“Less is More” Says Webnode Web Designer

February 22nd, 2013

We had a talk about the newest trends in web design and templates with Webnode’s head graphic designer Martin Kleban. Having joined our team almost a year ago, in that short time he extended the selection of our templates. From his workshop, Photolia and Serious templates have emerged. So what other templates are being designed backstage?

Martin, how many new templates can we look forward to this year?

This year we plan to intensify work on templates and the result should be about 25 new sets of templates. Not only I but also external designers work on their design.

Can you give us some details? What will the new templates look like? Can we expect some more slideshow templates?

There will certainly be more templates with slideshows, as well as templates with large images in the background, new fonts, different animations, effects, and much more. I think they are definitely something to look forward to.

How long does it take to create a template for Webnode?

The graphic designing takes about 1 week, then all other details such as coding, testing and deployment is about 2-4 weeks. It depends a lot on the complexity of the template.

Which Webnode template do you currently like the most?

I think it will be one of the ones we are planning to make this year. :)

What direction is today’s design taking? What is “in”?

One of the biggest trends lately is responsive web design. This design is optimized for different kinds of devices, especially computers, tablets and mobile phones. It’s also one of the things that we are planning to apply to the new Webnode templates.

Interesting! And what about the colors? Which are the ones in style?

I haven’t noticed that certain colors significantly dominate in web design. Trends apply more to approaches to the design process than a specific color. Currently minimalism and creative typography are very popular.

On the contrary, what do you think is out-of-date?

With the advent of HTML5 and CSS3, my answer would be Flash for creating animations and interactive websites.

Can you see different trends in various parts of the world? Webnode is now localized in 20 languages. Do you have to localize the template?

There are large differences in the perception of web design between Western and Asian countries. This is related mainly to another mentality and culture of the population. The Webnode templates are currently not localized, the design for Asia is the same design for Europe. Only content text is different.

What does this mean for our users from Asia? Should they be concerned to use our template?

They certainly don’t need to worry, as Webnode already has many successful Asian sites.

What recommendations do you have for our users in designing their websites?

Users can affect the overall look of the website with texts and images placed on the site. I think it’s important to not overdo it with the amount of content, less is more. :)

What do you think are the biggest mistakes made by our users when making websites?

Perhaps what I mentioned in my previous answer, too much content.

How much content is just right?

This is a very good question that everyone who creates a new website should ask themselves. :)

We thank Martin for his time and look forward to all the new templates he promised us! Do you want to design your own website? Try the step-by-step guide.