Think back to high school. Remember those times when you felt lost in the sea of a few hundred or thousand students? Remember trying to find a way to stand out among what felt like so many other teenagers?

The internet is like that, except pretend that your high school had 1.8 billion students instead.

As a web designer, how do you make your site stand out among the 1.8 billion websites that exist? It’s all about using your site design to build a brand that’s solely yours. If you’re struggling, try these website design ideas and trends.

Website Design Ideas to Make Your Site Stand Out

A website has the potential to be a business’ most powerful brand-building asset if you know how to use it. Try these helpful ideas to spark some creativity.

1. Interactive Features

There are some undeniable benefits of getting information online instead of through a printed medium. There’s more information available and it’s easier to find, for starters.

As a medium, though, computers also give you the opportunity to make information interactive. Why not use it?

Interactive features can put your user engagement through the roof. For instance, let’s say you sell automotive parts. You can have interactive breakout models to tell customers about the benefits of each piece in the part.

2. Keeping It Flat

Flat web design is one of the easiest ways to make your site look more modern. It’s the simple idea of getting rid of levels and other ways that mimic a 3D look. Those faux 3D designs were trendy in the early 2000s but now they look dated and dull.

Instead, keep all your buttons and design elements flat. As an added bonus, flat web design allows pages to load faster, giving your users a better experience.

3. Fun Transitions

Sometimes the details make the largest difference in your user experience. One of those details is the way your site changes pages.

A fun and simple transition animation serves plenty of purposes. First, you can make it on-brand so it further implants your brand into your users’ minds.

Second, it takes attention away from pages that are loading slowly. When a user makes a click and doesn’t see evidence that the site is working on their request, they get frustrated and leave. Your transitional animation will let them know that you’re granting their wish.

4. Broken Grids

Back in the day, web design was all about grid layouts. Designers had to stick to an imaginary grid that made each design symmetrical. That may have been the best practice at the time, but those days are gone.

Today, websites are seen as the art forms they are. Users are attracted by more unique designs, and the first step to creating your own is getting rid of the grid.

Make shapes and text overlap. Be asymmetrical. Use non-grid placement to direct a user’s eye in a certain direction. Overall, unleash your creative side on the screen.

5. Video Backgrounds

One of the easiest ways to make your home page brand-specific is to use a video as a background. Your video can take up space above the fold or the background for the entire home page.

It should be a simple video and not one that tries to convey real information. Instead, make it a branding piece that shows your employees, your office, or an animation that helps to portray your brand.

Of course, it wouldn’t be web design if there weren’t rules. It’s crucial that your video doesn’t slow your site’s loading time too much. Over half of users will leave if your site doesn’t load in three seconds. No video is worth losing half of your traffic.

6. Minimalist Design

It’s easy to let your creative brain get the best of your and add design element after design element. Before long, your site looks like a digital junk drawer. That’s a great way to make users feel overwhelmed and make your site look dated.

Instead, take a page from Google’s playbook and use negative space to your advantage. A minimalist design gives your site a modern feel. It also helps you keep the user’s attention where you want it to be instead of hopping around the whole page.

You can take minimalism further than you think with tactics like swapping a navigation bar for a hamburger menu. Of course, make sure you don’t sacrifice your UX in the process.

7. Color Play

When it comes to branding, colors speak volumes. Is your company youthful and vibrant like a bright yellow? Perhaps you’re more about classic professionalism like a proud navy blue.

In today’s websites, your brand colors should be prominent parts of your design. Use them to create a mood from the get-go, especially with minimalist designs. If your background is bright pink, you don’t need your copy to tell users that you’re a fun-focused brand.

8. Fun with Typefaces

There are two types of people in the world: those who could spend hours font shopping and those who pick Times New Roman and call it a day.

The truth is that your website’s typography is a valuable brand building tool. Your fonts need to complement your site’s design while contributing to the vibe you want to portray. Sometimes a font alone can inspire your whole web design.

Does this mean, “the more fonts you have, the better?” No. A thousand times no.

Choose one or two readable and on-brand fonts and stick with them. For instance, choose a unique font for your headers and a more straightforward one for the rest of your web content.

Putting the Pieces Together

As you design your website, let’s call it what it is: a work of art. A website needs to make users feel a certain way, provide valuable information, and serve as a point of contact. It needs to do all this while standing out from the crowd.

The website design ideas above can inspire your website design and help you craft the perfect site for your brand. For more pro tips to help you along the way, check out our website development blog.