Top 10 Best Designed Websites in the World
Note: This is an older list
» Here’s my much more recent list of best designed websites »
Here’s my list of my top 10 best designed websites in the world. These are just my personal preference of the best website design – you don’t have to agree, but I’ll try to explain why these web designs work great and why I like them so much.
My top 10 best web designs:
- Apple.com
- Mozilla.com
- Iconbuffet.com
- WhyWeWhisper.com
- Circografico.com.ar
- Enhancedlabs.com
- Protolize.org
- Bearskinrug.co.uk
- Corkd.com
- Sumagency.com
#1 Apple.com
Apple is the best example of striking the balance of simplicity (white space, strong type) with rich imagery sensitively-applied.
It’s also a big, varied, constantly-new site with loads of content, which always feels easy & enjoyable to navigate.
For solving the numerous demands on the UI so elegantly, this is, in my opinion, the best-designed web site in the world today.
#2 Mozilla.com
Clear, open, fresh, simple. When you arrive at this site, you’re under no doubt what the site does, or where to start looking for what you want. The design is positive and happy. A consistent contender for best website design.
#3 Iconbuffet.com
The website sells icons, so it lets the icons rule, showing its wares from the first page.
The colours and typography are solid & strong, projecting a trustworthy brand while not getting in the way of the proposition.
#4 WhyWeWhisper.com
“Why We Whisper – restoring our right to say it’s wrong” is a book about freedom of speech in the USA, written by Senator Jim DeMint and J. David Woodward, and has one of the best designed websites of this year.
The page design is a great example of pixel-saving in action, with very little complexity going into the page background, leaving room for large, clear typography. I love the flourished rules between the quotes.
If I have a couple of criticisms, the page doesn’t tell you up-front what it’s about.. relying on prior knowledge or even reading, which may be a lot to ask. Also, a lot of the text is red. Maybe it would be easier to read in black.
(Another very worthy simple & impacting book site is “Gangs of America.com”, book by Ted Nace.)
#5 Circografico.com.ar/
The guy’s an illustrator, so his site has to:
- Show his work
- Be interesting and characterful
It does both these things really well, qualifying it as one of the best website designs of the year!
The graphic design is designed around Alex’s work, with intelligent typography and just enough pixels used to give the site background its tattered, rich vibe.
I love the way his portfolio page uses gradients to suggest the work in a print context.
#6 EnhancedLabs.com
Another icon maker, doing bigger, richer icons, so the the site showcases them bigger & richer.
Bold, flattish colour creates a strong first impression and still lets the product stand out.
#7 Protolize.org
Tony Yoo’s collection of recommended web resources is a great example of strong graphic elements balancing to make a site that’s bold and easy to use, and a great example of early “Web2.0″ best website design.
Big text, simple nav, high usability, all wrapped in strong colour and finished off with nice graphical touches.
#8 Bearskinrug.co.uk
Another illustrator’s site (Kevin Cornell). What can I say about this that I didn’t say about Alex Dukal’s site?
It embodies the essence of Kevin’s style, and – if you look – does an excellent job of filling the space with content, needing almost no page furniture at all.
Count how many things on the page are both navigation and content. Everything has had the touch of the illustrator’s brush, so the site is just saturated with his talent.
#9 Corkd.com
Dan Cederholm’s personal wine review project provides a neat, cleanly-designed interface, featuring an intelligent colour scheme and fantastic simple logo.
Easy to use and fun to browse. This site strikes the balance just right.
It might be even better if the main content area were lightened, to distinguish it from the supporting content areas.
#10 Sumagency.com
Oh so 2.0, but I just love it. You know what gets me every time? Acres of balanced white space, easy-read text and cute content graphics combining to tell a simple story. First-rate.
Note: This list is from 2007. Here’s my newer list of best web designs from 2010!
A few more…
Here’s a trio of nicely designed sites from Pro Web Design Alliance members. Check out Excavation New Jersey, Quality Web Design UK and Homes Staten Island.
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Great list! I obviously wouldn’t place them all in the same order, but yours is pretty cool! Check out my list at: http://blog.webconstructions.net/2010/05/top-10-website-designs.html.
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I think that a properly title for this site would be “10 best ENGLISH designed web sites in the world” .. Do you know why the Nobel Prizes (the Swedish awards) are so popular in the world? ..Because they are universal..because these prizes are not only for people who live in Sweden or people who speak only one language.
Look at the world..it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand the language , there are a lot…plenty of well designed sites that is a must to see and some of them are not in english.
Good point Alfred. I think it’s fair that my top 10 sites are in English, as my first language is English, and I need to understand a site to get its design completely (otherwise I can only appreciate its decoration). Copy is the #1 most important factor in web design, so I could not properly judge the merits of a site that is written in Greek, Portuguese, or Korean.
where can I find the date of this article and it’s writer?
Hi. This page was written by Ben Hunt in May 2009.
This is a terrible, terrible list. Terrible.
Couldnt agree with anymore
There’re thousands of awesome-design websites out there
i like this list a lot!
thanks
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Hi to all here, I just got to this page when I search Top 10 website designed, I am also a web designer and looking for “something new and unique” this was my boss told me most of the time. These collections is great but still looks common to me when it come to the design and style, I am looking for design that does not use flash, unique and stylist but not look like personal website, use a little 3d effects or objects and a corporate type website. Can someone here point me any website you may know that looks unique and new style. thanks in advance
Just stumbled across this list and I cant agree that these are the best designed websites in the world right now…
Might be best to put a date up the top as otherwise this isnt taking into account new websites from the time of this article.
Hi Kerry. I agree with you completely. This list is quite out-of-date now, and I do intend to publish an update soon.
great list.
thanks for sharing !
Hi there,
I love the clean line web designs, it is true, simple and clean is better.
oneworld-onewish…for Positive Change,
From the Heart,
Andrea
Design and style are very subjective matters, this list is one among thousands, keep searching and update all the time.
These are the worst websites ever! Get some better ones, ones people would like!
Very Good Point Alfred (June 21, 2010), I totally agree with you, the title in this website is wrong. Ben’s excuse is the most stupid excuse and explanation I’ve ever heard: “my top 10 sites are in English, as my first language is English” so therefore Alfred is right, the title should be “10 best ENGLISH designed web sites in the world”… what if there are only 200 people in the world right now who speak Totonaca? Their “10 best web sites in the world” would be very limited in copy and in what Ben calls “decoration”…
how can i become the best wedsite maker in just one month.
Hi John. It takes 6 months, and you can sign up here: Pro Web Design Course
Great Information !
dis is a good list.
Very nice collection man.But i think you need to change it because of CSS 3 raising and other CMS designing,Beautiful website is creating everyday…by the that,those are really good.
i totally disagree with this list…even apple, and apple is not GOD
dunno is nothing great in this list.. may be i misstaked?
Alfred… no offense but who gives a crap about other countries and their awards. This is America. America rocks! English is THE language of the world. Take your multi-pluralistic stuff and stuff it. USA!!! HooRaa!
Sorry Tom. No, this isn’t America. You’re in America. Where I’m sitting, it’s England. This is the web.
“Two countries separated by a common language”
wow how can you miss (www.2advanced.com) (www.homeostatic.net) (www.sensisoft.com) one of the best websites I have seen check them out.
Jr, 2advanced.com is like a video game. It’s had a lot of skill and a lot of work put into it (and I’ve followed their designs for years), and it does a good job of promoting what they do (which is work like that). But it’s not great *design* in my book, because it’s hard to use, it’s unclear, and it doesn’t compel action from the visitor.
I totally love about two thirds of these websites! Especially Kevin’s designs and drawings are absolutely spot on! Do you know him?
One humble request: Can you please target more sites this year? Your selection is inspiring but the 2009 and 2010 lists were far too short!
But thank you for letting us see what you consider stylish and/or functional, even if you keep the 2011 list this compact!
James Cameron
i don’t agree
I know this is now outdated. But the title is whats making soo many people disagree. In my opinion, you should have titled this “My Top Ten Best Designed Websites In The World”. Because to get such a list, it takes alot of voting and a very educated panel of judges who know how to judge every aspect of a site. I do like and appreciate this list you made of your own opinion, and some of these sites are very well made to ease of use and navigation. I would have also found it to be much more satisfying if you would have explained what “design” meant to you,as in simplicity and navigation or artistic. With a little more site qualifications for you to judge on…this list would have been easier for the reader to understand. Thank you very much for your list (:
Thanks Justin.
I don’t think anyone, anywhere can claim to have a list of the 10 best designed websites in the World. Everything is a matter of opinion. But maybe you’re right about the title of this article. I think we’ll change it to ‘My Top 10 Best …’
This list of sites is a joke, any designer should know a well designed website and not one of those should be posted under the title of this article. As a designer I think you need to take s step back and look at what is posted….
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sth else. Rating a website is a matter of personal opinion which differs greatly among pple. more importantly there are an insanely huge list of websites in the world I don’t think u’ve analyzed 1% of all the sites. Good work though. Maybe a better option would be to have pple vote online for the best designed website, then they are rated automatically. again u did what u could at the moment – good enough
I think the Apple website design must be position 1. But I like all of designs on this page. Thanks a lot!
Hi,
The reason I love apple’s website is because of the sleek smooth feel just like their apple products.
I also noticed they used the same design to create an autobiography site for steve jobs.
So for me its one of the best web design work i have seen. simple, clean, functional
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Apple is number 1 in everything it gets involved. howtocore.
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I just want to tell you that i like your hand work,and am hoping if you could teach me
Sure. See http://www.prowebdesignalliance.com/
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Well I am just an apprentice in web designing and all this stuff. All that confuses me is to make a website best, should it be made as simple as possible. I mean all these website that u have listed are although great but still very simple. I mean i couldn’t find any extra effect or something new and different. Should use of all such things must be avoided? And thanks for sharing your views, it was great to get a list of top 10 websites.
Yes, remove anything that doesn’t help people find what they want, anything that distracts them from the core message and path through your site.
Except the apple.com, no other site deserve to be in the list. I am was shocked seeing some big sites not included in the list. Sorry but you should look around all sites not only a few which you like.
All sites? Really? Like I said, this is just my list from one point in time. I wouldn’t choose the same list today – although it’s likely that apple would still be on it.
I like u and your design’s very much..
Be a web maker is my hobby..
& I’m interested it very much.
I want to be like u..
so sagest me.
What i should do for it.
Easy. See http://www.prowebdesigncourse.com
Easy. See http://www.prowebdesigncourse.com…...
hehe, if only it was that simple:)
I like how you point out sites that aren’t just flashy but also good for what they do. There are too many sites that list just a bunch of really cool looking sites, but aren’t necessarily well designed.
Superb! But I think there are more sites capable to make this list
even though these designs are a few years old many are still very much applicable to todays clean elegant web designs
No offense but that list sucks.
None taken