With the volume of website interaction in the past few years rising, it is essential to a new and growing business that your site sticks out from the rest. One of the most important aspects for a new startup is creating a website that will boost customer engagement. The goal is to make people want to use whatever product or service you are marketing. Luckily, making websites accessible and appealing can be easy and relatively low-budget. Here are the biggest design trends we think are going to make a statement in 2022, so you can be one step ahead in marketing your business.
Prioritize Dark Mode.
As consumers continue to increasingly use devices, eyes are getting tired and minds overwhelmed by intrusive colors and layouts. This is why many websites are opting to make their color schemes much darker - some even going for a completely black and white design. How does this help your startup? A simple and darker color scheme shifts the focus to information about your service rather than the aesthetic of your website. “A survey published on Medium showed that 82.7% of participants had used dark mode on their devices,” (vectornator.io).
Dark layouts will make your website look more sleek and professional. This layout shows viewers you don’t need the hustle and bustle of a fancy website for your valuable service to speak for itself. Dark mode can be great for technology, cryptocurrency, or social media startups.
Examples of Dark Layouts
Big, Bold, & Brutal Text.
People don’t want to have to dig deep into your website to find out what you're all about. The best way to adapt to this is by implementing big, bold lettering rather than photos. Well-designed typography can be both visually appealing and informative. In 2022 the motto for text is “the bigger, the better.”Simple websites are refreshing in comparison to the muddiness of others. Consumers can find information about you much more efficiently, and you can get your mission statement to them in a clear and powerful way.
A subcategory that we have seen making its way into the design world is Neo-Brutalism. Brutalism is the harsh and raw formatting of a website (think Craigslist or eBay). Neo-Brutalism aims to assume the simplicity of that format, but elevate text and background design to be a bit more appealing. The benefit of this is the simplicity of site navigation for your target audience. This unique niche is popular among creative startups like fashion, art, and design.
Examples of Bold Typography and Neo-Brutalism
Get Participation with Interactive Design
There are numerous ways to make your website more interactive. You can add images to navigation buttons or interactive charts to engage customers. When potential clients have to interact with your website more to acquire information, they are likely to pay extra attention. This element needs to be user-friendly and visually appealing. A great way to include interaction is by incorporating personal quizzes to take a consumer to the exact product or service that will work for them. Quizzes are a fun way to skip over the messiness of finding what they need, and can make your startup feel more personal. These personality-based tools are most effective for those marketing multiple products or services.
If visitors feel bored with a website, they are less likely to put in the time to find a great service. Making every step of navigation interactive will encourage people to click through your site and learn more.
Examples of Interactive Design
Accessible and Inclusive Design.
It is 2022, and being open-minded is more important than ever. Ensuring your website reflects good morals and making everyone feel they are the target audience will align people to your service. When a companies’ moral basis aligns with the consumer, they are much more likely to seek your service. If your site has photos of people as a significant part of the design, include a wide variety of ages, genders, and races. For example, if your startup is a new dating site, include pictures of more elderly individuals or different sexualities.
Accessibility allows those who have trouble navigating a website feel they and are not hindered by technology or disabilities. Making your site accessible in all languages, using bold color schemes, and having a built-in zoom option for your site are all tremendous ways to ensure every visitor can navigate your site and purchase your service easily.
Examples of Inclusive Sites
Make a Mega-Footer.
Footers contain vital details about your business. As a startup, you naturally want to ensure you capture a consumer’s attention while they see this information. Footers can include social media handles, mission statements, updates on your company, contact information, and much more. It is common to put an email signup list people can participate in right away or even including a section to compose a message if anyone has questions, comments, or concerns. Every startup should have a great, and easy-to-use footer.
Make your mega-footers as visually appealing as your headers. Headers pull the audience into your product, but footers call for further action from potential clients. This is arguably the most critical part of your site to manage interaction in other areas of your startup.
The Best Mega-Footer Examples
