As in architecture, fashion, interiors, the classics are also present in modern web design! Many excellent websites have been designed in this direction, and it is unlikely that we will ever completely abandon them. Since the classics are universal: in this vein, the site can be designed by a beauty salon, a law firm, or a manufacturing company. The designs, as it were, inform the visitors- we are business, reliable, serious people, let’s cooperate.
This style of web design is subject to pretty strict guidelines:
- The structure is built in columns;
- The name and logo are at the top of the page;
- The menu is located on the left or at the top, drop-down or static;
- The color scheme is restrained, harmonious, and usually in light shades without brightness. If the company has developed an identity, corporate colors and elements are included;
- Graphics, animation and other multimedia gizmos are either completely absent or are arranged in the form of insignificant blotches;
- Fonts are selected for modest, no-frills, pretentiousness, color effects.
With all the strict rules, sites with a classic design are diverse, and you can always find a new solution.
The design does not distract the users’ attention, and they can concentrate entirely on the information about the business. All the classics are now in flat design. But this sign can be corrected over time.
#1. GRUNGE (HIPSTER STYLE)
Now it is at the peak of popularity, while the brutal is in fashion! Main features of the stylistics have already been named. Grunge did not originate in web design; and it came from the music world and took some elements from there: negligence, rudeness, some heaviness. The entire web 2.0 design is built on harmony, clarity, and symmetry, grunge precisely counterbalances these trends.
The direction is considered deliberately creative, and it willingly uses dark, naturalistic shades, the aesthetics of urbanism, rough textures, something handmade.
- Colours: brick, grey, black, brown, sand, dirty green tones;
- Textures: masonry, graffiti painted walls, denim, matting, faded paper;
- Fonts: Intricate, blurry, grotesque, worn, etc.
The target audience is the one that holds all the craft products in high esteem. Rarely is it a business environment or a large business? This aesthetics is addressed to young people and highly recommended for barbershops.
#2. MINIMALISM
It is widespread in reality and has reached the webspace. The main emphasis is on discreet and straightforward design, and there should be nothing superfluous here! Informativeness is manifested not in the abundance of content but vice versa. Sometimes, all text on minimalist sites is replaced with video or compressed into a couple of call to action phrases.
Conciseness is proclaimed as the main principle, and the number of visual elements is minimized. Everything is subject to these rules, from the website’s structure to the choice of fonts. Minimalism is based on direct logic and a complete rejection of excesses.
This web design style has a wide range of applications: online stores, landing pages, and corporate sites of small or medium format are designed this way. Significant business in minimalism, perhaps, cramped.
#3. TYPOGRAPHY
Here we will combine, in fact, several styles: newspaper, magazine, typographic. The accents fall simultaneously on the aesthetic of design and the presentation of information. The plan is based on the format of a newspaper or magazine:
- Arrangement to text and graphic content in columns;
- Multiple-use of fonts, different types and sizes;
- Accompanying the text with photos, illustrations, video materials.
Typography differs in using non-standard, original fonts, which in themselves attract attention.
#4. RETRO (VINTAGE)
Both names have the same meaning: in the web of design of sites made in this style, any widespread elements in the past are necessarily used.
It can be bright graphics of pop art of the second half of the 20the century, old “chronicle” letters, royal monograms or heraldic symbols.
Aged, faded, worn textures, halftones, which seem to have disappeared in the sun or faded under the influence of time, are often used as special effects. Accordingly, they use fonts ranging from real Gothic artfully stylized ones for bygone eras.
Retro should be handled carefully: there is a risk of overdoing it and getting a heap of “fossils” instead of a stylish website. Therefore, web design development should be entrusted to designers with taste and experience. In this case, representatives of various areas of creativity, antique dealers, second-hand booksellers, and jewelers can purchase a reputable business that is a family business and has a rich, long history.
#5. HAND-DRAWN (SKETCH) STYLE
Needless to say, how many designers who dreamed of becoming artists love this trend? There are great opportunities here to lasso inspiration and do the actual painting. Unique graphics, drawn by hand on paper, become the basis of web design, and the idea is transferred to digital format.
Perhaps this style evokes the most powerful emotional response if the design is high-quality. Each element becomes the author’s, attracts attention, so the content must be simple, touching, perhaps naive, but not excessive.
For obvious reasons, this design is suitable for all creative fraternities, the beauty industry, various children’s studios, small online stores or landing pages of young companies.
#6. METRO (CARD DESIGN)
To understand what Metro style sites look like, remember the Windows 10 interface, where sections are presented in the form of large, uniform tiles. This trend has permeated web design as well.
The card style features:
- Minimalism;
- Bright palette of colours;
- No less colourful, non-standard typography;
- Strict attitude to sizes and proportions;
- Functionality, clear logic and structure, an abundance of links.
The style is universal, and it is difficult to say to whom it will not suit, of course, with a high-quality embodiment.
#7. POLYGONAL
The origins of this aesthetic come from their painting. This style of web design, on the one hand, is distinguished by its simplicity by the variety of decorative elements. Lines, figures, spatial models are used, and natural objects are refracted at different angles and get a new meaning.
#8. FLAT DESIGN
The direction that appeared to the world in 2012 became a kind of antipode of skeuomorphism, which loved to convey actual volumes, shadows. The flat design symbolizes the simplification of digital space and heralds an era of two-dimensionality. Now it is changing, as we recently wrote about.
But for now, let’s note the following characteristic features:
- The principal place is given to the content. Graphic elements do not distract the user’s attention but help him to obtain information;
- Typography plays a significant role and doesn’t have to be conventional;
- The location of sections and elements of the resource structure is built according to an intuitive template;
- It can use bright colours, large-format photos, illustrations, videos, but without fanaticism.
Flat has become widespread in different business areas, in sites of various types.
#9. ORGANIC & NATURAL
In general, Flora, fauna and the natural world are loved by many, so there is such a style in web design. It is clear that within the framework of this aesthetics, developers will undoubtedly use motives borrowed from nature:
Texture depicting grass, trees, flowers, water, mountains;
Graphic elements in the form of various landscapes, variations on the theme of the animal of the plant kingdom.
In this style, the visual component is given the main place, it outweighs the information content and the content.
Very naturalistic!
You can find many other worthy, interesting and innovative web design ideas dedicated to various types of activity, the design of which was developed in this vein.
