Reactive Graphics recently completed a web design and branding project for Socii Capital. Socii Capital is a venture capital firm investing in next generation digital infrastructure companies. Since 2017, they operationally and financially support, at earlier stage, world class entrepreneurs, who are obsessed with continuously enhancing product value through technology.

We worked with Socci to design a one page website. The goal was to create a website that is strong and punchy to set them apart. We choose a minimalist approach with black & white colour scheme that looks clean thanks to its minimal text. The simple combination of black & white is concise and direct. Black websites also convey professionalism, elegance and authority.

Since Socci Capital is a dark web design with minimal content we decided to use an interactive visual component on the splash page that moves with your mouse. This interactive element transforms a static and forgettable page into something that captures the imagination of users and holds their attention.

If you want to build a website for your company then Reactive Graphics can help.
Get in touch with us today to see how we can get your project off the ground!
To take a look at how Reactive Graphics have transformed the websites of similar financial organisations,  please take a look at our our portfolio of work here.

Looking for a new web design?

Here are 8 aspects that have changed web design over the years.

Broadband and internet speed

Every year, more and more people gain access to the internet. There are approximately 5.07 billion people around the world using the internet today. With such a massive increase in online traffic, website speed has become essential. Website speed, or website performance, refers to how quickly a browser can load a fully functional webpage from a given site. Broadband has revolutionised connection speeds, cutting file transfer times, and making image-heavy web-pages and video backgrounds relatively quick and easy to load. Internet users are highly impatient and will leave a website within a few seconds if it’s not loading fast enough. In fact, 40% of desktop users will leave if a site takes more than three seconds to load. That number increases to 53% when you ask mobile users.

Minimalism

Flat website design is a significant trend of the last decade. It uses simple colours, shapes, and 2D elements. The minimalist look doesn’t utilise heavier ingredients and textures. The design of a website should be extremely simple and convenient. Web designers should make sure that the written content is no more than necessary and is easy to understand. Lots of whitespace, smart and clean use of fonts, carefully positioned minimalist imagery are the main parts of this trend. This also includes (usually) white backgrounds and spacious layouts. Using light backgrounds means that experimenting with typography and somewhat colourful and bold colour palettes can be very rewarding.

Animation

Importance of UX and design

UX design is the overall experience that a visitor has while visiting a website. In today’s world people demand an easy, efficient, and fast user experience. Proper understanding of users makes it simpler to convert them into loyal customers. A high-quality UX can engage users more, lend more credibility to the brand, and earn the trust of users. UX design works to focus on the user or customer to really understand their habits, needs, behaviours, motivations, and emotions. Designers are adapting themselves to the user’s personal needs, and trying to communicate on a personal level that respects the user while producing an emotional feeling.

Responsively designed websites

Another significant change in website design is the shift towards a mobile-first approach. These days people spend far more time browsing the internet on their phones. Mobile internet usage surpassed desktops in 2016, boosting the importance of web development that encourages a mobile-friendly web design. As there are space restrictions on smaller screens, web designers must ensure that the most critical elements are prominently displayed since those are the ones users will actively look for. Intuitive navigation is important when it comes to delivering a neat and clean user experience on mobile devices as it helps users to find the necessary information easily. Nowadays, a good website design should work well on many devices such as mobiles, laptops, and desktops.

Single colour background

Today, backgrounds are one of the core features that determine how visually interesting a website is. The background holds the theme of the website, and there are vast amounts of possibilities when designing a website background. Solid colour background is an excellent match for those websites that are obsessed with detailed or busy interfaces. Also, it’s one of the main components of minimal style, which we have already mentioned in this article, with web design trends leaning more towards minimalism over the past few years.

Video background

The technology that powers sites has improved, making background videos easier to use. Website video backgrounds can help a business to stand out and increase time on site when used correctly. In the web development industry, large video backgrounds are considered one of the most engaging ways to portray a company’s vision, mission and capabilities. Videos can tell the story of the business and every business has a story that can be told. Using movement to draw attention pays big in marketing and advertising efforts, for example, in a recent case study from Intel, moving signage attracted 400% more views than traditional signage.

Digital marketing

The impact of web design on the entire digital marketing strategy is huge. A website is essential to accomplish different objectives in today’s digital world, including communication, marketing and promotional objectives to help company’s business grow. From website user experience to branding, SEO and social media outreach, web design plays a vital role in how a brand is perceived. A business website is now the common and primary point of contact for customers. It showcases business professionalism and demonstrates expertise and market reputation. It is precisely because of this that website design is so crucial for any digital marketing plan.

However, there are many more aspects not covered here that need to be considered. If you would like professional assistance for a smoother, less stressful web design process, Reactive Graphics are here to help. Get in touch with us today to find out more.

Web design trends are constantly changing, and the best way to improve your web design in 2021 is being aware of some of them. Allowing your web design to be open for criticism paves the way for you, the business owner to be open to make tweaks that could propel your web design forward this year.

User experience is a vital part of gaining and retaining the attention of your web design users.

Successful user experience can be characterised by the amount of time it takes for a user’s needs to be met. This is anything from finding contact information to general enquiries that a user performs on your site.

Step 2: How easy is it to navigate throughout your web design?

Swift navigation allows your users to explore your website pages with ease. Poor navigation tells users that you’re not quite clear on where you want users to go throughout your site! In other words, user experience is adversely affected when information is hard to find, so making it simple can be really effective.

Imagery

Imagery and photography can provide a stunning visual aid for web design users. As photography and imagery often says more than words, at Reactive Graphics, we feel it’s important to use them wisely.

Colour

Whether you’re looking at your minimal web design, with limited colour experimentation or you’re working with a website that finds itself saturated in colour and text, critiquing your web design’s colour palette is a great way to cement brand identity.

Typography provides information but the general ‘mood’ of your web design. When it comes to improving your web design, we feel it shouldn’t be overlooked. Sometimes imagery doesn’t lend itself to typography, which is why selecting a new font might be an option. In this step, we encourage you to explore our blog post: Why choosing the right typography for your web design actually matters. 

As award-winning tidying up expert Marie Kondo would famously tells her clients: ‘remove things in your life that don’t spark joy’. If a blog post from 2016 is in no way benefitting your current users of your web design, maybe it’s time to simply let it go.

But of course, not everything on your web design may ‘spark joy’. In terms of keeping your website relevant to users in 2021, critiquing your social media is a good start.

Using relevant information that will not seem dull or dated in any way will furthermore improve other elements too.

Examining your pre-existing brand identity is a great way to evaluate the success and versatility of your web design.

Page views and Impressions

It’s a controversial one, but sometimes checking user interaction can help you identify strengths and weaknesses of your web design.

Removing elements that users aren’t engaging with can prioritise other information, and is more likely to meet the demands of your audience.

Introduction of new features

Out with the old and in with the new. New elements such as blogs and social media pages allow your web design to promote where your business is TODAY.

Showcasing client feedback is also a fantastic way of modernising your web design. We live in an era of checking the reviews before watching films and eating out at fancy restaurants. Treat your web design by filling it with positive testimonials too!

From optimising images to fixing JavaScript issues, loading speeds are an important thing to think about too.

To conclude:

It’s the end of January – a time to reflect! With web designers and creatives examining the strengths and weaknesses of their process, we hope that you may take a couple of these steps forward in your own web design endeavours!