It’s natural for consumers to be curious about what’s going on behind the scenes of the internet machine, especially these days where data breaches, violations of user privacy, and social media infiltration campaigns are daily news.

We’re being bombarded by news reports detailing how websites, government agencies, and mega-corporations are buying and selling our personal information and leveraging what they find to push their own agendas.

There’s a lot for users to be worried about. And to make matters worse, even seemingly-innocent design choices are beginning to take their toll.

Once upon a time, the internet was so new that developing a website meant fighting against the constraints of slow load times and limited coding options. In fact, the early days of the internet left us with garish and clunky websites that were far from user-friendly. And the idea of a “beautiful website” was such a limited concept that it is part of the reason that minimalist sites like Google were considered ahead of the curve and intuitive.

Fast forward to 2019 and interaction design is a major focus in the graphic and web design world. It’s so common that even Google leverages the medium throughout its product portfolio and even their Google Doodles. So, how can you capitalize on interaction design to make your website dynamic and appealing?

Steve Jobs once said, “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.” Jobs was a gifted storyteller himself and sold the vision of the future to the modern world of technology users.

There are many areas in which UX design can benefit from effective storytelling, from the visual storytelling that helps graphic designers set up a landing page to the narrative logic that engineers use to create navigable web sites. However, we sometimes overlook a part of the UX design process that can benefit the most from storytelling. It is in the same place Steve Jobs used it when he sold the iPhone to the world – the pitch.

UX design is all about creating a browsing experience that’s simple, efficient, and frictionless for your customers. Every web design choice you make plays into the viewer’s UX, and given how interconnected the principles of web design are, it can be tough to know which changes elicit the most positive response.

Some businesses need a multi-page website because their product or service offerings are so complex, it would be impossible to convey all of that information on one page. But for many businesses, a multi-page website is unnecessary. Whether your business is an app or a small store that only sells one particular product, you might be better served by a one-page website. Still, it’s important to maintain UX and web design best practices so that your website supports your business objectives.

Designing a website around strong SEO principles can be a challenging proposition for a web design team. The nature of SEO, which becomes more effective as the website becomes interlinked, means that each project will have many layers that must be completed by different specialists working together. In addition, a client’s priorities are often evolving as the project is being delivered, making the process even more prone to confusion.

Making a website stand out is an ongoing challenge for web designers. Design trends shift, evolve, and fade away—creating plenty of confusion about which trends actually work and which are remnants of a bygone era. To help clear things up, let’s review a few current web design trends that can help give your site a visual punch.

You don’t need a magic eight-ball to predict the future of web design. Disruptive technologies are already here. With continued advances in the tech that’ already on the market, we can expect major changes in web development. AI-generated websites, conversations with your homepage, and light speed data are on the horizon.

In business, there’s a common saying that data is king. Whether your target audience is business professionals or general consumers, at some point you’ll need to present a message that relies on figures to generate sales or increase market share.

How can you do this effectively? Sure, infographics are a tried and true method. But often, this medium misses the mark because of cluttered designs and irrelevant or unsupported data.

In this scenario, it’s best to stick to a cleanly designed chart. If you’re planning to not just display data on your website, but leverage it to make effective CTAs, you need to focus on maintaining UX principles for a consistent user experience throughout your website.

Web design trends come and go, making their mark on the digital landscape before a newer, more innovative design tactic takes their place. That’s the nature of the web design game.

It’s smart to brush up on web design trends every year and incorporate them where appropriate. It’s also smart to take a look back at what worked, what didn’t, and what trends are best left forgotten.

Are you guilty of trying to keep an outdated web design trend or tactic alive this year? Here are a handful of design trends not worth your time in 2019.