Engineering Website Trends
Even though the internet is forever changing, especially as technology advances, similar websites appear to contain certain trends. Websites within the same industry share similar design and functionality styles, such as about pages and original photography. Let’s take a look at six trends reoccurring amongst engineering websites:
1. Introductory Slideshow
Many engineering websites invited visitors into their website with an introductory slideshow. Engineering companies are using introductory slideshows to display their completed projects. People want to see examples of an engineering company’s work to get a better feel of the capabilities and past experience. Most engineering websites opened with a picture slideshow, however, a few chose to use videos instead. Either way, a slideshow was the featured design element reoccurring on homepages.
2. Individual Service Pages
Engineering websites seem to subdivide their service pages into specific subcategories of work, such as surveying, construction, transportation, fabrication and environmental. However, there seemed to be no trend for a specific set of services, it depended on each engineering company and which services they provide, as well as what their specialities consisted of. Some engineering websites went even further by listing their specialties under every service. Visitors find this feature accommodating because it gives them an opportunity to continue exploring the engineering company without having to go back to the navigation bar.
3. Experience/Capabilities
Experiences and capabilities essentially mean a portfolio, or a display of your completed projects. Potential customers want to see examples of your integrity, reliability, soundness and validity. Share your talents with the rest of the online community by creating a portfolio page with a gallery, slideshow, or slider. Wikia distinguishes the three: “a gallery will display a set of photos or videos in an organized, tiled view. A slideshow will display a single photo field, but it will automatically rotate through a series of photos, with left/right navigation buttons.’ However, Wikia states, “a slider is like a slideshow, but larger with prominent link titles and icons for browsing. This is often used for a community’s main page.”
4. Blue Color Scheme
One specific color seems to be on repeat for engineering websites – blue. Today, popular designs consist of a simple and clean look with a company color. One thing all well design sites share in similarity is a complimentary color palette to the company’s brand. Most engineering companies select a color to match their logo and choose a navigation bar to supplement it. The bright and dark colors go together by highlighting content and creating interest. Dark red and maroon colors seem to be another popular trend in the industry.
5. Career Services
One notable trend amongst engineering websites was a careers page. Every careers page viewed essentially listed job opportunities available within the company. Most of the engineering companies list qualifications and requirements as well as a way to apply, either with an online application or a contact button. I found this peculiar since it is rather unusual for trades company websites to provide such information. However, this is one way to look for applicants – display it on your website! I bet it is a load off of the human resources division…
6. Fixed Background Photo
A fixed background of a photograph popped up on several engineering websites. What I mean by a fixed background is a photograph enlarged greatly to fill the entire web page, then placed in the back, behind all of the content to create a background. Usually this type of background remains the same, never changing on the page or throughout the site, creating a “fix.” Most of the engineering websites with fixed backgrounds chose to use an original photograph of their company at work on a job site. However, two engineering companies chose blueprint scrolls instead.
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We have written more on this subject; please visit the Best Engineering Website Designs blog for five examples and the Engineering Website Must Haves blog for seven specific elements needed on every engineering website.