According to Forbes, 78 percent of millennials would rather pay for a good experience than material goods. This is also the generation that’s obsessing over the Marie Kondo trend of minimalistic decluttering.
That preference goes for websites as much as it does for our surroundings. With the latest trends in minimalist web design on the rise, more companies are shifting their websites accordingly.
Don’t let your website fall behind! With these minimalist design tips, you can respond to what customers are looking for. That way, they’re happy and making purchases—which should make you happy, too.
1. Up User Experience
It’s all about your visitors, right? Once they’re on your website, how they experience your content can make all the difference.
If website visitors are struggling to find the information they’re looking for, they’re not going to stick around long.
To increase your click-through-rate and decrease your bounce rate, give the user experience your full attention. This can involve everything from the website navigation to font size.
Make sure the background and font for your navigation feature contrasting colors. That way, it’s easy for visitors to read the text and find the page they’re looking for.
Instead of bogging readers down with text, break up your paragraphs.
User experience for minimalist web design also involves how your content is organized (not just what it looks like). Make sure each piece of material flows from one to the next. That way, your readers don’t get confused by random topic jumps in the content.
We’ll review a few other ways to prioritize user experience below.
Just remember to focus on your customers. That way, they’ll prioritize your company as their new fave, too!
2. Watch for White Space
Shoving content onto the page just makes your website overbearing. Layering giant blocks of text and huge photos on a long webpage will cause readers to lose their focus, too.
Instead, add white space to the page.
In addition to giving your website a neat, clean look, this also breaks up the content. That way, web visitors can focus on what they’re reading, one idea at the time.
According to this study, white space can even improve consumer perceptions about a product’s value when they’re shopping online.
Let It Breathe
This strategy for minimalist web design will also give your content some breathing room.
When you have a stunning photo on the page, it can probably speak for itself. Instead of distracting from the image with long paragraphs of text, white space can encourage visitors to focus on the image.
This works for headlines and buttons as well.
A button that has its own space on the page will stand out. This is especially important when you’re trying to use a button to gain website conversions.
With white space and minimalist design on your side, you can make sure your website content works for you—not against you.
3. Make It Pop
Now that you have that white space down, you can add a hint of color to really make your content pop.
Bright colors can attract the eye to certain pieces of content. This is especially helpful when you want visitors to focus on a call-to-action or “purchase” button.
Once you catch their attention with that flare of color, you can encourage them to convert from a visitor into a paying customer.
However, it’s important not to go overboard. Too much color can appear intense and irritating. Try not to give anyone a headache.
Instead, choose complementary colors. That will help with the overall design of the page as well.
Don’t forget to use your company’s color scheme, so it all stays on brand. That way, you add a little personality to the page, too.
Adding a pop of color here or there can help you give your content a dramatic flair.
Colorful User Experience
Remember, minimalist web design involves removing elements that don’t improve user experience. While it’s beneficial to use pops of color on the page, don’t go crazy.
Adding too many “pops” can get distracting real fast. Plus, too many elements on the page could slow loading time way down.
Instead of encouraging customers to convert on the page, that could encourage them to leave. With white space and bold colors combined, your minimalist web design will work in your favor, not against it.
Keep to a monochromatic color scheme. This will keep you from going all over the place with your color options.
A professional website design company like Falcon Digital Marketing can get your company in the game! That way, you have a website that pops, wows, and reels in customers (without weighing down your page).
4. Hierarchy and Typography
A bold, beautiful font adds personality to your minimalist web design. It can also convey emotion, urgency, or add that little something extra your webpage needs to stand out.
Instead of animations (which are not minimalism-friendly and will slow down your website), a font can add a new visual element to the page. Just make sure it’s easy to read.
Otherwise, website visitors won’t actually read the headline you worked so hard on.
Hierarchy
Fonts also create a hierarchy on the page. This can help readers navigate through pieces of content. It’s especially user-friendly to mobile visitors who are scrolling through your website on tiny screens.
That way, they can find what they’re looking for on your website without zooming and searching.
How your fonts look on mobile versus desktop devices matters as well. Make sure to test your minimalist web design on different screens. That way, you can determine whether or not a specific font is too difficult to read.
Change up a single font by trying different line heights, colors, positions, alignments, and text sizes.
Explore some of these font options to get started with your search.
More About Mobile
Google now prioritizes mobile-optimized websites when determining search engine rankings. That means it can make or break where you show on Google search when someone looks for your product or service.
With a mobile-optimized website, you can rank at the top of the page.
Minimalist web design also cuts back the overbearing design elements that can slow down your website. Since website speed can impact your ranking too, using these tips can help you rank higher than ever.
In other words, high above the competition!
5. Don’t Be Extra
Animations are cute and fun. Videos are an effective marketing strategy, too. However, weighing down your website with these elements can slow everything down.
Minimalistic web design cuts these extras out.
That way, you can improve website speed and get your focus back where it belongs—on your customers.
Instead of distracting bells and whistles, focus on showing customers the value your company has to offer. You can accomplish this with strong, concise copywriting and relevant imagery.
Show customers what you can do—and how you can do it better than anyone else.
If you can prove you’re the best in the business with strong content and a clean website, you won’t need all those extra bits, anyway.
Change It Up
If your webpage looks a little bland, change up how you organize your content.
For example, you can use intuitive grids to divide information on the page. These grids are easy for website visitors to use. It makes navigating through on-page content a little more fun, too.
Disclosure techniques also help you navigate web users by hiding your content until it’s needed.
That way, you’re giving visitors a little something extra—without being extra.
6. Insist on Imagery
A picture’s worth a thousand words, right? With minimalistic web design, you can let those photos speak up. Then, those “thousand words” can become “a thousand and one” conversions.
Choose images that make an impact. Bland stock images will just bore your visitors.
At this point, they’ll probably recognize the stock images, too.
Keep your website up-to-date with new images that are relevant to the times. That way, you’re speaking to customers now (not ones from before the time of Snapchat and Facebook).
Your images should focus on your product, service, or overall business.
That way, they’re relevant to your company and have a purpose on the page.
7. Tiny Details
With minimalist web design, you can make a big impact using the smallest things.
Focus on those tiny details. Add elements to your webpage that have a purpose and stand out. This can include geometrics, tiny animations, grids, or color schemes.
Each element can help attract readers to specific points of the page.
Since these elements each have a purpose, they’re working to increase conversions, too!
Mini But Mighty: 7 Tips for Minimalist Web Design
With this list of seven tips for minimalist web design, you can get your company up-to-date with the latest trends. These tips can help you make it easier for potential customers to explore your website, find what they’re looking for, and make a purchase.
With more consumers looking for ease-of-use, your website is falling behind otherwise.
Don’t miss out on potential sales. Get started on improving your website with minimalist web design today!