Many websites follow the clean, minimal trend with using a lot of white space. But what about those that don’t use white space, but different color backgrounds that are close to white? Here’s a list of 10 that I found, feel free to add more in the comments and they will be added to the list. Color will vary from screen to screen.
1. Loja Birds
Has a neat, unique site structure along with a minimal, easy to follow design.
Color: Grey
Source: Siteinspire
2. Roanne Adams
Hope you like scrolling…horizontally. Roanne has a great sense of type and a wide range of styles in her print and product design.
Color: Beige
Source: Siiimple
3. Complex Fruit
Homepage of Paul Torres, a jack of all trades in design. His illustrative work and logo design are especially worth taking a look at.
Color: Like a beige / pink with dots
Source: Siiimple
4. Header Footer
They need to have some fun-filled infographics work done based on the excellent Core Studio pieces in their portfolio. Helvetica never gets old, and again, it serves it’s purpose well on Header Footer.
Color: Grey, very near white
Source: Siiimple
5. Design Interactions
A hit-or-miss layout in terms of usability. Design Interactions likes the z-index a lot and collages images together, uncovering the hidden ones with hoverovers.
Color: Light Green
Source: Minimal Sites
6. Ripe Type
Ripe Type is a great type resource here, consider it another bonus site to my article on great type resources. What I find odd about this site is the background is an image, not a CSS solid color. Perhaps it has a very subtle grain that my screen is incapable of displaying.
Color: Beige / Pink
Source: Minimal Sites
7. David Arias
I remember seeing David Arias site a while back thinking “wow, David Airey really must have done a big switch on his portfolio and website”…until I realized they were two different people. Both designers specialize in logo design, and have nice site designs.
Color: Grey
8. Darren Hoyt
Very slick design and subtle integration of jQuery.
Color: Light Blue
Source: CSS Uber Clean
9. Stephen Caver
Nice to see a website from a different angle (literally). It can be hard to pull off diagonal content, but Stephen does it.
Color: Beige
Source: CSS Uber Clean
10. Rose Fu
Ah, the type on this is spectacular. And what an original take on the contact box, it fits perfectly on the wall in the footer.
Color: Beige
Source: CSS Elite
Bonus! 11. Gvendi Tattoo Studio
Rarely do you come by a light purple website website. The header is nifty on this one and it’s simple to use. Only complaint is the background doesn’t repeat, so you get a thick purple bar down the right side.
Color: Light Purple
Source: CSS Elite
Update March 2010:Ocular Harmony now uses a gray color scheme, becoming one of those off-white sites. Don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed!
Related posts:
- 5 great Monkey-themed websites
- Great Typographic Product Design
- Great cigarette package design
- 5 tips to make a great mixtape
- A website is more than just good design
David Airey says:
September 1, 2009
Hey Robin, David Arias’ site is a nice one. You don’t come across many with a similar style of navigation, which is good. Thanks for the props on my own blog, too. I appreciate that.
Off-topic, it took me a few minutes to find your “submit” button for my comment (it’s hidden behind the RSS feed link in Firefox on Mac).
David Arias says:
September 17, 2009
Hello Robin,
Thank you for the inclusion. There are a lot of great sites showcased here. David Airey’s blog is actually a great source, and one that I have visited often. He has tons of knowledge about design itself and the business that comes with it. It’s an honor to get kudos from a guy like him who has been in the industry for way longer than I have been.
Clayton Shumway says:
January 13, 2010
Cool post Robin. Off-white is classy and timeless. Thanks for the collection!
ps - the Steven Caver example looks great, but the link didn’t work?
admin says:
January 13, 2010
Thanks Clayton! The Steven Caver site seems to be down for a redesign! Maybe he’ll provide a new off-white look :D
nauman says:
March 18, 2010
whoops, looks like the link for ripetype is actually the link for the one above it!
Robin Bastien says:
March 19, 2010
Thanks for pointing that out Nauman, I have corrected it
Techie Talks says:
May 28, 2010
You have great collections, vintage is also my style. It rocks!