That’s why I was delighted to read a couple of posts relating to web design trends on Mashable and I thought I’d quickly summarise the ones I agreed with here as, although I work in our search engine optimisation team, the ultimate goal for SEOs and web designers alike is conversion, be that into enquiries or sales, and these will all go towards improving those all important conversion rates.

These are the trends Mashable has seen occurring in 2010 that will no doubt become even more important going into 2011 and beyond.

Flash, Bang, Wallop!

Don’t get me wrong, Flash is a fantastic tool for fully interactive sites and applications and can still be used in certain circumstances but as Mashable point out, more and more web designers and developers are moving away from it for on-page video, animation and navigation.

The reason is simple – as the web continues to go mobile, Flash isn’t moving with it. It doesn’t work on the majority of mobile devices and smartphones and on those it supposedly does, it is rarely perfect. HTML 5, CSS3 and Javascript are better options.

The Fluid site often features Flash on its homepage and we’ve seen how bad that can look on mobile devices.

That’s why we have an iPhone optimised version of the site (go and check it out, it’s very nice!).

When you throw in the introduction of Google Instant Preview, which adds screenshots to the search results, and its own inability to display Flash it just makes more sense to move away from it.

Mobile Sites & Smartphone Apps

As previously mentioned, crafting a mobile version of a website is becoming more and more popular. It makes perfect sense to do so too, as mobile traffic is increasing exponentially. There is nothing more frustrating as a customer than visiting a site on your mobile phone and not being able to use it / read it / navigate it.

Creating a small screen friendly site in addition to the browser version will ensure a business doesn’t miss out on mobile traffic and, potentially, sales.

Those with the budget could go one step further and create apps for the iPhone, Blackberry and Android phone users. Mobile traffic is only going to increase so taking advantage of it through web design and app development is logical.

Photography

We’ve all seen the use of generic images like the call centre girl used on websites the world over – to the point of boredom. Spending some cash on photography and artwork will ensure a website is unique in its niche and allow it to convey the character of the company it represents.

However, not all budgets will stretch to this and the far more affordable stock photography is the only avenue open. That doesn’t mean a website has to end up looking like every other one, though. Imaginitive selection and use of stock images can give that unique feel without the cost of commissioned photography. Mashable recommends:

Research your competitors and industry and take note of the images used. You can then find a unique way to represent your product or service.

Avoid being too literal in your choice of imagery as abstract compositions often give a more dramatic and memorable effect.

Don’t always opt for the cheaper low-res image, as pixelated imagery devalues your overall design and looks unprofessional.

Veer away from the bland and predictable and let the images ‘break out of the box’.

Good advice.

Minimalism & Bold Typography

Take a look at some of the most successful sites these days and it’s clear which way web design is going in terms of layout, construction and font choice. First off, most sites these days have dispensed with unnecessary widgets, plug-ins and features that bring nothing to the visitor but perhaps once used to make the website owner feel they were ‘cool’.

There are a number of reasons for this, not least conversion – widgets that have no purpose merely distract the visitor, taking their attention away from the message the site is trying to get across. But page weight (the size of a web page in kilobytes) is now a factor in search engine ranking, so that too is being considered by SEO savvy companies.

That’s one kind of minimalism, the other is the liberal use of whitespace (it doesn’t have to actually be white, of course!). Uncluttered, product and / or service focused designs are the way many companies are going and you can see why. Coupled with strong, bold typography and stunning images and artwork, a generous amount of whitespace keeps a vistor’s eye trained on where it should be and not wandering off elsewhere. Here’s a brilliant example:

They are Sofa. They make software and do design. That is all. Brilliant.

HTML5 & CSS3

They may not be web standards just yet but they will be and with all the major browsers now compatible with them, there’s no excuse not to start designing and developing websites using HTML5 and CSS3 features now. Even better, those mobile devices I talked about earlier all support the new features too, so there’s no need to worry about  compatibility there either.

I wouldn’t advocate going all out on these just yet, but a bit of experimentation won’t cause problems and why not start learning now in advance of HTML5 and CSS3 full adoption?

Conclusion

So there you have it – reduced use of Flash, increased smartphone compatibility, unique and inventive use of photography and artwork, clean, low page weight but bold designs and early but cautious adoption of up and coming web standards are the present and the future, at least for 2011.

HUGE credit to Mashable for the inspiration and information for this post. What web design trends have you been tracking and adopting?

Following on from the success of the 2010 Desktop Calendar that we created for our fans to download at the beginning of the year, we decided to add another masterpiece to the collection…. we may even release a new one every month if they carry on being in high demand as they have been.

To download, click on the image above or the link below, the choice is yours!
http://artwork.fluidcreativity.co.uk/downloads/fluid2010FEB.zip