Types of Banners in UI Design

If we were to take a walk down a crowded area of a city, we would immediately be met by countless displays of flashing billboards and contrasting posters. In the digital and web design world, UI banners serve the same purpose. The process of crafting a design banner can become quite arduous in the absence of clear goals and guidelines. 

Every UI UX designer knows that the design of a website would be incomplete without the addition of banners. These come in different sizes and serve various purposes. Even though there are many types of banners, the easiest way to differentiate them is by whether they are actionable or informational. These two categories refer to the main purpose of a banner. Each category can be further detailed based on their goals and traits. 

1. Actionable

As interactive UI elements, design banners demand users to perform an action in relation to them. They usually appear in the form of a notification and are presented in a disruptive manner. Because they require users to manually dismiss them, these banners increase the chances of the viewer actually taking their time to read the banner. It is highly important when to trigger banners so that we do not completely hinder our user’s activity. Actionable banners can also be split into subcategories. 

• Time-based

You must have stumbled at least once over phrases such as "Limited offer. Hurry up! Shop now!" while browsing a page. These types of design banners are centered around the concept of a limited time frame. The logic behind them is that they make users feel like their immediate reactions are required. If they do not hurry up, a potentially great offer might expire. Gambling on these feelings can often be a successful marketing strategy. 

• Sign Up Persuasions

Because the process of signing up for a new platform or web design requires users to provide their personal data, we should usually strive to provide them with benefits for doing this. These UI banners have a transactional value - our users entrust us with their data and we reward them for this. A popular example would be to grant our users who choose to sign up for a seven-day free trial for the website. After we collect useful information from our visitors, we will be able to display other banners to them that are tailored to their liking. 

• Offer-based

In the case of ad banners, we as UI UX designers, can utilize an offer-based type of persuasion. Let’s say we have a clothing website. In order to attract more customers, we could implement an offer-based banner that lets them know about a 20% discount if they make purchases over a certain amount of money. There are various interesting ways to pitch ads through offers, whether we are talking about promotions or bonus points for our business. 

• Inspiration-based

Compared to the other design types of actionable banners, these shift their focus to more niche interests of users. We can observe just how important knowing your target audience is when it comes to designing inspiration-based banners. The strategy here is to pitch an idea to your users that closely relates to their hobbies and interests. 

For example, if your users are passionate about true crime, you could implement a banner that invites them to download a mystery type of game that involves solving murder cases. The fun part is that we as UI UX designers,  can apply this to any subject matter as long as we are creative enough. 

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2. Informational

The second category of UI design banners is created with the goal of providing some type of information to users. One of the most common informational banners is the one that offers updates to you on the state of your progress on a page or web design. Also known as status-based banners, they will provide feedback about various processes. 

Some more frequently used informational banners in web design are the ones that signal to users that an error has occurred. Warnings are also commonly displayed in the form of banners, as well as ones that indicate that the user has performed a positive action. The latter category is meant to motivate users to carry on what they were doing.

1. Banner Ads

Now that we have briefly described the types and forms a banner can take, let’s draw our attention to one of the most important and commonly used subcategories of banners: the advertising banner. It is important that every UI UX designer is familiar with these as they are one of the easiest means used for selling products and services. Advertising banners can generate brand and business visibility and awareness. Before we decide what type of ad to implement on our website or web design, we should understand that there are different categories with distinct uses.

• Static Banners

A very simple option, these banners only contain static visuals that are usually not too complicated in nature. Static UI design banners are more suitable for websites that don’t get a lot of traffic. The main advantage to them is that they keep a minimalist design that does not overcrowd a page.

• Animated Banners

These banners are more complex in nature than the previous ones. Besides moving imagery, they can also be accompanied by audio. If a picture paints a thousand words, imagine what animation can do! UI UX designers can craft interesting stories through these banners and compile a lot more information without requiring our users to read written content. We would use them in websites and web designs that have higher traffic. The primary benefit of them is that they convey a lot of information in a short amount of time, while also catching the eye of visitors.

• Interactive Banners

Through their engaging features, they turn users from merely passive consumers into active participants in the digital processes. Visitors interact with the banner either by clicking different things, or by joining a game-like activity. We should use these banners if we want to establish a more close-knit relationship with our users. 

• Rich Media Banners

The parent of all advertising UI design banners, the rich media type encompasses features from each previous category we have mentioned. It can contain all the elements a banner can have, from imagery, video, GIFs, and audio to 360-degree photos. Although they are arguably the most eye-catching, they are also the most intricate and expensive banners a page can have. 

2. Notification Banners

When it comes to using mobile phones, the most common banners we will encounter, besides ad-related ones, are notifications. We consider a notification banner to be the message that first pops up at the top of our phone screens. The second time we view that notification it will no longer be considered a banner, but rather a part of the notification center.Remember that banners involve first impressions! That makes it logical for a notification to be viewed as a banner only the first time it is displayed to the user. 

We at uinkits understand the importance of great user experiences and creating amazing UI designs. That’s why we’ve developed a Figma UI Kit with design components that include these essential UI elements that enable you to design intuitive and user-friendly interfaces effortlessly.  

“You press the button, we do the rest,” – Kodak.

Inspired by this iconic tagline from Kodak, we believe in simplifying the design process for you. Our Figma UI Kit, uinkits, is a complete design system with UI components that allows you, as a UI UX designer, to create your products as quickly as pressing a button.

Our design system includes components, icons, variables, cards, buttons, and everything you need for your design process. All you have to do is take your UI design component needed, and you’re ready to use it in your designs!