Web Designer Wall
Design Trends

50 Minimal Sites

By Aigars Silkalns 1 min read

Since Web Designer Wall launched, I’ve been featuring a lot of graphic intense websites such as the artistic, large background, vintage, and illustrative styles. Now it is time to feature the minimalist design. Here is a massive list of 50 minimal sites. See how designers use minimal elements to create high visual impact — less is more.

Hot Meteor

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Vitor Lourenco

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Arty Papers

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Mark Boulton Design

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Vesess

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Design Work Plan

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Made by Sofa

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Shift px

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Frank Chimero

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80/20 Studio

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Somme

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Aen UI

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HUGE

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Rustin Jessen

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Subtraction

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Information Architects

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Wilson Miner

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The Man in the Sea

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Built by Buffalo

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CRW

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Concentric Studio

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Rikcat Industries

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Studio Mikmik

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Andy Rutledge

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Mezzoblue

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Simplebits

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Chama Inc

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Kind Company

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Jon Tangerine

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Mark Wieman

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Winnie Lim

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Matt Bango

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David Sutoyo

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Jason Santa Maria

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Rodrigo Galindez

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J. Bradford Dillon

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Alpha Bros

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Joni Korpi

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Grow (flash)

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Clearleft

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Polar Gold

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Maxvoltar

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Tictoc

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Mark Dearman

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Odd Web Things

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Lift

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Jason Duerr

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72 Dots

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Poccuo

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Wonderful Union

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Keep reading

Design Trends

33 Artistic Sites

With the millions of websites on the internet, having a unique design is a must to get your visitors’ attention. The following…

1 min read

228 comments from the archive

  2. Is minimal = white? I’m just wondering because lots of minimal concept will use white (and some use black). Me? I use white.

  4. I love how simple the sites’ designs are, but they leave a lasting impression. I’m growing to love simple designs now. Sometimes, having too much graphics and ads are really overwhelming. Thanks for this post!

  6. Great collection! A lot of sites on this list that I hadn’t seen before =) Thanks

    P.S. I’ve shared this on creatinginspiration.net =)

  8. Beat me to it. I was gonna do one of these. :-)

    Anyway, there are some amazing designs in this roundup, good choices.

  10. I’m trying to use this approach too but it always ends up with non-minimal. lol

  11. Nice list… I definitely took the minimalist approach when re-designing my portfolio last fall.

  19. Some nice designs. Vitor Lourenço portfolio is pretty amazing for a 21 year old (or any age for that matter).

  20. Hi! Some very nice designs. If you are looking for free and minimalistic themes to download, check Modula out.

  21. I would call a lot of them white rather than minimal, Andy Rutledge’s for instance. But a good list nonetheless.

  26. Very nice analysis Nick. They will be great for research. Bookmarked the post. Thanks a ton!

    – Edward J

  27. while i like the post’s topic, the majority of the listed sites can all be found on http://www.minimalsites.com. I would have hoped this list contain many other minimal sites than just ones that are found on a minimal css gallery site.

  28. very harmonic sites – just the way I like..but it’s hard to create..clean, minimal and good looking sites – inspiring :)

  30. Great websites compilation!
    The design minimal is a great inspiration and reference.

  31. Great designs!!!
    How about Manojsachwani.com – any reviews? critiques are welcome :D

  32. Some great inspiration and websites featured here – thanks for the list!

  33. Good collection…but a couple of the comps have “orphans.” Isn’t that a big no-no, esp. when the lead in becomes the center of attention?

  35. This is awesome. Minimalism is by far the best way to design in my opinion. It’s the easiest way to get your point across and not have a bunch of distractions in the way of what you’re really trying to say. All you need is a hook to sell a product, everything else is just extra baggage.

  40. Great idea, but really disappointed in this list.

    1. Too many common sites that everyone knows about. C’mon, don’t post well-know Web Standard people’s blogs.
    2. Then the uncommon ones, well, they aren’t very inspiring.
    3. Minimal != white. This post needs better variety.

  41. Allow me to preface my comment with the fact that I am a minimalist at heart. That said, unfortunately the first thing that I do when I go to half of these sites is leave. Some of them are even great aides for catching some zzz’s at the office. Websites this minimal just aren’t very engaging!

    I like that fact that the typography appears to be a focal point on quite a few of these sites, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to rope me in. Most consumers want big, pretty pictures to look at and graphical CTA’s to click on. There is a fine line between short, sweet and to the point and just short… minimal shouldn’t feel lacking. This is still a great list and I appreciate the time you put in to it.

  42. Good inspiration.

    I see a couple other commenters have offered suggestions. Here are my three:
    cre8tivegroup.com
    tumblr.com
    iamsecond.com

  44. Submit Css is a great site I found with a lot of minimalistic sites. I’d check it out…

  45. I like the first 14 or so, but at that point a lot of them start to look like generic, unpersonalized blog themes. When you’re aiming to have very little, it’s very important that what you have makes a real statement.

  46. Maybe you forgot Google. That’s a minimalistic design as well. =)
    Honestly, I would have liked to see my site in the list too, but well, I guess it’s not that popular yet.
    Peace out.

  50. I also love minimal websites. My company tried to do something very minimal also (link on my name)

  51. @Tedel

    Yea, that’s what I said. It would be funny to unexpectedly see your own site in a list like this. I was sad to not see mine as well lol.

  52. And I actually put up a list of minimal sites a few weeks ago on my blog. So if you want more to look at, check it out.

    createandadapt.blogspot.com

  54. “Less is more” – very important principle, especially on white background.

  55. I love a minimal clean look of a website. I think hands down it looks much better but it is always important to still include copy so search engines can read it.

  56. I adore the Frank Chimero one. It’s amazing how such simplistic design can be so amazing.

  57. Pretty nice set of great inspirations, but some could be even simpler. ;)

  58. great one, some really great inspiration here. thank you for all you do, I love coming back to your site time and time again!

  62. Thanks for the mention! We feel very special at Lift to be grouped in with so many of our favorite designs!

  65. I’m all about minimal design whenever possible. Love this list. Plenty of inspiration for future projects. Thanks!

  66. It’s a pleasure to have been listed among so many well-designed sites. Thank you Nick.

  67. this is a webpage from a minimalistic architecture studio in austria – like the way the present the projects

  69. Very nice designs. I would welcome a feature on well designed corporate sites as well. Maybe something for a future article?

  71. I Love the minimal designs, very easy on the eye and some great effects using line heights.
    Sometimes it can be very easy to over design a site! (More is less!!)

  74. I love clean layouts. *Arty Papers* #1 for me. What do you think about this one – http://b39.cal.pl ? It’s my friend personal website, I really like it.

  80. I agree with JohnONolan, unfortunately minimalism tends to equal white for some reason. I have to say though, it is a beautiful post.

  82. …ahem, but — they’re all designer portfolio sites designed to be viewed by other designers.

    How about showcasing “real world” minimal designs whose target audience is the paying public? As Hrundi V. Bakshi would say: “That is the art”

  87. I really enjoyed this post as its a good one to show our students. “Here are some great examples of sites where content matters and simplicity shines”

    Thanks again!

  88. Simple and Useful. Very awesome.
    This is my style and I love it.
    Thank you for sharing, dude!

    visit my site here

  89. Estupenda reseña, el minimalismo siempre sera mi estilo favorito. Muchas gracias

  92. love it, definitely helps with a project i’ll be working on soon. minimalism is good! thanks!

  93. Nice inspirational collection. I’m really drawn to Hot Meteor’s Typography, absolutely perfect and breathtaking, love Andy Rutlege’s softness, and the others whose simplicity is very brave. It’s not what is there, but what they have done without. Very zen. The ones that look like templates leave me cold, but there standouts are: Hot Meteor and Rodrigez Galinez with their typographic beauty. I would love to have that sensibility, but designwise I like a little clutter. I do admire the bravery in others though.

  94. Fantastic…a good ideas and resources for a nice work! Clean and simple! thank’s! ;)

  97. it is really a great collection of beautiful clean websites, a lot of ideas came already to my mind. Thank you!

  98. Thanks for the amazing list. Minimalistic sites are so amazing and inspirational!

  99. Some wonderous web designs here. Less is more or less more. Or something.

  102. I love minimalistic approach in everything. Simplicity is the key! Simplicity, carried to an extreme, becomes elegance – Jon Franklin

  108. Indeed a great collection, Would be of great help to all designers.Keep up the good work.
    Thanks..
    Anna

  109. Nice collection!
    I would have loved to see mine on this list too :)
    Best wishes

  110. Gorgeous list of inspiring sites, it’s so hard to find sites like these for inspiration when you actually need inspiration!! I will bookmark and never lose again. Thank you.

    ps. your site is just fab.

  111. Beautiful assortment. I would love to see a minimalist post with different background colors.

  115. Yeah most of the mim == > White …

    White space plays and important role to get this effect. You can make the page look stuffy with darker shades.

  116. Yet another interesting list. Minimalist these designs are for sure. But, to be honest, these designs look better in your list compared to the websites.

  118. Great list. Inspiring. Full of ideas. Our best – TicToc and 72 Pixels.

  120. Wonderful source of inspiration for us designers.
    Thanks for the list.

    All the best.

  121. The “We Are Sofa”-design gave me a wow-moment while I didn’t really feel like having it, if you know what I mean >.<

  123. Thanks for putting together a great selection of sites. It definitely shows that less is more!

  124. Great Article… check my Web Design Napoli
    Wonderful source of inspiration for us designers.
    Thanks for the list.

  126. A nice list, could do with some more british talen though, like ebs web design and jellifish.

  129. nice collection … minimal designs are clean, simple and easy on the eye … nicely done …

  131. It just goes to show that the simpler the design the more effective it can be. I think it can be just as hard to create something that has little design and still have a great effect as it to have a page full of colour and images, if not a little more difficult.
    Has anybody else got any other designs like these?

  134. Simple is usually better.. while the artsy eye candy may catch ones attention.. the simple sites tend to be easier to follow content on.. but that’s my personal opinion.

  136. I notice that so many (nearly all?) of these are portfolio sites for artists, designers and similar disciplines.

    Do you know of any such bold designs used for more work-a-day companies such as builders or car repair shops? I would love to see how that would work!

  137. Great post. I love clean and simple designs. I think this trend is emerging as a sign of the times. I think the recession is causing individuals and companies to rethink how they present themselves, and no one wants to be perceived as disrespectful because they are overly ornate. I think this will continue to be a trend for quite a while.

  139. Nice sites listed here. Great articles on your site. This is my first time here and I’m definitely going to come back.

  140. Thank you for the list. These have inspired me a lot. Have ideas pouring down my head now. =)

  141. MInimalism is so cool. And I think is also hard to do, because it is easier to use few big colorful photos and make heavy site, but to make something minimal and focus on typo and color is next level of design.

  142. Nice… very nice.

    Lots of ideas for ant website.

    Thanks for putting together and sharing.

    Keith D

  143. Really amazing collection…..fantastic sort out….
    after all something empty..contains much…
    ….simply lovely….

    Regards
    Rakesh

  145. I think Minimal, is putting in the essentials and nothing further! leaving the cr4p out… I tried to do the same with my own site, it’s not specifically minimal but I used only what was needed.

    I also think Minimal sites leave more space to be Typographic… a new trend in Webdesign that hopefully will stay and grow!

    Gr Edgar

  146. Wonderful collection. Minimalist pages remind me of someone who sings “a capella” (without any instruments or music playing, and often singing alone). You can’t run, you can’t hide- everything is plain to see/hear. But on the other hand, things are so uncluttered that the message has tremedous effect and impact.

    (…and the best part of these sites: no “animated flames”!!)
    –Bill

  147. Very nice sites, also your site is very very helpful for me to try to become a wed designer. Thanks in advance.

  150. Isolated, strong image elements surrounded by white space…love it. You just can’t beat it for impact – some great sites!

  154. Great choices, thanks. I love minimal style web designs. Perhaps you’d be so good as to feature mine in yourr next article like this? I’m a Freelance Web Designer so I’d be glad of it (creep, creep).
    Great work, love your site (:

  155. This one is quite interesting too: http://hakki.com

    He makes use of minimal space and fullscreen at the same time, I like that. I need to work on my flash skills…

  158. Thanks Thanks What’s the problem here? Google could bury the meager profit number from even the biggest media conglomerates.

  159. these are awesome!
    thanks for putting in the effort to get this list together

  170. Simplicity and minimalism is a double sword edge only enjoyed by proclaimed and famous. Us mortals would be called lazy.
    “trust me I can design…I only choose to make my site look like b&w newspaper add” – is very hard pitch to have unless you enjoy the statue or have an amazing portfolio behind it. :)

  175. Great list, some amazing examples of minimalism in website design there. Thanks for your hard work .

  180. Great examples of minimalist designs, sometimes a website that has minimal design input can have a greater impact!

  183. Minimal designs can be very hard to pull off, and even harder to get signed off when doing client work.
    Strange how many people view white space ans wasted space, when in fact it can really set off a great design.

  184. In web designing, graphics play very important role. Sometimes a graphic or image says many things which we are not able to express in words. I must say that here in minimal sites graphics is used in very nice manner.

    Web Design LA

  185. Me and my friend were arguing about an issue similar to this! Now I know that I was right. lol! Thanks for the information you post.

  189. un peu froid tout de meme…c’est à la lilmite du foutage de gueule

  191. Great selection. I love designs that say more with less. These examples of minimalist websites exemplify the timelessness of simple, funtional design. I just found another that’s not on the list but ought to be: http://www.alancaseydesign.com. To my mind, flash-free sites like this allow the design to speak more clearly.

  192. how many people view white space ans wasted space, when in fact it can really set off a great design.

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  197. how many people view white space ans wasted space, when in fact it can really set off a great design.

  200. how many people view white space ans wasted space, when in fact it can really set off a great design.

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