56 Light & Clean Website Designs Using A Minimalist Color Scheme
By now I’m sure you’ve figured out that I love minimalist designs. I’ve featured many simple and minimalist websites on SpyreStudios before but this time I wanted to feature sites that not only have a minimalist layout but that also use very little colors.
I tried to find sites that use a greyscale color scheme but that also introduce a vibrant and/or contrasting color, usually for links and buttons. Most of the sites on this list use at most 3 or 4 colors (black, white, shade of grey, contrasting color) excluding pictures and images that are placed in the content area.
The websites are listed alphabetically. Hope you enjoy it!
*Warning: Lots of whitespace ahead! :)
5 Thirty One ↓
72 Rivington Street ↓
39/18 ↓
80/20 Studio ↓
Aen Tan ↓
Andy Rutledge ↓
Anthony James Bruno ↓
Arias ↓
Astheria ↓
Beyond Standards ↓
Big Kid ↓
Brilliancy ↓
Bryan Culver ↓
Cade Martin ↓
Daniel Howells ↓
Daniel Oliver ↓
David Airey ↓
The Deck ↓
Eduardo de la Roque ↓
Derek Bender ↓
Eightface ↓
Feed A Fever ↓
Fell Swoop ↓
FRKT ↓
Header Footer ↓
Hello Stefan ↓
Jamie Gregory ↓
Joni Korpi ↓
Jon Tangerine ↓
LindenTibbets ↓
Made By On ↓
Make Tea ↓
Martin Hipp ↓
Max Voltar ↓
Middle Mind Project ↓
Minimal Sites ↓
NUYU ↓
Offset Media ↓
Oh Deer ↓
Olex ↓
Peter Rozek ↓
Pixel Bot ↓
Rikcat Industries ↓
Rodrigo Galindez ↓
Shaun Inman ↓
Site Inspire ↓
Stefan Persson ↓
Strange Beautiful ↓
Subtraction ↓
Superrevolver ↓
Thirty One West ↓
Voce Antica ↓
Welcome To HR ↓
Year Of The Sheep ↓
Yoo Tae Han ↓
Z8 ↓
Your Turn To Talk
I hope you enjoyed this post! Please share your favorites with the rest of us – I love to read what other people like about minimalist designs and layouts. And what do you think of monochrome designs? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em?
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About the author:
Jon Phillips is the founder and owner of SpyreStudios and the co-founder of MediaLoot. Jon is a designer, developer, typography lover and musician.
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June 26th, 2009
For me, I really like the minimalistic themes…
June 26th, 2009
Fantastic collection of sites. I’m preparing to do a redesign of my own site and so many of these are so inspirational.
June 26th, 2009
i love! i am in the process of redesigning my website and simplicity and clean lines are exactly what i am looking for!
June 26th, 2009
May I humbly suggest my own site which I just redesigned with a minimalistic approach 3 days ago. http://reinholdweber.com
June 26th, 2009
Nice list. Here goes another example: http://www.sparkmm.com
June 26th, 2009
Excellent list – as always! Minimalist design is quite often more difficult to achieve and each of these sites accomplish the feat very well. Thanks for the inspiration! As an aside, let me also comment on Spyre’s new look…It has been awhile since I’ve visited and I like it very much!
June 26th, 2009
I’m genuinely flattered to have three of my websites featured here (72 Rivington Street, my own blog, and siteInspire). Thanks so much!
And also appreciate David Arias, Minimalsites, FRKT, and Human Resources… huge fan of all.
June 26th, 2009
I really liked the list and the simplicity of colors and designs. Thanks for the share.
June 26th, 2009
Wow, totally amazing! Clean is good!
R
Twww.anon-tools.tk
June 26th, 2009
Nice list, here’s another one – http://zachkrasner.com/
June 26th, 2009
Nice clean designs indeed. Dugg for “Z8″
June 26th, 2009
Nice collection. I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between “made by on” and “on wired”, what do you think?
http://www.madebyon.com
================
Logo: http://img.skitch.com/20090627.....fj7821.png
Shortcut: http://img.skitch.com/20090627.....kr4dni.png
http://www.onwired.com
================
Logo:http://img.skitch.com/20090627-xxhaqnufwai5sn2mjrrg48uygi.png
Shortcut: http://img.skitch.com/20090627.....36557p.png
June 27th, 2009
Glad everyone is digging my site!
Cheers,
AJB
June 27th, 2009
Great list. Mine is also using minimalistic apporach: http://daus.trala.la/ :)
June 27th, 2009
Thanks for the linking my site! I’m very flattered to be in this list of amazing websites by some amazing developers!
June 27th, 2009
Nice list. Here goes another example: http://frischerlook.de
June 27th, 2009
Check mine – http://mariuszciesla.com
June 27th, 2009
Purely inspiring!
June 27th, 2009
more than enough there to inspire me for my next design
June 27th, 2009
Indeed great list.
I recommend this uber minimal design
http://catnipcreative.com
June 27th, 2009
Woot I appeared twice in this post. First as the fifth entry in the list and then as a screenshot within Minimalsites. RT, Dugg and thanks!
June 27th, 2009
I’m flattered that FRKT is associated with these. Thank you.
June 27th, 2009
yep, really nice selection!
June 27th, 2009
Hi
Great list and thank you so much for the inclusion (3918.co.uk).
Means a lot
Stuart
June 27th, 2009
Here is another one: http://hotmeteor.com/
June 27th, 2009
wow. thx for this collection.
I like typography. but dont like to use it :)
June 27th, 2009
BTW, I love the hover effect on the comment images.. I may “borrow” that idea, a little different of course :)
June 27th, 2009
another one thats super minimal http://www.marthakelly.com
June 27th, 2009
Such beauty in simplicity, but so hard to sell to clients. “It looks so plain,” is what I hear a lot.
June 27th, 2009
Your ability to organize and present information is amazing. I would invest in a search engine that could produce results like yours. Another great post.
June 27th, 2009
Minimalism is one of the greatest design success stories. Thank you for sharing these light and clean designs.
June 27th, 2009
Sweet list! Thanks for the mention. Was actually just in the middle of making a small design/usability tweak this morning. Changed all sidebar links blue, not just on hover.
June 28th, 2009
Great collection, thanks a lot :)
June 28th, 2009
Quite the popular post here, Jon. Thanks a lot of the mention alongside lots of inspiring designs. Makes me want to show a little more black in mine, and less gray.
June 28th, 2009
Nice list. Here goes another example: http://www.dackworld.de
June 28th, 2009
One of my current favorites for a local gallery/studio.
June 28th, 2009
@All: thanks a lot everyone, I’m happy you liked the post! :)
@Camille: Thanks! I really appreciate it. For some reason I keep changing the design, guess I can do stuff here that I can’t when I work for clients hehe
@Andrew: humm, good catch! Yes, I agree, they do look very similar, though it’s a good thing both websites look completely different I guess.
@Daniel Howells, Anthony James Bruno, Aen, Johannes, Stuart Hobday: You’re all very welcome!
@LindenTibbets: You’re welcome! I have to say I do like the blue links better :)
@Jim Gaudet: Sure thing! :)
@Jim Cook: You got a good point there. A very minimalist approach won’t work for every type of site, but sometimes it does. It can be minimalist and still get pretty big and successful if you look at sites like emptees.com. Of course when it’s freelance work, it’s not about making it simple and minimalist just because you like that, it’s about what the client wants and needs and what his/her goals are with the site.
@David Airey: You’re welcome buddy! Hey I like the shades of grey, I think if fits nicely with the orange you have (and as you can see I love orange hehe) :)
June 28th, 2009
One or two examples here I would diss outrightly as a pile of poo, as they seem to break every rule in the book and leave me stranded trying to understand what the page is about.
Others, considering they have no colour for most part, are in danger of being easily forgotten, hence missing out on important branding values which add so much to many businesses.
It’s an interesting list of examples nevertheless.
June 28th, 2009
Great post … I’m a fan of minimalist designs … my favourite is the NUYU website!
June 29th, 2009
Nice list guys!
June 29th, 2009
Please check ackackack.com and weweregood.com
June 29th, 2009
Very nice collection. I was just looking for some inspiration for minimalistic designs. Great article.
June 29th, 2009
Nice post guys!
June 29th, 2009
I see these collections of minimalistic web designs all over the place, but it’s hard to find an actual GOOD collection of designs. Nice post, thanks for the inspiration!
June 30th, 2009
I love minimalist designs and my favorite is my site! hahaha. Thank you for this collection.
June 30th, 2009
Hey Jon,
Thanks for featuring our website in this great list. We gave you a little shout out on our blog.
Geo.
June 30th, 2009
They’re nice, but all pretty similar. Minimalist doesn’t have to mean unimaginative.
June 30th, 2009
http://www.dannyisonfire.com is a design that I really like.
July 1st, 2009
nice listing good post and collection of website really impressive.
July 1st, 2009
Interesting collection! I appreciate your effort and eye for clean designs. I bookmarked this page and would really love to visit these sites in detail, probably pick up an idea or two:)
Thanks again for the nice collection.
Janaki
July 2nd, 2009
very simple but yet very beautiful. thanks for showcasing this compilation ;)
July 3rd, 2009
this is such a fantastic post!!! A big thank you Jon for sharing these sites with us. Simple yet so effective…nice!
July 3rd, 2009
I like the collection.
Though most of them are just based on almost standard fonts, some of the templates look really nice..
I surely have to make a separate section in my websites to post collections like this one.
I’ve remarked, many are using a black color scheme – if you play a bit with other colors, some examples may be upgraded quite well..
July 5th, 2009
After seeing this it make you appreciate the simple website designs. Some times simple is the most professional.
July 7th, 2009
Always interested in what others are doing since I am still in the learning process and tend to run with scissors and draw outside the lines — on purpose!!!!
July 8th, 2009
Nice collection! I love clean design. Here’s another one: http://hakki.com – I like how he keeps it so focused at the message, as minimalistic as it gets :)
July 10th, 2009
Great list. Heres another example:
http://www.pomade.tv
July 19th, 2009
Nice list, here’s another one – http://www.dackworld.de/2009/0.....gn-themes/
July 20th, 2009
Great post!
Simple is the best.
Thank you for sharing.
July 27th, 2009
Thanks ! I like them all !
August 12th, 2009
I seriously love this type of web design, makes my site http://www.design-intellect.co.uk look embarrassing. Have book marked your list and will study the ins and outs of these styles, any advice? Matt.
August 28th, 2009
nice collection here …
thanks for sharing …
September 17th, 2009
Looks like I’m very late in discovering this, but nonetheless I humbly appreciate the inclusion of my website here. Also, thanks to Daniel Howells for the props. I’m a fan of this web development skills myself. Every time I come across other beautifully designed websites ( many of them shown here) it makes me want to re-design my own again. Thanks again. Beautiful collection here.
September 19th, 2009
Wow…..this is something I was looking for. These websites look very clean and professional. Honestly, I was tired to of those bright and colorful designs. I am not saying that they are bad but seeing these sites with minimal color scheme was a treat to my eyes. Thanks.
September 30th, 2009
New to the site… will be a frequent visitor. Some fantastic examples and insight.
I would like to get some thoughts on my site: http://www.theedesign.com/
Thanks guys!
October 28th, 2009
Guys, also check out Minimalissimo at http://minimalissimo.com. We blog about minimalist design and try to practice what we preach!
November 19th, 2009
minimalism can never become outdated, eh? one thing minimalism is, unlike high-end designs, it offers great platform for improvisations and modifications that can still be minimal!!
December 4th, 2009
I really like the 80/20 Studios design. That, and Site Inspire. Those are my ideas of what clean, elegant professional websites should look like.
The Cade Martin one looks really fantastic as well. Perfect for a personal blog, or perhaps a screenprinting service.
January 3rd, 2010
nice collection there buddy! I’m a big fan of minimalism in fact i’m also designing minimalist templates and this list gave me inpirations in most of my designs
January 6th, 2010
Hi, I just left a comment on your article titled: “20-examples-of-dark-minimalist-website-designs-with-great-typography” which I thought was an excellent and inspiring piece. In the comment I said that dark websites are excellent, however because of “glossy” screens on new PCs and Macs, (and glass screens on mobile phones) fingerprints and dust or glare can detract from the overall web experience.
With white/ light webdesign (even though I really like dark designs), for asthetic appeal they are much better as it reduces glare and screen dust/ fingerprint visability.
Some good examples in addition to the excellent ones you have shown above are:
http://www.teNriA.com | http://www.Apple.com | http://www.HugoBoss.com | http://www.CK.com | http://www.Dior.com
These are some of my favourites and most inspirational as they look really classy.
Great post–thanks for the inspiration!
January 8th, 2010
I got inspiration from these sites to come up with the first revision of my website here at http://www.employeratlas.com – it may be a little to simple though. Any suggestions?
January 16th, 2010
Awesome designs I think I am going to redo my portfolio site using this clean minimalistic style. It never gets old!
January 18th, 2010
I will redo my owm website with insiration from these designs.
January 30th, 2010
These inspired me a lot…thanks for the list. It makes me think to collect minimalist design websites that use Joomla CMS as their platform. But it’s a little hard to find the sites with this design approach…
February 18th, 2010
That stuff will defenatelly help me building my webstie in a better way. Thanks.
February 25th, 2010
I love this simple but beautiful stlye. Thank you for this great collection, some already bookmarked.
March 29th, 2010
Usually a big fan of dark designs, but some of these are really nice! Bookmarked!
July 1st, 2010
Hiya,
Great post, I think keeping minimalistic and clean is good it has lots of advantages aswell, such as quicker load time and search engines love them as their usually easy to read.
I think i went over the top here; http://www.randomfactgenerator.net Haha!
Thanks again!
July 13th, 2010
Great post on this website…really its very useful for website designers..fine thanku..nice sharing
July 14th, 2010
Nice collection! Here are some more: http://newevolutiondesigns.com.....eb-designs
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