The footer is another part of website design which usually goes unnoticed but it can be just as effective as a header to the viewer of your site. A footer is a very important part of your website containing all the vital information contained on the site, including sitemaps, Social Media, contact information and more. The footer is the last place your viewer will look when browsing your site so use it to make a lasting impression rather than a boring uninteresting section to find what you need.
Give it the wow factor.
There are so many ways to make your footer more exciting. Why not add a ‘back to top’ button if you have a long site, or make your footer sitemap stand out like your navigation? Doing this reduces scrolling and makes browsing more efficient for your user. Another option is to add in some form of Social Media, aggregate your latest tweet or post, encourage your viewer to join you on Facebook or Twitter or simply add in a mini contact form. Adding these elements gives you a great chance to inject some illustration and colour to your footer design without taking away it’s importance.
A fantastic way to make your footer more interesting is to animate it or add in some functionality. Make the user work with your footer design. By having moving elements the users eye will be drawn to the area and it can be guaranteed not to be missed. Keep it simple but interesting, so it distracts, but not from the content.
Another way to make your footer stand out is to make it contrast to the rest of your web page, you could do this by adding illustration, pattern or change the colour to your web page. Making it appear to be a separate section to the rest of your site will give it importance and encourage your viewer to take a better look. Lastly, if you have a small website, a sticky (or jQuery) footer is a great option to make sure it stays at the bottom of your site on larger screen sizes. Here is a good example.
Inspiration
I’ve gathered together a few sites which have fantastic interesting and engaging footers. For more inspiring designs visit Footerama.
zizzi's
The Pixel
Poogans Porch
Organic Supermarket
Mum Made
More?
I’ve selected a small selections of designs I like. Zizzis has some nice functionality which keeps the user engaged in that area of the site and The Pixel has some fantastic illustrations. Mum Made and Organic Supermarket are great examples of making your footer stand out and lastly, Poogans Porch is simple but stylish and effective in reflecting the sites design. If you know of any other footer designs worth mentioning we would love to hear more.
