We’re confident that you already know your website’s design cannot be static. For your web design to be working for you in the way that it needs to, you need to consider redesigning or updating your website on a monthly and annual schedule. Certain modern web design elements allow you to do that more naturally than ever.
As a small business owner, you work hard to ensure that your business is seen and heard by the right audiences. In a twenty-first century world, practical, modern, and accessible web design is a crucial element to your business’s success and visibility online. Explore these elements of modern web design to improve your online presence.
How to Create a Modern Web Design on WordPress
If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, you already know you should be regularly updating information on your website to reflect your latest updates, products, or any specials that you may be sponsoring. You should be prepared for to launch a new version of your site every two or three years to make sure that your web design is modern, accessible, and SEO-friendly. Use these tips to build and update a website that’s user friendly and engaging to the modern eye.
Catch the user’s eye with unique and large typography
When establishing your brand or business, it’s likely that you already have particular font type you use. This helps your customers identify your business compared to the brands of your competitors.
With the introduction and growth of the world wide web and proliferation of open source content made available by Creative Commons, designers have an exponentially more extensive selection of fonts available to them for little to no cost. Also, when you use fonts with an updated design, it’s easier to express your brand more accurately through typography. We now have infinite options for updated and modern font options that can guide your audience through your site and make your brand appear more unique.
Why this works
When placed correctly, unique typography will enable your web design to lead your readers or clients to different parts of the page and your website. Your choice of typography can also give your audience subtle clues about the cadence and spirit of your business. Is your brand fun or serious? Is your site functional, informational, or entertaining?
When deciding on the font families to incorporate into your web design, make sure that your web developer or designer works with a font that is readable to different browsers, computers, and devices. Don’t make the mistake of choosing a font that isn’t supported by standard browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. If so, your website display and rankings could suffer from their lack of mobile accessibility.
Capture your audience with large, responsive hero images
When you display large, powerful images at the top of your site, you can weave around the traditional newsroom concepts of “above and below the fold.” By focusing on just an image with minimal text—as opposed to a call to action or social media buttons—you can create an impactful visual experience for your audience that will compel them to scroll down for more.
Some websites use hero images as a background, or even a slideshow with text and other content overlaid on top. Like the tactic above, this can help you with brand storytelling without having to rely on text alone.
Why this works
On the Internet, your customers are coming from all over the world. You don’t know if they’re finding your website from their phone or tablet in the comfort of their homes, or from their work computers. If you are using a hero image, make sure the models incorporated in your web design are responsive and equally impactful across all media; this helps brand cohesion and ensures that your visitors have the same experience across all devices.
Tell your brand’s story with background videos
Videos that automatically play in the background of a landing page will enhance your user’s experience while inviting your visitors to engage in the story of your product or brand. Background videos can be used as a practical, multi-dimensional storytelling platform, thus reducing the amount of text-heavy material that users can find overwhelming and unappealing.
Why this works
Background videos work because they effectively entice your visitors from the moment they land on a page. A video allows you to combine several visual and audio elements of storytelling that gives your visitor a thorough understanding of your brand and your message without having to read any blocks of text.
Keep in mind that our brains also process videos 60,000 times faster than text. So, while most audiences are reluctant to delve into a page full of writing, a video is a simple and easily consumable alternative.
Create a simple and modern semi-flat design
Although the semi-flat design was has been around for awhile, it wasn’t until technology giants Apple, Google, and Microsoft started implementing this approach to web design that the style became one of the newest standards for modern web design.
Simply put, flat web design refers to the use of any element that doesn’t include—or give the perception of—three dimensions, like shadows. When it comes to accessibility, flat web design is not only more comfortable for users to understand, it can also be loaded more quickly because it lacks the overly-technical elements that slow your page’s load speed and turn away potential new customers.
Why this works
Flat web design helps your audience understand your content faster. Adding elements like a hero image or background video will not only add depth to your website, but it will also bring your brand to life. Whether you implement flat web design on your entire site using flat or make use of shadows and other elements, remember that consistency is vital.
When speaking with your web development, make sure that your homepage, product pages, and any other cornerstone sections of your website implement the same design elements and cues, so your visitors instantly understand what they’re seeing.
Work with the Right Web Developers and WordPress Designers
You should already know why this works. Instead of letting yourself get bogged down with the in’s and out’s of web design, seek the pros. At Mvestor Media, we’ve created a team of experienced WordPress hosting web designers and web developers who have the tools and skills to create modern web design both user-friendly and accessible.
