I always find myself sifting through inspiration and seeing that one website that makes me say “man, why didn’t I think of doing that!” I’m sure I’m not the only designer who thinks this way so I decided to ask my friends on Twitter what the favorite designed website currently on the web was.
Below are their responses, links to their Twitter account and a few words on why it’s their favorite.
@iamFinch‘s favorite:
“Beautiful color, typography, and photography.”
@C7Design favorite:
“The site’s beauty is in its simplicity. The gallery is really well done too.”
@andymangold‘s favorite:
“A nicely run and designed website featuring custom bicycles from all over the world. The simple, grid based & largely typographic design highlights the photography of the bikes, which the owners of Boutique Cycles maintain strict standards for. The little details give the site its personality without overwhelming the content.”
@mattdetails‘ favorite:
@danielwhyte‘s favorite:
“I love Designiskinky, for the fact that the information that i want to see is displayed in a simple fashon with a great use of white space, the logo simple and sexy, and i every time i visit the site it feels fresh, because of the great unique content.”
@lvgraphics‘s favorite:
“I love this site! Even though it is a print design focused blog, they have really taken the elements of web design and usability to heart. The images always look so vibrant and the text is always super crisp.”
@joshontheweb‘s favorite:
“I think this site very nicely designed. It is a simple design but no detail is overlooked. I love the javascript transitions he uses on portfolio items. The theme switcher is a nice touch, but I am partial to the “Day Theme”.
@wrccdesign‘s favorite:
“Texture, graphics, and cartoons working well together”
@neueblanc‘s favorite:
“Legarconblue is one of my favorite designed website because of its minimal, grid based layout topped off with amazing functionality and contrast.”
@Filipquivreux‘s favorite:
@urbanrenewal‘s favorite:
“Phenomenal design. Each post is unique, colourful and a joy to look at. And the content is good too. A rare combination.”
@bigwavedesign‘s favorite:
“GoToChina is such an innovative site, easy to use while still looking stonking! There is nothing I would change on this site which immediately places it higher than all the others and I keep coming back to it when designing just to make sure I don’t get too carried away with clutter and to remind me that simple is often more effective.”
@everydayworks‘ favorite:
“For an e-commerce site, The User X is awesome. Big pictures, great navigation. Overall, very good design.”
@joshhemsley‘s favorite:
“This site really struck me as providing a brilliant & progress solution to design. It doesn’t depend on crazy graphic effects, slick color gradients or anything of the sort. It simply relays a message through strong typography, strong illustrations, creative layout and an awesome use of negative space. Best site design of 2009 in my opinion!”
@iana_‘s favorite:
“I love a beautiful arty background image combined with transparency of panels and simplicity of the layout. One of my favourite!”
@GarettMayfield‘s favorite:
“As of yesterday, this is my favorite site. It’s very clean, simple, and to the point. Their design work is awesome and right down my alley.”
@Nikibrown‘s favorite:
“I love the recently redesigned NPR site because it has more breathing room an it’s easier on the eyes. The designers also included some nice attention to detail that shows through very well.”
@cshold‘s favorite:
“Everyone’s seen it, and for good reason. Rob Morris is a CSS genius that has designed a perfect layout. The usability, functionality and pure inspirational visuals all combine for one of the best portfolio websites I have come across.”
@RichardCarter‘s favorite:
“It’s corporate and fun; exactly what come to mind when I think of Virgin as a company (section home page linked to as I think this is demonstrated better here!)”
@gavinelliott and @noel1215‘s favorite:
“When you look at art direction type sites (gregorywood.co.uk) and (jasonsantamaria.com) as the starters of the trend, often Dustin Curtis is forgotten about yet he’s been designing that way for a while and is very talented.”
“I’ve been following Dustin Curtis for months, and I love the creativity he injects in his layouts.”
@pi_r_webdesign‘s favorite:
“A beautiful design and amazing animations for this wonderful site. A great work!”
@zuno and @benjam1n‘s favorite:
“The details and functionality are amazing. Great photography, elegant type, massive amounts of content nicely organized and easy to get through.”
“Great colors, great typography, well balanced layout and awesome shoes.”
@rev087‘s favorite:
“Not exactly my favourite, usability is not one of the strong sides of the site…but the sheer awesomeness of the background “animation” idea makes me wish I designed it. Good design is everywhere; innovative design is rare.”
@jfredson‘s favorite:
“Beautiful typography and solid layout. Great usage of progressive enhancement.”
@GearBox_Designs‘ favorite:
“I’ve loved it since it first appeared on Website Design Awards. I think I think it has a lot of fun design elements and that 80s style illustration on the homepage makes me happy — haha!”
@oehowarddesign‘s favorite:
“Typography with an impact. The navigation is as striking as the use of color is stark. I just love it.”
@bnonn‘s favorite:
“The simplicity of the layout; the strong, fearless use of color; the call to action; and especially the “about” page (aka, ‘our story’). Just a brilliant site.”
@theconstruct‘s favorite:
“It’s unique, smooth and has a personality about it that I really find intriguing and ephemeral.”
@behoff‘s (me) favorite:
A blog design that constantly amazes me is Viget Inspire. With beautiful typography, captivating colors and bold imagery the site is well done from top to bottom. I even enjoy the images of the various authors on each post — the “Inspire” part of Viget name sure lives up to the name.
What is your favorite website design? Share in the comments below.
Some very cool sites selected here. Thanks for the article. Inspiring work.
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Great collection! Thanks to all who suggested the sites. I was considering suggesting Carsonified as well so I’m glad it got take care of.
I also really like the flourish, sofa, and Elliot Jay Stock.
Cheers
Thanks for putting this together Brian. So much eye candy – so little time.
Carsonified and Legarconblue are probably my picks out of all of them, the content is the main focus and it’s very good, though there’s a pretty high standard in here—very nice round up!
Keep up the good work!
good collection didn’t know some of them .. thx for the inspiration :)
Awesome idea for a post Brian! It’s great to see what sites pass the “design test” in the eyes of it’s peers :)
Sweet. I’m glad there was a good turnout for this poll :)
[...] The Design Cubicle, has recently published the results of a request for his Twitter friends to choose their favourite [...]
All excellently designed sites, that’s for sure. I’m partial to the Vignet/le Bloe style myself, but I definitely took a second look at the excellent typography in Carsonified and Sofa’s sites.
Keep up the good writing, Brian :)
Very good idea, a lot of interesting sites, thank you Brian
Great collection buddy!
Hey thanks for putting this together! I designed the venturevisuals.com site listed second. Based on the quality of your work, and the other work in this list, I must say I’m very flattered to be included here! Much appreciation!
Seth Cox
So much inspiration in just one post. Absolutely fantastic sites and designs, even the ones I’ve seen over and over, I swear they keep getting better.
@theconstruct’s favorite: is also my fav
cheers for the list brian
I appreciate a good web design and I liked Niki Brown’s favorite too. Very clean and uncluttered. Many of the others are nice too.