Recently celebrating the big three-oh, the World Wide Web has aged like fine wine year after year. Has your company’s UX kept up? If you want to turn clicks into buys and searches into revenue (which I’m sure you do), excellent UX is a must. Last, year I covered top web trends for 2019. As we enter the new decade, I want to talk UX again and get another head start on what’s what on the World Wide Web.
We’ve all heard the startling stats about capturing a consumer’s attention in seconds or losing it altogether. With the world at their fingertips, users are quick to move on if your UX and UI aren’t up to par. So what’s an effective solve?
Full Screen Forms
Almost every company site has some sort of form for visitors to fill out. From newsletter subscriptions at the start of their site journey to quick questionnaires and entering their address at check out, forms almost always live in a company’s webspace. But for forms to live happily ever after, change was inevitable. Because they’ve been part of the user experience for so long, website forms were overdue for a revamp. In a simple, but necessary upgrade, forms have transformed and grown to become more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly.
This year, practice minimalism by going big. Full screen forms are super clean and eliminate extra lines and boxes that depreciate white space value. because they have more real estate to work with, full screen forms play on large type and large elements that are a surefire way to increase readability. Since forms are already a familiar web component, modernizing them is a change most users will react well to and not feel overwhelmed by.
Voice User Interface
Voice User Interface encompasses all the Alexas, Siris, Cortanas and other virtual assistants of our time. As they’ve evolved, we’ve continued to count on them to provide directions, send texts, set reminders and even control our smart home devices. Now, they’ve entered the web space. The formal definition of VUI is “the primary visual, auditory, and tactile interfaces that enable voice interaction between people and devices.” Websites have started to incorporate VUI to extend this feature and provide further usability. Along with voice control options comes an accessibility win, as VUI offers more functionality for those with different abilities.
Split Screens
When creating split screen content, there’s a ton of possibility. With the right design and execution, you’re able to showcase twice the content. You can also keep it simple with your two-sided design, having one side of the screen with a large bold heading and a featured image on the other. To amp it up, you can showcase a product, video, gif, or other dynamic content piece.
The goal of split screen design is to show segmented content in a simplistic layout that marries each both ideas. This fresh format does an amazing job of drawing user attention as you wish and feeds the eye’s natural interest in visual contrast. All in all, split screens are a proper starting point to building compelling UX and UI through typography, imagery, and effectiveness.
As you aim for peak web potential this year, reflect on where you are as a brand. If you’re continuing business as usual, focus on elements that naturally fit your company’s identity. These changes will elevate your site, but won’t present an overwhelming change. On the other hand, if you’re looking to refresh your brand identity and web presence, explore a new trend to reinvent. No matter how and why you make the shift, recreate with purpose and your site visitors will take notice.