“Bad” design is a pretty subjective opinion. BUT if something is giving users a less than desirable experience, we are happy to be the ones to call it bad. Here are 5 popular UX trends that should be reconsidered:

1. Pop-Ups: Either use very sparingly or not at all. Pop-ups are great for urgent CTAs, but can also give users a negative experience of being interruptive. Try to integrate CTAs more into pages or with sliding bars instead.
2. Auto-Play Videos: Have you ever been minding your own business browsing a site then suddenly you have audio playing from your tab and you can’t understand where it came from? No one likes auto-play with sound.
3. The Flash Intro: Much like an auto-play video, flash intros are not worth it and will likely make a user bounce.
4. Stock Photos: It’s got to be real! Users can sniff out overused stock. While it’s fine to use them here and there, you are better off investing in your brand’s own, authentic photography.
5. Bad Parallax Scrolling: We’re not saying kill parallax…but use it sparingly. It slows down your site, isn’t mobile-friendly, and can make your users a little dizzy if it’s too drastic.

We’re not all bad news bears here. Here are 3 simple UX trends to check out:

1. Bold Color and More White Space: C’mon it’s the internet. Play with some more vivid color schemes to catch a user’s eye. Counter it with plenty of white space to breathe instead of overstuffing pages with content.
2. Illustrations: If you can, get custom illustrations for your brand to bring your site unique life. It creates a more memorable user experience, too.
3. Accessibility: This isn’t a trend, just a reminder that accessibility is a must. Not only is it more inclusive, but it also improves UX for everyone with better visibility, reading, and navigation.

Check out Lounge Lizard’s full post for more design details!

Don’t make your charts boring. Add some life and interaction to your data using Highcharts. It’s an advanced library of charts so that includes all your essential chart types: line, bar, area, column, advanced, and more. You can create immersive data experiences for your site and presentations. Make that data sparkle!

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Modibodi is a company that specializes in period and absorbant apparel. Their ad gets candid about women’s bodies at any point in their lives. The ad focuses on the different ways women manage their periods or post-baby needs. It’s a great example of brands keeping it real for their audience.

They keep it so real we just wanna give a heads up that there is no weird, blue demonstration liquid used here –– it’s red.