Once at the height of fashion, these 5 web design trends are now more common than Vodafone call drop-outs.
It’s not that they don’t look good. They’ve simply been overused. Your site will look like millions of others, and you’ll come across as unoriginal.
Check out these five web design trends that belong firmly in 2010.
1. Coffee cup stains
Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos
I get coffee is trendy; I’m partial to a nice cappuccino myself. And doing business over coffee beats the boardroom any day.
But unless your business has anything to do with coffee, steer clear of the coffee-stained paper and the coffee cup.
Promise me.
2. Paper backgrounds
Paper backgrounds, whether lined or textured, give your site an almost nostalgic feel.
But they’re everywhere.
What’s even worse is when the paper background image is tiled and the pattern doesn’t match up. (Don’t even start on the wood-grain.)
Even if I were a stationer, I’d think twice about using this style of background, it’s just that common.
3. Reflections
Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos
Simple designs lend themselves to reflections. And while simple designs can never be off-trend, reflections can. And are.
4. Polaroid pictures
Particularly the ones with sticky tape. It really has been done to death.
Look, done well, they do look good. Is it enough reason to use this style of image? Unless your business has anything to do with Polaroids, no.
Rightly or wrongly, your site – and business – will come across as same old, same old.
5. Stock images of strangers pretending to be you and your team
The smiling, skinny suits sitting around the boardroom. The handshake. The attractive female with the headset. The Mac and coffee cup (again). It’s all very corporate-like, isn’t it?
Let me repeat myself: I don’t care if you’ve a face for radio. A pro photographer will make you look attractive. Yes, attractive. I’m not talking about physical beauty; I’m talking about looking intriguing. Approachable. Even sophisticated. Remember, you’re there to attract business.
Nice ones Amanda, thanks for doing this, you rock!
I’m starting to feel like gradients and shadows are getting old.
There are certainly cases where they are very light accents and add to the overall composition but they have been over done…
… sort of like Lady Gaga!
ps: contrast on comment box is too low and makes it hard to read (chrome osx).
How about those 3D white figures that do everything from point to hold up arrows randomly to looking impressived at a graph. They’re EVERYWHERE.
Miro: thanks for your lovely comment.
Agreed: gradients are starting to get a little old. I’ve found, however, that many are done quite badly. I’d rather see no gradient than one badly done!
And thanks for the tip on the contrast. I’ll have this looked into and changed. YOU rock.
Jo: YES. They’re everywhere, aren’t they? You’ll often spot these creatures in PowerPoint presentations, too. Gah.
I am sooooooo with you on the stock photos, Amanda. I have written an article about it too. I see the same models in the same stock photos on so many websites. Give me the real ‘face’ of a business any day.
Thanks for your thoughts, Lucinda.
It reminds me a little of property styling; every open for inspection has the same furniture, giving the home no soul – the last thing you want for your home or your website.
That ‘sketchy’ display font style which looks like the outline of a bold slab serif (e.g. Rockwell), filled in with scribble. This and all of the examples you mentioned have “Me Too!” written all over them.
Cute post, but the examples aren’t trends from 2010 – they’ve all been done for years and years. More like trends from the early 2000s. Maybe you mean they should stay in the previous decade?
Hey Amanda, that article gave me so many LOLs!
I have to say I love a lot of these styles (when they are done well) but its true that they are overdone.
Now I might have to come up with something original though – gah!
~mo~
The first four are not that offensive to me. Stock images (and not only smiling ‘staff members’, but also all the happy young couples) are by far the most offensive; the clear winner here being the presumably quite busy lady who put on a set of headphones in 2005 and subsequently managed to get herself a job with more than 25,000 different businesses. Eclipsing even over-used stock images though, are the dodgy begging attempts by a huge number of websites to follow them on twitter or join their facebook page. And why would I want to do that? “Well… because it’s all about social media these days! It kinda makes us look good having more members. Uh, well I dunno, we had a guest social media expert come into the office once and he told us it’s all about social media, so we thought we’d paste lots of desperate twitter and facebook icons all over our site. We’re all super-modern here.”
Perhaps the problem is just grumpy me. I can see how social media can be useful to both businesses and consumers, but the vast majority of businesses seem to have a social media element simply because ‘everyone’s doing it’, rather than thinking about how they can actually use these tools to everyone’s benefit.
You ave given some classic examples of trends which really are lucky even making it to 2010.
I think the execution of these trends makes or breaks them, a connected problem is the lack of imagination and copying of a trend which really kills their usage/appeal.