5 Fresh and Simple Site Designs
I’m a sucker for a well designed site. I will even go as far as saying I won’t return to a site with an old and messy design (like IGN). Luckily, I’ve picked five fresh and relatively simple designs from around the net.
Mixx
Mixx is a rapidly growing social news site comparable to Digg sans the large user base. The blue, red, and tan color scheme play easy on the eyes. The red navigation bar makes for, well, easy navigation and the sidebar refines article searching. The font size on Mixx is very random, which takes away from the content on the site. Bump up the size of the headlines or you’ll never attract new users.
Spoongraphics Blog
This tutorial blog, although more fresh than simple, pulls off a graffiti/scrapbook look. The large header and messy lines will instantly pull in not-so-interested readers. Dark brown and black scheme wouldn’t fly a few years ago, but web design has really innovated itself, with help from the web 2.0 era. I would give the “Categories” section of the sidebar more emphasis.
Hulu
Although the video content on Hulu is old, the design is pretty well done. It’s mostly white design with a large video viewer in the center, move your eyes where Hulu wants (on the ad-filled videos). Below the video player displays similar content in the form of pictures and farther down, comments. The Hulu design is great, but the only problem is it’s pretty slow on adding new content.
DeltaTangoBravo
Daniel Burka’s personal blog pulls of the simple. The gray background with the eye-catching red bar make this one of my favorite themes. Why? I like simple, and this pulls it off, but still keeps it fresh. I don’t usually like dark background, light text blogs, but this one works. Much like Hulu, this blog hasn’t seen a new post in almost four months.
43 Folders
Merlin Mann’s newly redesigned productivity blog, 43 Folders is last on the list. Like the Spoongraphics blog, 43 Folders uses the scrapbook look, but keeps it looking like the inside of a file cabinet. My favorite part of the design being the bottom (see picture below). If only I would listen to what the blog had to say.
