Top 5 Design Factors to Fully Optimize This 2020!

Finally, just a few days from now, we will celebrate another year for us all – 2020! It is our chance to change our lives, renew our perceptions and improve ourselves from our past selves. Okay, I’m getting a little “spiritual” here.

As with ourselves, so is with our websites as well. Our website – whether we own it or handle for our client – needs to change and improve over time. Speaking about change and improve, we have written an article about the top 5 UI design trends this coming 2020.

In that article, as the name suggests, we have laid out the 5 design trends that are expected to be more popular this coming 2020. They are:

1) Minimalism

2) Eye-Catching Typography

3) Storytelling (Copywriting)

4) Color Psychology

5) Voice Design

In this article, we are going to talk about the top 5 design factors that website owners should consider for this upcoming year. The reason I write about this is that many websites still haven’t fully optimized these basic design factors. These design factors will serve as the foundation of your website’s design. For instance, you can have a very beautiful logo or banner but your unresponsive website cuts it into the half when users use mobile devices or tablets instead of computers or laptops.

So, it is important you consider them as well – perhaps, you need to consider them first before anything else.

Without further ado, here are the 5 design factors you can (and should) fully optimize to make the most out of your website (and yes, to maximize the upcoming year!)

1) Responsive Web Design

I have already hinted at that in my introduction. So, what is responsive web design?

Having a responsive web design means your website can adapt or adjust to different screen sizes – mainly, from computer/laptop to mobile device/tablet. Keep an eye especially on mobile devices because it has the smallest screen among them.

An unresponsive design will not adjust to different screens. Sure, they may take different shapes when you placed them on different screens, but you will observe that the unresponsive design, unlike the responsive ones, may cut crucial design elements such as your logo or banner.

Not only this ruins your design altogether, but this can negatively affect the user experience of your visitors. So, having a responsive web design is one factor you must consider when priming up your website’s design.

2) Chat Bots

Chatbots are another demand that continues to increase in web design. This is especially true if you if the website is used for business or corporate purposes. Even websites for small businesses can get an advantage if they add a chatbot.

But why add a chatbot if you can just leave your email address or phone number on your website, or if you have a contact form anyway? Simple. Chatbots make it easier for your visitors to contact you. If they need to fill out a form or have to email/text/call you, they might feel a little uneasy, and since many of your visitors are probably busy, they may set aside contacting you.

A chatbot gives them a very convenient way of contacting you. Needless to say, you must hire a chat operator to do all the chatting stuff on your part.

But if you can’t create a 24/7 chat team, you can create automated messages that let your visitors know that you are offline for a while, but assure them that their messages will get into you. You can also create automated messages for basic questions, so their questions will be answered whether a chat rep is available or not.

3) Color Choice

This should not surprise you, but we will reiterate the importance of color psychology. The colors you use are not only part of your web design; they are part of your overall branding.

So, if you are just starting your own website, you might as well carefully consider which color you will choose for your brand. If you have an existing website but you think that you need to change its color, take the time to reconsidering it as well.

We have written a brief guide for color psychology. It is not exhaustive, but you will definitely learn its basics.

For more, please read: How to Apply Color Psychology in UI Design

4) Interactivity

If you have a boring website, it’s only logical to conclude that you will not gain as many visitors as you want. What this means is that your website, as a whole, must be interactive.

Here are some factors to consider when maximizing your website interactivity:

• Adding videos
• Voice design
• Copywriting
• A welcoming “About Us” page
• A friendly chatbot (“Hi! How can we help you?” is better than “We are online 24/7. Drop us a message if you need anything.”)

Now, you don’t need to stuff all these things right away on your website. The only thing you need to consider is this: Is the website lively enough for me to engage with it? If you yourself are bored by your own website, chances are, others would be bored by it as well.

So, be sure your website is as interactive as possible!

Read: 10 Psychology Principles Web Designers Must Know

5) Usability

At the end of the day, consider usability in every aspect of your design planning. Many websites are so rich in advanced design tech that their users don’t know how to navigate on them.

Let your visitors know where to find your menu, contact form, “About Us” and other crucial information. If you provide, let your visitors know where their Profile page is. If you are an online store, be clear on where to click the Cart.

Otherwise, your visitors would be forced to leave your website even if they may like what you offer.

Conclusion

Despite all of the current design hacks that we have, at the end of the day, we must always go back to the fundamentals – as the fundamentals will never disappoint you. If you fully optimized the 5 design factors we’ve mentioned in this list, it will serve for years to come!