Social media in the Philippines is typically filled with trending topics in entertainment, fashion, and even politics—the last especially with the upcoming 2016 presidential election. For the obvious reason of being a niche, you don’t see the same thing happening when it comes to the latest in web design. Still, for digital marketers, these trends hold precious information that can help enrich user experience, enhance online visibility, and, ultimately, increase sales conversions for their websites.
Just what are these trends?
Responsive Design
Responsive design enables websites to adapt to the size of any screen, whether on a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. With 40 percent smartphone penetration in the Philippines and growing, the need to adopt responsive design becomes less of an option and more of a necessity.
Flat Design
When it was first introduced, flat design was about removing gradients and applying only a single color across a design element. Today, the style incorporates long shadows, vibrant color schemes, and simple and legible typefaces, such as ghost buttons.
Material Design
In contrast to flat design, material design takes real-world elements and interactions to generate textured images. Originally devised for apps, principles of material design are increasingly being applied on websites.
Rich Animations
Storytelling is one of the most compelling elements that brands can use to form meaningful connections with people. Rich animations enhance a website’s narrative by enhancing user experience with more interactions and entertainment. Popular applications include loading screens, menus, hover and scrolling effects, slideshows, and backgrounds.
Microinteractions
Microinteractions are small responses that help users navigate websites to find the information they need. AOL’s ‘You’ve got mail!’ and Facebook’s new stories button is some examples. Most of the time, these elements operate subtly and appear only when needed. Too much and they become needless clutter.
Search engines place a premium on user experience. By following these five trends, websites can help users and themselves achieve their goals.
A website’s discoverability is not dependant on chance. Check out the M2Social Website Optimization Playbook to learn more about how your website can grab attention and win conversions.
