Beautiful website designs are inspiring. Not only are they aesthetically appealing, they work to promote a brand image, motivate customer action or encourage a mindset or philosophy. The best web designs are strikingly different; they’re not surfed, but beheld. No matter how many beautiful websites you’ve seen (or even created), I’m confident you’ll feel a bit of design envy when you see the following 10 websites you wish you had designed.
The Great Discontent
Source: thegreatdiscontent.com
This bold, text-heavy website is made exciting through the use of powerful typography and a large “above the fold” image.
Ryan W. Bock
Source: ryanwbock.com
A creative and unique illustration along with a handwritten font make adds the type of authenticity that leads to customer trust.
The Gadget Flow
Source: thegadgetflow.com
This content-heavy website makes it easy to navigate with big, bright images and plenty of white space.
Yeedor
Source: yeedor.com
This clean, minimalist design makes navigation a snap; the illustrated links make it visually interesting (something that’s lacking in many minimalist designs).
Feel What You Are
Source: feelwhatyouare.com
I love the use of interesting images that excite the mind, and I also love the clean presentation of this website design.
War Child
Source: warchild.org.uk
It’s a grim subject, but this website does an excellent job of gaining attention for it (it doesn’t look like other charity websites you’ve seen, does it?) and for motivating action – check out the donate button.
Don’t Talk To Robots
Source: donttalktorobots.com
Bold, clean typography and abundant white space make it easy to communicate this site’s message. I love the wireframe devices in the portfolio section that showcase site responsiveness.
I shot Him
Source: ishothim.com
This design features an artsy background image with clever use of an illustration in the center; add in an intriguing name, and you can’t help but scroll down to learn more.
Demand Equal Pay
Source: demandequalpay.org.nz
This site incorporates a clever layout to visually represent New Zealand’s gender salary inequalities.
A List Apart
Source: alistapart.com
The semi-transparent navigation overlay draws attention to the title, rather than obscuring it. The site features interesting illustrations, and then relies on white space and typography to make reading super-easy.