During the last few months we have looked at using negative space and minimalist design. Today we bring you 60 of the best-looking minimalistic sites currently on the world wide web. Sit back and get inspired…
Minimal Design
Keeping things simple is the whole purpose of minimal design. Why overcomplicate what's already a very full web with thousands more links and buttons?! In this roundup of images I have chosen 60 examples of clean and minimal designs which inspire me. Every one of these sites has been carefully designed in very different ways.
Some of the sites have gone completely minimal without any effects apart from well laid out content, where as others choose to display the huge amount of content with sliders, drop downs and some very uniquely designed objects.
Minimal design is actually a lot more difficult to achieve than you might think; keeping your designs clean but bursting with important information is a fine balance. To complete the roundup I've listed a couple of tutorials to help you find out more about minimal design.
1. TouchTech
Top feature: I love the color scheme, but the way the circles pop out from the cloud on loading the site is really funky.
2. Weltunit
Top feature: Well displayed products make this site straight to the point.
3. Polar Gold
Top feature: The navigation menu has a funky glow but the best thing is how the skin changes color to match the time of the day.
4. Jason Drakeford
Top feature: The portfolio is well spaced and easy to use.
5. This is display
Top feature: Check out the collections page. Every image has the same careful presentation.
6. Toko
Top feature: The accordion on each of the images is actually great fun to play with!
7. Ki Mag
Top feature: Very minimal design makes the site really easy to navigate.
8. Christopher Meeks
Top feature: The centre cube controls the content in a very stylish way.
9. Leica camera US
Top feature: The products are well spaced out without too much text
10. Mankind
Top feature:The rollover on the images drops down to provide more details.
11. Established and Sons
Top feature: Offers a flash site and an HTML version for iPhone/IPad users
12. Mazarine
Top feature: Just simply scrolling through the vast portfolio.
13. Hinterland
Top feature: The navigation is bold and beautiful stretching across the whole screen.
14. The Pool
Top feature: Easy of use. The site displays everything very clearly.
15. Tobias Bjerrome Ahlin
Top feature: The categories slider is smooth and doesn't jump like many others.
16. Shout
Top feature: The animated blimp in the middle of the site is pretty hard to miss. All the vector graphics are animated on every page to add to the pleasure of viewing the site.
17. Purity
Top feature: The interaction with the images.
18. Temptation
Top feature: The grid background just makes everything look slightly more technical.
19. Sugarrush
Top feature: The eye grabbing graphics on the home page.
20. Giant Ant Media
Top feature: The integration of the vimeo slider adds to the clean look of the page. A much better choice than youtube.
21. Cage App
Top feature: Easy to understand product due to numbered steps.
22. MMMinimal
Top feature: The navigation between two portfolios is made very easy by two well place arrows.
23. Get Finch
Top feature: Eye grabbing fonts and different text styles make this website stand out above others. However the different styles are carefully placed and don't clash with each other.
24. David Hutton
Top feature: Clean portfolio, easy to change between products.
25. Nick Harrison
Top feature: Packed full of content but displayed clearly and without being in your face.
26. madebyon
Top feature: The blog icons change based on the media posted.
27. Balher
Top feature: The typography placed slap bang in the middle of the page.
28. This Is Grow
Top feature: The interactive slider adds to the viewing experience with constant animation (including a small tortoise and squirrel that runs across the bottom of the footer)
29. Agent 8
Top feature: Monochromatic palette.
30. AD 60
Top feature: Once again the slider grabs all of your attention instantly with its fun themed designs.
31. Hocus Focus
Top feature: An unconventional diagonal bar along with a nicely integrated twitter feed.
32. Rhythm
Top feature: The products steal the show, perfectly centered without any other distractions.
33. TBOS
Top feature: Clean slider and navigation bar
34. Tyan Todd
Top feature: The diagonal scrolling portfolio, works great with an apple magic mouse or track pad.
35. Meta Gramme
Top feature: Transitions between pages dim the content. Using the navigation bar to hold information instead of links is also pretty unique.
36. Estate Black
Top feature: One of the few minimal sites that uses black negative space to is advantage.
37. Zytexx
Top feature: Stunning box layout with the logo centered in the middle.
38. Chance Graham
Top feature: The navigation is clean and easy to navigate.
40. Ed Nacional
Top feature:Within less than 30 seconds you know the style and work of the designer just by the content on the slider.
41. Baritchi web
Top feature: Great looking icons make this one of the best visual navigation.
42. Academy
Top feature: The cut up logo grabs your attention and you just want to find out more about the company.
43. Thinkmore
Top feature: The website showcases the products in horizontal fashion.
44. Garnish
Top feature: All of the premium pixels themes have great image rollovers.
45. Classica
Top feature: The direct message at the top welcoming you to the site. It just makes the site more personal.
46. Just Dot
Top feature: A cleverly designed site focused around the name of the business.
47. Made By TJ
Top feature: The typography work is bold and tidy.
48. Jontangerine
Top feature: Each of the blog sections are beautifully spaced apart.
49. One International
Top feature: I love the blog. packed full of information but still looks minimal.
50. CPP - Celebrity Ping Pong
Top feature: All the players are presented with a bold quote. Transitions between each are quick and tidy.
51. Darcy Jones
Top feature: The actual lack of design places more attention on the work.
52. The Jagered Orbit
Top feature: Navigation bar at the bottom of the page.
53. Here Design
Top feature: The slider is never lost. All the other content is loaded in a tidy looking accordion
54. I draw all day
Top feature: Each portfolio page isn't crowded and allows you to control you experience rather than automated sliders.
55. Chicago L-Shirts
Top feature: Looks great on all screen sizes due to background image resizing with the browser.
56. Yii Design
Top feature: The collections page is faded just waiting for you to roll your mouse over the content and light it all up.
57. Division
Top feature: I love the design of the navigation, bold and elegant as well as very simple.
58. Adrian Newell
Top feature: Ease of use. So minimal nothing really can go wrong.
59. Traffic Design
Top feature: The animation draws all your attention, you get drawn in pretty quickly.
60. Further Reading
Well, OK, this isn't a website, but as an added bonus here are a few resources for your reading pleasure.
Using White Space (or Negative Space) in Your Designs
Less is More: Fundamentals of Minimalist Web Design
Create A Minimal Portfolio Site Design (Plus a Free PSD!)
Well, Thanks For Reading!
I hope you have been inspired. Make sure you click on the actual websites to get the full experience! They might be minimal but most are packed full of awesome navigation menus, tool tips and sliders.
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