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20 Examples Of Dark & Minimalist Website Designs With Great Typography

April 1, 2009 by Jon 49 Comments

Some time ago I published a post where I listed 15 minimalist designs that inspired me to redesign this site. One comment I received on that post was from my friend Tracey Grady asking me why they all had white backgrounds, and if it’s a personal preference or simply a coincidence. Well it definitely was a coincidence.

Of course I like darker designs! In fact, I recently launched a new site called Design-Newz, which definitely falls into the ‘dark designs’ category! Of course after I got the general idea and was done with the wireframing, I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to do and needed some inspiration! This time I figured I’d go with a dark design. So here are some sites I came across while looking for inspiration. Hope you like them! :)

Here we go, in no particular order:

The 99 Percent Conference

The 99 Percent Conference

Stefan Velthuys

Stefan Velthuys

Tweet CC

Tweet CC

Tic Toc

Tic Toc

Couch Creative

Couch Creative

Ole Martin Kristiansen

Ole Martin Kristiansen

Brynn Shepherd

Brynn Shepherd

Just Dot

Just Dot

LegiStyles

LegiStyles

Kurt Gannon

Kurt Gannon

Jarad Johnson

Jarad Johnson

Visual Box

Visual Box

Flush Inc

Flush Inc

Marek Levak – Designme

Marek Levak - Designme

Redworks

Redworks

Design Junction

Design Junction

deCode

deCode

Chris Garrett

Chris Garrett

Card Observer

Card Observer

Black Estate Vineyard

Black Estate Vineyard

Your Turn To Talk

So, which ones are your favorites? And why? See ya in the comment section! :)

Filed Under: Design, Minimalism, Showcase

Comments

  1. Sander says

    April 1, 2009 at 5:35 am

    Great list Jon, although I like dark background website, the mayority is light colored which makes the switch between light and black colored websites somethime a bit harsh. Thanks for compiling this great list!

  2. Tracey Grady says

    April 1, 2009 at 5:38 am

    It’s definitely harder to design a website with a dark background than a light/white background (especially where readability is concerned) so it’s great to have a collection of sites which have done this successfully.

    One other very interesting thing that many of them have in common is some great typography. Minimalist sites are clearly great places to let loose with some typographical fun because your efforts really stand out.

  3. Tracey Grady says

    April 1, 2009 at 5:40 am

    … and I just went back and read the title of this post again. D’uh!

  4. Jon Phillips says

    April 1, 2009 at 5:49 am

    @Sander: You got a point, dark designs are not for everyone, if the colors and contrast is not set right it can be real hard on the eyes. I like dark though :)

    @Tracey: Totally! And again it’s a matter of colors and contrast. Visual Box and The 99 Percent Conference websites are great examples of good contrast and color choices I think.

    Cheers

  5. jojo toth says

    April 1, 2009 at 6:40 am

    My favoite> black estate vineyard, decode and stefan velthuys

    my portflio is dark, single page and I don’t mix typography too :) http://mogdesign.eu/

  6. Grant Bodie says

    April 1, 2009 at 7:37 am

    I would be interested to know if my site ranks up there in peoples opinions as a good example of a dark site or not.

    It’s not a homemade site by any means so i can’t claim responsibilty for the design but i like it, i am just curious about everyone elses thoughts!

    Cheers!
    Grant – Mount Recruitment

  7. Henry Jones says

    April 1, 2009 at 8:26 am

    Hi Jon. Thanks for including Card Observer.

  8. Simmessa says

    April 1, 2009 at 8:31 am

    Here’s mine, another dark web:

    http://simmessa.com

    I think I could DEFINITELY improve its typography though!

    All the Best!

    Simmessa.

  9. Joel fisher says

    April 1, 2009 at 8:35 am

    Thanks for including my site.

    You have a great site/resource here as well. Keep up the excellent work.

    twitter: @joelmoney

  10. Timothy says

    April 1, 2009 at 8:40 am

    Great list! Delicioused…

  11. Chris says

    April 1, 2009 at 10:46 am

    Great list! I was looking for some inspiration for a new site I’m working on that needs to have black bg due to the logo. Cheers!

  12. @jeffrainey says

    April 1, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    Great list of sites. I am in the middle of a redesign myself and am going minimalist too.

  13. Gerhard says

    April 1, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    I like the layout on this on this one too:

    http://blog.codeninja.co.za

  14. Heather says

    April 1, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    Wow, nice to see a lot of new sites I haven’t come across before! Nice round up!

  15. Daniel says

    April 2, 2009 at 1:42 am

    Very nice sites, ty

  16. Creamy CSS says

    April 2, 2009 at 10:01 am

    Mmmmmm… very good list! ;) Well done,.. every website is so special,..

  17. Leroy Hurt says

    April 2, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    What do you all think about http://www.ResponseBoatProject.net?

  18. Bicycle Wallpaper says

    April 2, 2009 at 11:51 pm

    My favorite is Visual Box!
    Everything there just looks match.

  19. Sinisa says

    April 3, 2009 at 3:07 am

    Thank you for featuring our site…

    Sinisa,
    just.dot

  20. Brendon Grobler says

    April 3, 2009 at 8:43 am

    I absolutely love LegiStyles. One of the best typography based designs I’ve seen in a long time.

  21. joão says

    April 3, 2009 at 9:39 am

    oh boy, I <3 the deCode layout!
    dark layouts are great for high contrast design, I love it! ^^,

  22. Kayla says

    April 3, 2009 at 10:52 am

    Good collection, I hadn’t seen a few of them before. I think dark typography themes always look so elegant

  23. aravind says

    April 3, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    wow. great list!

  24. diavd says

    April 3, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    hey u forget my website :P
    it’s dark and minimalist ;) hey hey
    http://designplougoulm.fr/

  25. Kris says

    April 4, 2009 at 11:59 am

    Hello,

    Please add your site at http://www.sweebs.com. Sweebs.com is a place where other people can find you among the best sites on the internet!
    Its just started and we are collecting the best found on the net! We will be delighted to have you in the sweebs listings.

    Regards
    Kris

  26. Reddy says

    April 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Hey, thanks for including my website, it’s an honor! The thing is, I’m switching to a new design today…

  27. Nitin Garg says

    April 4, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    hi there.

    Thanks for including my portfolio website. I am glad to see that it’s percevied in the design style which i wanted.

  28. Grant Lucas says

    April 7, 2009 at 9:04 am

    oooo this got my creative juices flowing again! k enough messin around. time to finish a portfolio site and get it up!

  29. david says

    April 9, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Really love all that typography. These portfolio sites are a blessing and a curse at the same time. You think you’ve come up with a great design then someone elses design always looks better. Never mind, we get better each day.

  30. Jon Phillips says

    May 4, 2009 at 1:42 am

    @all: Thanks for all the comments guys! I really appreciate it!

    @Reddy: Damn! I should’ve waited hehe your new design is great! (I’ll update the screenshot)

  31. Naga says

    May 8, 2009 at 7:15 am

    i just love black..
    u ‘ve given a good list..
    even i wish my site is one of these

    thanks

  32. DoFollow Social Bookmarking says

    May 9, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    I like some of these dark designs – I’m going to give it a try with these ideas.

  33. Carol says

    May 21, 2009 at 7:29 am

    Hi Jon,
    Great list of minimalist dark sites, but is it just me, or do they all look very similar? If so, that must be the drawback of creating a dark site??????

    The two that stood out most for me were just.dot and visualbox. Don’t think I will be creating a dark site yet, although minimalism does appeal xxx

  34. onemorepixel says

    May 29, 2009 at 8:15 am

    and here is mine…www.onemorepixel.com

  35. Laura Godfrey says

    June 1, 2009 at 4:08 am

    Today, typography is fast becoming more and more popular than imagery. Designers are now trying to expand their design skills to make a website solely made up of text. For example using white typefaces on a black background can make an impact much more so than a striking image. Looking at the website designs shown above, it is clear to see a pattern emerging. They have all used dark backgrounds to showcase their chosen typography(s). Good article!.

    It is important to understand how text will be received by it’s audience. The typefaces used need to be clear, concise and direct – targeting your intended audience. It would be particularly useful to include a follow up article outlining how typefaces differ on different browsers.

  36. Ashely Adams says

    June 8, 2009 at 3:08 am

    ‘Black is beautiful’. And I believe in it. Also, sometimes you can achieve so much with so little. All you need is creativity and an eye for the unconventional and an ability to think out of the box. The Black Estate Vineyard is simply great.

  37. Shen says

    August 10, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    Nice links! :D

    I personally like these:
    http://www.alexafalcone.com/
    http://www.thisisrealart.com/
    http://www.wearebuild.com/

  38. Nitin Garg says

    August 16, 2009 at 3:20 am

    Hy, the designjunction is recently updated with new design > http://designjunction.in/
    Well, it still falls in this category of dark and minimalistic.

  39. lhoylhoy says

    September 19, 2009 at 11:16 am

    nice collection! i’m now designing web template based on these inspirations! thanks! man!

  40. Kate says

    October 3, 2009 at 5:54 am

    Dark designs are cool. I like them too. To sad not suitable for all cases.

  41. Max Hugh says

    January 6, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    I love black/ dark grey (#333333) style websites with subtle text (e.g. #333333 colour text against a #000000 background). One comment I have about dark websites though is:

    due to the recent growing trend of PCs and Macs having “glossy” screens (and mobile phones having glass screens) the glare and dust or fingerprints can detract from the beauty of the overall web experience.

    I guess that’s why companies like teNriA and Apple Inc have white website e.g. http://www.teNriA.com and http://www.Apple.com

    Great blog–you have given me some really inspiring ideas for my new website (I think I’ll go for a mid colour e.g. #999999 or #666666 with a #333333 text–clear and crisp typography)!

  42. lektira says

    January 16, 2010 at 5:07 am

    nice list man, i love most brynn site. is beautiful!
    nice postt

  43. Tuhin Kumar says

    January 31, 2010 at 6:48 am

    The best part is that it is Dark+Minimalist+Great Typography. You cannot be more specific. Great stuff. And as someone mentioned, it is very difficult to create a dark minimalist website.

  44. Max says

    February 2, 2010 at 10:45 am

    Dark minimalism rocks too, some are really very creative

  45. Stephan says

    February 4, 2010 at 11:02 am

    hiho,

    I am doing research for my next (own) website and this is the first list that covers black themed minimalistic design. Thanks for this.

  46. neel says

    July 4, 2010 at 6:14 am

    Excellent list thanks for sharing. in my view Dark minimalism is excellent

  47. Libby says

    August 13, 2010 at 3:57 pm

    Here’s another good one – http://www.shobestudios.com. Personally, I have always loved dark/black themed websites!

  48. Puneetgoyal08 says

    December 23, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    do you have more wallpapers like these???

  49. Jarad Johnson says

    March 22, 2011 at 7:12 am

    Thank you for the feature, Jon! Much appreciated.

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