Top 5 Web Design Trends We’ve Noticed in 2011 (So Far)

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Rick

It is important as graphic and web designers to see what everyone else is doing or not doing on the web. It gives us an idea of what future clients may be looking for, and ideas that we can evolve into our own designs. It can also open your mind to things you may not have thought of before, thus expanding your creativity and idea-set. Even if you don’t like the look of a certain design trend that people have been using, it is important to remain as open-minded as possible in the always-changing world of web design.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the top 5 design trends we’ve noticed in 2011 here at Render Perfect, and how they are affecting the web.

5.)

Designers are starting to put increasing amounts of thought into the font that they use on their site. A couple years ago, you could look at any site on the web and you could almost guarantee that most of the text would be in basic fonts like Arial and Times New Roman. Now, designers carefully select their typeface, size, alignment, and even the spacing between individual letters. You want your site to have a certain “feel” to it, and sometimes that cannot be accomplished with just plain text.

Here are a couple sites we’ve noticed that both use excellent typography:

4.)

Social networks have become huge, especially Facebook. I can’t think of one person i know that doesn’t have a Facebook profile page. Even people who barely know how to operate a computer have a profile and know how to access it flawlessly. Since everyone is now on a social network, why wouldn’t you want to link yours to your website?

This was a trend in 2010 as well, but in 2011 the ways to link your social network and your website are much easier and more effective. You can now go to pretty much any company’s website and “Like” them on Facebook, write on their wall, look at recent Tweets, subscribe to their RSS feed, and other actions like this without leaving that company’s homepage. A couple of years ago, designers would have been baffled at features like these, but now you can’t go to a website without seeing a “Like us on Facebook” or “Follow Us on Twitter” link.

The Render Perfect company website is a perfect example of this. At the bottom of any page on our site (except the blog of course) you can “Like” us on Facebook, write a comment on our wall, or view some of our friends. Check it out!

3.)

HTML5 is the newest form of the HTML markup language. If used properly, it has the potential to make a designers job easier. Out of all the web trends of 2011, this is quite possibly the most important and it is most likely going to be the standard in web coding.

The only problem with this new language is that not all browsers and operating systems can display it correctly. The best browser to view HTML5 websites on would be the latest Google Chrome, which isn’t compatible with all computers yet. If you are curious as to whether or not your browser of choice will display HTML5 correctly, you can go to http://www.html5test.com and it will let you know exactly what your browser can and cannot display.,/p>

Here are a couple sites we’ve noticed that use HTML5 effectively:

(Keep in mind even if your browser doesn’t display HTML5, these sites will still look like the way they are intended to.)

2.)

Less is more! The age of sites with 1000 buttons and background music is (hopefully) over! We have noticed that a lot of companies are going for the minimalist look for their site. They are clean, easy on the eyes, and even users with little computer knowledge can navigate through them with ease.

However, a new trend in simplicity has also arisen this year, and that is “One Page” websites. They are exactly what they sound like, a website containing: (you guessed it!) ONE PAGE! Designers use anchors to bring the visitors to a certain part of the page instead of linking to a new page entirely. Most of the “One Page” sites we’ve seen function really well and look great.

There’s not too much we can say about simplicity, so check out some excellent examples we’ve noticed:

1.)

With new tablets and mobile phone’s coming out, your website isn’t going to be viewed by just desktop computers and laptops anymore. Which means, your website will appear completely different if it was designed specifically for a widescreen monitor (which most are).

With the flick of a wrist (iPhone, iPad) a user can switch his browser to a horizontal view which makes most fixed width sites look terrible. If a page is liquid, however, it will adapt to any screen it is viewed on (if designed correctly). This makes it so, regardless of which mobile device you are using to browse the web, websites will appear as they are intended to look on a widescreen monitor, which was most likely used when the designer created the site.

Here are a couple examples of websites that look great on both mobile devices and on your desktop or laptop computer:

Facebook > The Internet?

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Nikc Miller

While perusing Twitter the other day, I found an “alarming” fact that I’ll paraphrase here:

“One of the world’s largest brands publicly announced that it would rather drive traffic to their Facebook page than their web page.”

Gasp!

I followed up with the Tweeter to no avail, so who knows if it’s true or not. Regardless, let me talk about why this isn’t (or wouldn’t be) so shocking after all.

Why would you, as a brand, want to get more hits on your Facebook page rather than your website?

1. Facebook Gives You A Captive Audience

Having an active Facebook page is your opportunity to have a captive audience tuned into your “channel.” Sure there are comparable solutions in the web world; you can gauge your analytics; you can see how many unique visitors are on your website everyday; you can even create a Feedburner account to see how many subscribers you have. Unfortunately all of this data provides faceless numbers and zero opportunity to really know who your fans are.

The benefit of having Facebook “fans” is knowing that at any given moment you can broadcast a message that you know will reach your audience. The results are near-instantaneous: If your message fails, you know immediately.

2. Facebook Gives You An Open Forum (if you want it)

The key to reaching your audience on Facebook is message portability. Not only are you reaching a captive audience, but they have the power easily share your message throughout their base. This is a bit more difficult to achieve from your website.

Furthermore, having “likes” on your Facebook page gives your fans an opportunity to communicate with each other. You might notice a bigger opportunity: the forum is your opportunity to communicate directly to your fan-base.

I mean this in the most personal sense. Websites are generally used for sweeping statements and basic info. With a Facebook page you can respond directly to your fans’ needs.

3. Facebook Gives You The Ability To Show Your Fans That Your Message Is Worthwhile

Perhaps you gained a fan because they like your product, restaurant, or store. On a whim they tuned into your channel. That doesn’t mean that they will stay. This is your chance to prove that your messages are worth hearing. You can do this by offering a great deal once a week or maybe just by being genuinely engaging.(Actually, both is a nice approach!)

The great thing is that actively maintaining your Facebook page puts you in a more active role in front of your audience. Instead of relying on updating your website once a quarter and updating your blog once a month, you end up on the frontlines with your fans. Before you say “Well my webmaster said he can make all of that happen on my website with a couple of simple design changes and a few widgets!” Think about it. Websites are great and they remain a very needed tool in your brand marketing. But to deny the fact that web audiences are spending a humongous amount of time staying on Facebook is to deny yourself an opportunity to really reach those people.

Join Render Perfect on Facebook!

SPAM Lives In Social Media Too

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Nikc Miller

“Please just delete the message if you do not want it”
-actual message from a Facebook spammer

The words Social Media tend to conjure up images of birds chirping, tweet-ups, keeping up with grandma, and perhaps happily drumming up more customers for your business. But let’s not forget the golden rule of communication on a mass-level: your message has to be wanted. It’s a bit confusing that while a ton of people are up in arms about the ever-changing Facebook privacy policy, I hear few people complaining about the easily-abused message system within Facebook.

Let’s say, I am a SPAMMER (most people will picture a brooding ominous figure ala Dr. Claw, but in this case let’s picture the SPAMMER as a well-meaning yet tasteless event marketer.) I create an event that I think is really cool and I want everyone to know about. I invite all of my friends, and perhaps encourage a few close friends to invite all of their friends as well. I then, very quickly, have 1000 or more people invited to my event. Here’s where the fun starts. I can now send ALL invitees a message, over and over again.

Is there a way to stop getting these messages? Sure, but its not as simple as just hitting UNSUBSCRIBE. You have to navigate to the event and remove yourself from the event manually. That doesn’t mean I can’t throw you back on the list whenever I want to.

What’s the lesson here? Well, nothing really. As long as there are popular forums for mass communication, there will always be those folks who choose to ignore permission-based marketing and abuse the system. But my prediction is that it is not the privacy policy, or the ever-present rumor that Facebook will someday charge a fee that will kill the popular sharing site. Rather it’s these tiny loopholes that allow marketers to easily abuse the system that will have people leaving in droves. People navigated away from Myspace because it was way too easy for bands and everyone else to SPAM them. It’s only a matter of time before Myspace’s spammers move aggressively to where the audience is.