BlogByLuigiMarch 12, 2017February 28, 2017
Can you define the word timeless? In movies, it’s Hitchcock. In fashion, it’s the little black dress. In literature, it’s Orwell. What about web design? Is there a particular type of design that allows you to capture the attention of your audience on the long term?
That’s a hard question to answer. With the ever-evolving standards and trends in web design, it’s almost impossible to create a website that will be beautiful and functional forever. However, we can think of golden standards of web design, which are not that subjected to change.
We’re going to list 10 examples of timeless web design, and we’ll see what features make them so great.
- Kombucha Dog
Image Source:www.kombuchadog.com
This website teaches us about the most important principle of timeless design: Minimalism. Remember this rule of design: less is more. You may use bold colors and vivid photographs, but the pages should never be too busy.
Check out the design at kombuchadog.com. You’ll notice simple, elegant lines. Your eye immediately goes to the thing the designer wants you to see.
- Flow Festival
Image Source:www.vimeo.com
Contrast is another crucial principle to maintain in design, and you can easily see why it’s effective. Classic color contrast is not necessary, though. In fact, it’s not recommended to opt for red/green or blue/orange sites. In web design, the understanding of contrast is more subtle. For example, you can opt for a white script font over monochromatic, light green background.
At flowfestival.com, we can see a classic black/white/red design. It never fails.
- Essay Scholar Advisor
Image Source:www.buycaessays.com
This website is appealing to the eye, but there’s another principle that makes it timeless: good content. You can see countless beautiful websites that fail in this aspect. The content has to convey the purpose of the site as clearly as possible.
At essayscholaradvisor.com, we see simple explanations for the different products, and graphic elements that convey the clear message.
- More Hazards More Heroes
Image Source:www.morehazards.com
Speaking of content, the message is not the only thing that’s important. The way you present that message means a lot. The typography is an important element of web design. Even if you opt for a timeless minimalist design, there’s still a lot of space for experimenting with the typefaces.
The website of More Hazards More Heroes, a Nashville folk duo, is cool mainly because of the dramatic typography.
- Andersson-Wise
Image Source:www.houzz.com
This is a website for an architecture and design studio. Although the design does not feature much interface ornamentation, the high-definition photographs make it appealing. Whenever you refresh the site, you get a new photograph from a different project.
- Calm
Image Source:www.goodnet.org
The moment you land at this website, you realize it affects your feelings. The photo on the background, the sounds, the content, success stories… every element is right where it should be. We see an important aspect of timeless design: cohesion.
Cohesive websites guide the visitor through all interface components. As you scroll down, you don’t see any loose ends. These sites have a beginning and an end, with a clear call to action at the bottom. It’s like you’re reading a book.
- Food Sense
Image Source:www.foodsense.is
Many blogs and websites failed where foodsense.is has excelled: creating the sense of presence. A timeless website should make the visitor feel connected with a greater community. You can achieve that feeling of presence through personalized content, testimonials, and a built-in forum or open comment section at the site.
- Design Made in Germany
Image Source:www.designmadeingermany.de
This is another minimalistic site that reminds us of an important principle: negative space. In design, any unused space should have a purpose – it’s there to make the page less cluttered and make you see the most important menus and elements.
- Sleepstreet
Image Source:www.sleepstreet.be
This website helps people find furnished apartments for rent in Ghent, Belgium. Each apartment has a different vibe and color scheme, but the photos are still coherent with the design. The designers managed to do that with filters applied to the images, as well as specific angles of shooting photographs.
Remember: timeless design has to be coherent.
- Clean Air Commute Challenge
Image Source:www.mediaqueri.es
In timeless design, the navigation has to be simple. There are not many dropdown menus and features that would confuse the visitor. Even if you see dropdown menus, you won’t see any submenus to complicate things further.
CleanAirChallenge.com is an example of such website, which is easy to consume. The calls to action are obvious, and the overall site almost acts like a story.
Final Thoughts
With the main principles of timeless design in mind, you’ll be building a website that will last. It will require only minimal changes, but the main vibe will stay the same throughout the year. Timeless design is great not only because it takes less effort, but also because it helps you build a recognizable brand.
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