an integral part of your strategy.
Do you need a website for your business, or want to change your website provider?
Contact our team and see how we can help you.
Your website will set the tone and allow prospects to get an idea of who you are and what you do, but your identity will change and evolve with time.
This means that if your website was created to reflect your business years ago, it may not do its job now.
At PageNorth, we offer managed website services, so that you can update your website regularly, but if you don’t have a managed website and opted for a one-time service, then your website may need to be updated.
So, what are the signs to look out for when it comes to needing a website refresh?
Outdated design and content
We always aim to create a website that looks timeless, but small updates are essential to keeping it visually appealing to your users.
Take a look at your competitor’s website, or any businesses in the same industry, you’ll start to see some trends and get inspiration for what you do and don’t like.
An outdated website can cause a sense of distrust among the users, as an older site will often be less safe and secure.
It also seems unprofessional, making it less likely that users will want to convert on your site.
As you can see there, our current home page looks a lot more modern, professional, and attractive, compared to our home page in 2014.
Outdated web design will also struggle to be responsive and compatible with a range of devices.
Your content must also reflect your business’s current truth, and not showcase incorrect information.
If your website content is all obviously dated, old, and incorrect, then users will be wondering if you’re even still in business, not thinking about getting in touch or making a purchase.
Has security risks
Security is so important when it comes to your website, for you and your users.
Even though it is so important, it is often overlooked and can cause you many issues.
A cyber attack on your website can expose customer information, which violates data protection laws and will make them lose trust in you, and it can compromise private business information.
If you haven’t checked, we recommend getting a security audit done on your website to check for vulnerabilities or consider updating your website so it can be fixed in the process.
Slow site speed
Speed is everything when it comes to modern websites.
As 83% of online users expect websites to load in three seconds or less, and nearly 70% of users say that an eCommerce store’s site speed impacts how willing they are to buy from them.
As well as users being more likely to bounce, slow loading times will also decrease your website’s rank on search engines.
Any crawlers will index the load time of your web pages, and the quicker your website is, the more likely it is to show when somebody searches your keywords online.
There is a large range of causes for a slow website, including large images, videos, slow hosting, or excessive plugins.
Sometimes these issues can be fixed, but a full website redesign/build is the only salvation for some websites, that have simply gone too far.
To check your web page speed, you can use Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool.
If your score is below average, then having a chat with your current web provider or considering a redesign may be your best option.
Your SEO is lacking
If your website hasn’t been updated much since launch, it’s safe to assume that your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) practices won’t be up to current standards.
Your page titles, URLs, and content should all have relevant keywords, backed up by keyword research.
One great way to improve this is by having an SEO audit on your site, as this can tell you which areas you are lacking in and can provide valuable insights on how to improve.
When building and managing our websites, we will keep SEO in mind since without it, your website will struggle to rank, so this is something we can help you with.
Another thing that helps with SEO is having a blog on your website, every industry will have topics that can be discussed, so if you have the time creating blog content will help bring new users to the site.
So...
When you think about your website, you’ll know whether you are happy with it or not.
There is a lot of anxiety that comes with redesigning your website or switching your website provider, but a good web agency will make this process simple.
We make switching to PageNorth easy, and when you are working with us, your website will be consistently monitored, managed, and updated with anything you want, at no extra price.
Learn more about our process and get in contact with our team to see how we can bring your website back to life.
Design is always changing and evolving, and keeping up with all the trends can be a lot.
Recently, design has been all about individuality.
Making a statement, and never blending in.
Bold typography
Fonts can make a world of difference in your design.
Headers need to stand out and grab the reader's attention, so what better way to do it than with bold typography?
Using large, oversized text has become incredibly popular this year.
Bold texts have gone from being a way to get a message across, to an integrated part of graphic design.
The text being included within the design is becoming a common practice, it brings whole new energy to your headers and pages.
When you merge your images/graphics with your text, the main issue is maintaining readability.
A great example of this is Meow, who has combined bold text into their header design while still keeping it readable! (Plus, any cat owner knows that your furry friend resting in inconvenient spots isn't a surprise.)
Brutalism
Brutalism may still be too brutal (we know) for most.
The design concept in itself isn't used commonly, but so many design trends are derived from brutalism.
Brutalism strives to look raw, unprocessed, harsh, and haphazard.
An almost honest form of web design, it goes against the norm of formality, softness, and friendliness you see in common web design.
One aspect of brutalism that has been taken and reformed is minimalism, the lack of imagery, and text-heavy pages especially.
Above is an example of a brutalist website, called Ashley Cook.
Another trend derived from brutalism is breaking out of the grid.
The use of floating images especially takes away a bit of the same-old vibe many websites have, making things a bit unconventional, it all comes down to individuality.
Once you lose the grid and containers, things can get a bit messy, but with the right balance and testing, it can be a really interesting and positive experience for the user.
The website for Repeat uses floating images that are also animated, giving the user a turbulent, but still aesthetically pleasing and interesting viewing experience.
Micro-interactions
Having interactive aspects on your website isn't a new concept but can sometimes be overwhelming for a user.
If every time you move your mouse, something changes or moves, it can get a bit much for the eyes and negatively affect UX.
On the other hand, having interactive aspects makes a website feel much more fun and fluid, it almost personalises the experience for the user.
So, how have web designers got around this issue?
Micro-interactions!
It's the perfect balance between the two extremes, and you probably see it every day without realising it.
Most commonly, you will see micro-interactions while your cursor hovers over a button of some sort.
It can be a slight change in colour, small movements, icon animation, or anything you want.
At the end of the day, it adds a little bit of fun and life to your web pages, without being too 'in your face'.
Simplicity is sometimes the way to go.
No matter the kind of website you want for your business, PageNorth can help.
Get in touch with our team and see how we can help you.