You are trying hard. You have created a website. You are posting contents on a regular basis. But that’s only a small part.
You’re also creating marketing content. Posting it on different blogs. You’re posting on different social media platforms as well. Yet somehow, you feel you’re not getting returns. And you’re frustrated, because you just can’t find a way out. So, what’s going wrong? Are you focusing enough on your website’s design?
As a business, you need to have an online presence these days. You need great content. But that’s not all. Would you read a book if the words were not printed properly and the design was clumsy? Probably not. Similarly, your target audience will not spend time on your website, even if you have a great content, if the design is not attractive. It will only increase your bounce rate and it won’t help one bit with profit.
So, What is it That You Need?
The answer is simple – attractive web design. But the question remains: Which of the latest website trends is the best for your site?
Gone are the days of complicated designs with a wide array of colors and shades, different fonts, etc. Your idea needs to be clear on what the essentials are. Minimalist web design has been around for quite some time now and remains as relevant as ever before.
Minimalist Web Design: The Basics
What is minimalist web design? The answer is in the name itself. If you’re looking for a minimalist design for your website, exclude everything that seems extraneous.
This might seem an easy task to perform, but in reality, it is one of the toughest things to do. So, what are the features that make minimalist web design so effective?
Follow the Minimalist Philosophy
Omit needless things – this is probably the heart of the minimalist philosophy. Keep features that are necessary and delete many of the others. This ensures that readers will be able to focus more on the primary elements in your website, without being distracted by unnecessary ones.
Light Design Loads Faster
Minimalist web designs have only necessary components. This ensures that the design is light. And a light design means it takes less time to load, which is a great way to ensure that readers remain longer. It helps reduce the bounce rate of your website significantly, which in turn, reflects positively.
User-Friendliness to Increase Website Footfalls
Does it feel easy to surf through a website that’s complicated? Probably not. The same is true with your target audience as well. They will always flock to websites that are easy to navigate.
Usability plays a major role in ensuring that a website is user friendly. This user-friendliness also plays a major role from an SEO perspective, thus increasing the number of footfalls to the website. Minimalism can be a great step forward toward SEO friendly web design.
Attention Remains Focused on the Content
Content is king. No matter what type of website you’re building, content is sure to play an important role. However, it’s hard for readers to concentrate on your content if your design distracts them. This is where minimalist web design comes in handy. It ensures that their complete focus is on your content.
Minimalist web design enhances chances of conversion and is also extremely user friendly. It can attract maximum visitors and help you garner maximum profit.
Aira Bongco
I guess. In fact, I think that it is already ruling the online world now. Minimalist is better especially with gadgets. The look of web2.0 websites have now become too old.
Right Aira. Minimalist design is the call of the day. It is a perfect example of how more can be achieved through less.
Bravo! In the days of when print advertising ruled, we know the more white space, the better an ad’s performance. That’s even more important online – find the simplest way to convey what your site is about and prompting your visitors to take the action they need, and watch your results accelerate.
Yes Scott, the white space is going to play a more and more important role in web designing, as minimalist design is expected to rule the roost.
I’ve always loved minimalist designs on websites. I love the space and elegance of it. So, on that basis, I’d love to see it, not so much as a rule as everyone has a choice, but I hope more and more people will consider taking it into account.
Ebele, it seems minimalist design might not be the rule, but it is here to rule. So, we are sure to see more of it in near future.
I definitely wouldn’t complain if it was here to rule, William. My eyes love breathing space. 🙂
Attention doesn’t mean that you put only images on the website to show that you are interesting. There should be a well described text that contains a brief information about the page. Content is “King”. No doubt, but text content is the real king for this time. We are in Bay Area, Unites States and we have implemented this and got more / better results by adding a text content.
Absolutely right. Text content, provided it is of high quality, is sure to rule in future as well.
Lindsey
The key benefit to the minimal design is the faster load times. Now that websites demand media rich resources such as videos and responsive design, we must not complicate the interface that could potentially slow down loading times. Really enjoyed the post.
Thanks Lindsey! Yes, it is extremely important to ensure that your website loads fast. And for this, it is important to embrace minimalist design.
William: Could you give some examples of web sites with minimalist design?
Raul
No offense to anyone who is in love with the “minimalist” design, but these categorisations are plain ridiculous. The content decides the visual design. A technical site will have a different need from a fashion-oriented site. And the visual design will reflect that. After all, the internet is just a different media for publishing, as opposed to the paper, and the “white is good” claptrap is simply coming from our subconscious adaptation to the paper publishing. You know, the magazines and the daily papers, full of white space.
[Edited by Editor]
Yes Martin, you can find several websites with minimalist design. You can have a look at this blog. Here you will find quite a few of them. And almost all of them are excellent.
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/clean-simple-minimalist-website-design/
I think minimalistic is here to stay for a while, it feels like the internet has evolved into this. It helps focus the content and purpose of the website, keep the design simple, yet still have a classy look and being perceived as having a high value.
Jules
Recently redesigned minimalist sites are almost always harder to navigate.
They omit visual clues that distinguish active links from passive text
– e.g. shading, colour, borders, bullets, underlines etc
This means that the Visitor has to guess what is active by wasting time trawling with the cursor – or more liley losing patience and going elsewhere.
A top menu bar should have tabs, rounded and shaded – or borders. Minimalist sites have a row of plain text – often with only 3 or 4 items.
A side Contents list is a valuable way of conveying the interior of the website. Minimalist sites mostly drop Contents – leaving the visitor to guess what might be there.
Personally, if the site can’t be bothered to communicate clearly I can’t be bothered to hang around (and buy their product)
HUGE photos and monotone slabs aren’t necesarily “minimalist” – but seem to go hand in hand.
These screen-filling elements put (important?) content out of sight, below the fold causing, unnecessary scrolling – i.e. making the Visitor work harder.
The use of these slabs, instead of roudned buttons, confuses their purpose. Often passive text headers look identical to such “buttons”.
Empty white space, apart from being boring, is often glaring, making the eyes strain – esp. when (all too often) grey text is used – lacking contrast.
What is wrong with black?
A pastel background (as around this Comment form) is better – but only with dark text.
Flat, monotone icons are at best ambiguous, at worst meaningless ( even worse when they are all grey).
Oh…. and minimalist design, with its lack of detail, gives the impression of lazy, “couldn’t care less” about the Customer l, suggests that the producer cares more about internal “image” !
Another reason not to stay long on a minimalist website.
Joseph
Wow! Big collection, very inspiring. We also have a minimalist website, but we’re thinking of a little redesign this summer. It will remain minimalist of course!
Thanks for sharing.