Design trends become popular for a reason—it’s because they're good, and typically well-executed the first time around. This poses a bit of a risk though, since audiences could get easily tired from overused design tropes. Some will inevitably end up on a list of things to avoid on social media in the Philippines. While seemingly cutting-edge, many have drawbacks that far outweigh their benefits. Here are five trends that already seem dodgy.
Homogenization | Amazon
Homogenization
By nature, website designers try to create the perfect website using the freshest, trendiest styles as a reference. Nothing wrong with that, but theories do tend to be rigid. Following them ultimately creates similar looking websites, as a cursory glance at Awwwards winners would show. Rather than chasing the perfect design, try building the best site for your needs. For example, Amazon's current website looks nothing close to trendy, but continues to generate significant sales and growth for the company.
Hamburger Menu | Nom
Hamburger Menu
The hamburger menu is the three bar stack commonly found at the top right or left of a website or app, containing navigation options. But while it creates a slick, clean interface, it also reduces discoverability, especially for news and e-commerce sites. Global sites may be a bit more cluttered, yet the intuitiveness makes it much friendlier for users. In fact, big names like YouTube, Google, Microsoft, and Apple have already dropped the burger menu altogether.
Complex Loading Animations
Complex Loading Animations
Rich animation is great for overall user experience—except for when it isn't. Animation can weigh down web pages and prevent them from loading quickly. Pages must be able to load in about 6–10 seconds before users decide to abandon them. Complex loading screens and preloaders only slow things down, a really bad idea if you're trying to keep traffic on your site.
Heavy Pages
Heavy Pages
Websites are becoming increasingly bloated. Unless you have access to large amounts of bandwidth, you probably already noticed the internet growing slower through the years with pages growing much heavier. In 2010, the average page was about 702KB; five years later the average has risen to about 2,219KB. Much of the bloat is the result of excessive use of JavaScript in the service of bling.
Carousels
Carousels
Carousels add interest, reduce clutter, and are found everywhere. The ubiquity is already enough reason to avoid them, but their use adversely impacts other things. They are bad for SEO since you have less information on the page. Load times become slower and content gets pushed below the fold, a practice discouraged by Google. They've also been particularly ineffective with only 1 percent of people clicking on carousels.
It's always a great idea to stay on top of current web design trends, but be prepared to do what’s best for the site, even if it defies convention. Always focus on the metrics to determine the effectiveness of design.
Does good website design, traffic, leads, and revenue sound good to you? Enhance your site with the M2Social Website Optimization Playbook.