You make a homepage, you create a blog page, you style the comments and the menu and write a post. The formula for making a website is not all that complicated and, for what it is, it still works. But what happens when all sites start looking the same, with only minute details being the distinctive elements.
Given the fact that the world wide web is now officially just over 30 years old and that there are over 1.5 billion websites on it, novelty becomes a key term in modern day web design and development. Even with all the creativity in the world, technical limits or limits imposed by the client can be restrictive even for an experienced web developer. Almost everything has already been said and done, so to stand out from the crowd means not only a feat in terms of design and development, but a win in the eyes of the client.
Another factor that comes into play when understanding this monotony in web design is the sheer number of web developers (about 23 million, to be exact ), though it seems a rather large number at first compared to the number of websites, does not guarantee the fact that each website is different or unique. Creativity does run out at a certain point and, as mentioned earlier, the client takes a big part in that. By their request, many sites need to resemble the ones of the competitors, creating almost a “chain reaction”: a site that resembles a site, that resembles another site, that resembles another site, and so on and so forth.
This is why getting inspired to create something new, fresh and innovative is crucial in present-day web development. The search for new tricks and solutions that work for us in order to avoid banalities has to be continuous, not only for the client, but also for us, developers.
To avoid this exact monotony that we have been describing, we found these following sites that, in our opinion, break the mold in every way, both from a technical perspective and from a design standpoint. Enjoy and get inspired!
1.The Year of Greta
With a simple yet innovative concept, this site presents the rise of Greta Thunberg from a solo activist against climate change to being the leader of the movement and being nominated and chosen as the Person of the year.
2. Journée portes fermées
With many interactive elements on the page, you would expect a simple presentation site to be difficult to navigate and follow, but this is not the case with Journée portes fermées. Interactivity becomes the focus point and the main device in discovering and navigating the website, all while the color-scheme gives way to focus on the stories of the people presented.
3. We the fans
Another site that focuses on interactivity is We the fans, which presents the stories of different sport fans. The focus is once again on people, on the fans, in this case being cleverly hidden behind stadium seats, just waiting to be discovered.
4. PART – Practice for Architecture, Research and Theory
Leaning on the brutalist side of web-design, PART surprisingly manages to add novelty to the concept of scrolling , turning the website into a tridimensional space.
5. Konstantopoulos Olives
Who thought that a website about olives could be so entertaining?
6. Corphes
Staying in the Greek side of the world, another site that literally turns things on their head is Corphes. With a bottom to top structure, this website gives us an opportunity to look on how a simple concept like scrolling can still be reinvented and used in a creative way.
7. Pantheone Audio
With a sleek and futuristic feel, the design of the Pantheone Audio website compliments the modern aesthetic of the product advertised, making it a cohesive presentation website.
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Splash image by Freepik
