5 Web Design Trends Startups Should Adopt

Web design keeps evolving from year to year and every startup that is looking to thrive on the internet should be paying close attention to the new trends that rule the web design world. 

Innovative and eye-catching web design can really do a lot when it comes to conversions these businesses are looking to make. The competition is fierce in the online business world so any startup that chooses not to update their web design to better fit current trends is missing on a lot of opportunities when it comes to growing their business. 

We'll give you an insight into some of the best current web design trends that you should be aware of as a startup owner. 

Fewer Navigation Options 

Another trend that came out of ever-increasing mobile devices usage is the need to simplify website navigation. 

Streamlining visitors towards 3-5 options helps users stay on track and quickly find what they're actually looking for because no one likes to get lost on a website - a thing that happens a lot on smartphones with overly complicated websites. 



Easier navigation translates to preventing users from abandoning the website, which automatically translates to more conversions and potential sales.

Another big change that happened to navigation is a trend of keeping navigation static, which basically means that those 3 important options will always be available - no matter where on the webpage you are.

GIFs and Animations

GIFs and animations have been a huge hit with websites in the 2017 and they are going to stay that way next year as well. It's just a great and simple way to show important content in a way that's easiest for your visitors to digest. 

It's a well-known fact that professional website design is all about conveying the right message in a quick and easy way, which is something that becomes a lot easier with visual content when compared to the written content. 

Both GIFs and animations are actually lighter on your website speed, so you can actually keep the pages really fast while still maintaining a focus on the visuals. 

Brutalism as a Trend

Recently, as an answer to so many websites opting for minimalism, a new trend has emerged that's completely opposite of it. Instead of going for simplicity, brutalism is all about creating websites that are overly-complicated. 

Sure, this trend isn't for every website out there, but there's something attractive to its ugliness. Web designers focus more on collages of images and text, rather than caring about UX at all. If you go with brutalism design though, you've got to be prepared for people to call your website ugly. 

That's just the way it is, you can't have it both ways - brutalism websites aren't pretty, but they don't even care. 

Handwritten Elements

Using handwritten fonts, graphics, icons, or even buttons is a great way to be unique about your web design yet don't go too far out of the way. It's certainly a great change considering that most websites employ boring, flat fonts that only care about readability. 

Giving your website a unique touch in this manner will provide a great contrast to that and make your website stand out from the crowd.

Minimalism is Still a Thing

This web design trend is actually a fusion of many other web design styles. The idea behind it is to give priority to performance, speed, as well as very simplistic layouts. 

The main reason why this trend came to prominence is a huge shift to responsive websites, which happened due to ever growing requirements for the websites to be mobile friendly. 

Before that, websites usually wanted to put every piece of information on the top to avoid scrolling, which gave websites a cluttered feel. Teaming up with a reliable website design company can do the trick of helping you avoid such problems. 

Mobile devices, however, encourage scrolling so various options can be arranged in a better way. Another important element of minimalism is its usage of white space, which really helps the websites look a lot cleaner. 

The Rules are There for a Reason

By employing the most useful techniques in web design you can ensure that your website stays in line with your competitors, or better yet, even become a leader in your niche. 

Of course, there are other important elements of running an online business beyond having a cool looking and functional website, like SEO for example, since you'll get very little out of your web design if your traffic is really low. 

The trends we mentioned in this guide are all there to inspire you and maybe even motivate you to experiment with web design on your own, which can really turn the table for your business if you do it right.

5 Great Ways Pinterest Can Improve Your Career

One of the key elements of building your own career is to start connecting with people, start advertising your skills and to make a good impression to others. The social media is one of the medium that is most commonly used for advertising. This advertising scheme using the social media network is not only exclusive for internet marketers but also to professional individuals as well. Using the social media can become a powerful tool that you can use in helping to boost your career and doing the same is not merely limited in advertising your career through text but through images as well. 

Pinterest makes it possible for any professional to improve their career by using its platform for advertising their work, more primarily their skills in designing and other visual portfolio. Pinterest is a social media network which unique feature is the virtual pin board that allows people to pin or post images which is an opportunity to promote the visual presentation of your brand, career or profession. If you aim to promote your career using Pinterest, here are 5 great ways to help you take the right directions. 

1. Showcase your specialty or professional industry

Using Pinterest is a great opportunity to show enticing images that will showcase your specialty or professional career. If you are a professional wedding organizer for instance, you can certainly post the images of the events to which you organized and pin them on your virtual board for everyone to see. If you are a chef, you can take a picture of your master recipes and make people start liking your mouth watering menus. Web designers can post the websites that they have designed while artists could also pin the photos of their masterpieces of artwork. Because photos are worth a thousand words, you can always showcase your brand and specialization that is within your profession in order to boost your career using Pinterest and make your specialty known to the public. 

2. Highlight your customers with due recognition

Pinterest (Photo credit: stevegarfield)

Pinterest can help boost your career when you try to recognize your customers in your Pinterest account. Try to recognize your loyal customers by pinning their photos, their website or anything related to them that will give due recognition for contracting your services. This way, you are building your customers’ loyalty and make them repeat buyers or customers in the future. Customers always like the feeling of being recognized, therefore you should exert effort to make them feel important and appreciated and they will likely patronize your services which is a step of building your career reputation. 

3. Use Pinterest to hunt for a job

You can use Pinterest to promote your portfolio and professional career in landing your dream job. By creating your own personal brand that will highlight your accomplishments and creations by showcasing them on your pin board. Choose the most appropriate videos, photos and articles to pin on your Pinterest pin board that will highlight your skills and talents. You can use this as a reference to support your professional career in order to land your dream job. If you are fortunate enough, someone may find your Pinterest profile very interesting and might offer you a job that fits your qualifications. 

4. Make your Pinterest board a good resource for similar career industry

 (Photo credit: colleengreene)

Users of Pinterest can pin images or re-pin the other user’s photos or pinned items on their own virtual pin board. You can start improving your career and allow it to gain a momentum by working out to make your own pin board a resource of information that is related to your line of profession. You can always be on search for related news and updates about your professional career and provide that valuable information to your own pin board for others to find and re-pin on their pin board as well. You gain more popularity for people who belong to the same work industry as yours and you can start building your own professional brand and career by becoming an authority about your specific career field. 

5. Connect with other Pinterest users who belong to a similar profession as yours

You need to stay connected with people who have the same profession as yours. The more people you can get to become your own network of friends, the more exposure your Pinterest profile gets. As you use your Pinterest account as an extension of your portfolio to showcase your skills and talents, the more people will likely start noticing you. It is essential to be able to connect with professionals who could give you tips on how to prosper in your career and who may be able to vouch for you with a good word of recommendation. Pinterest is a good place to start making friends with people who share the same interest as yours and to professionals who are already successful in similar career industry as yours.

About the Author:

The guest post is written by Mackenzie, finance and business writer and guest blogger for 4 years already. She is proficient at webdesign, internet marketing and guest blogging. She runs the website  Accountancy Services and she loves covering the articles on various blog sites.