Vandelay Website Design Blog

25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part II

In the right situation, a dark website background can create a stunning look. As a follow up to the original collection from several months ago, here are another 25 dark websites for your design inspiration.

For more design inspiration, see:

Infinite Imagination

Infinite Imagination

Kyle Haskins

Kyle Haskins

WISER

WISER

Mike Walker Creative

Mike Walker Creative

Goodbytes

Goodbytes

1 Minus 1

1 Minus 1

Les Arts O Soleil

Les Arts O Soleil

Mario H. Coelho

Mario H. Coelho

Ecstatic Media

Ecstatic Media

Mike Precious

Mike Precious

James B

James B

Leigh Taylor

Leigh Taylor

Sidebar Creative

Sidebar Creative

Level9 Design

Level9 Design

Fernando Sergio

Fernando Sergio

Artworking

Artworking

Quo Consulting

Quo Consulting

Island Shots

Island Shots

New Concept

New Concept

Mediatemprano

Mediatemprano

Chris Burrows

Chris Burrows

Ashwebmedia

Ashwebmedia

The Things We Make

The Things We Make

Sessions

Sessions

Komodomedia

Komodomedia

If you liked this collection, also see:

Originally Published June 9th, 2008

61 Responses

  1. 25 Beautifully Dark Website Designs | Vandelay Website Design
    June 9th, 2008

    [...] 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part II [...]

  2. Matt
    June 9th, 2008

    I love these lists. They give me a fair amount of inspiration when it comes to design and layout. Keep ‘em coming.

  3. Vandelay Design
    June 9th, 2008

    Thanks Matt,
    I’m glad they’re a source of inspiration for you.

  4. Adam
    June 9th, 2008

    This is a great list of website designs. I myself prefer ligher designs (as you can tell by my website), but all of these sites look really good.

  5. Vandelay Design
    June 9th, 2008

    Adam,
    I generally prefer lighter design myself, but I love dark designs that are done really well (for the right sites, it’s not a good fit for every website).

  6. adelle
    June 9th, 2008

    these are some great choices - and the best part is - I have never seen any of them! Great job.

  7. Vandelay Design
    June 9th, 2008

    Thanks Adelle. I tried to find some that haven’t been overexposed yet.

  8. LaurenMarie - Creative Curio
    June 10th, 2008

    Wow, I haven’t seen a lot of these before! Does it take you long to find sites for collections like this? Ooo, and I like the way Mario C. presents his screenshots! Not seen that used before either.

  9. Sacha
    June 10th, 2008

    Nice list ! The Goodbytes site (http://www.goodbytes.be/) reminds me a lot of this PSDTUTS tutorial: http://psdtuts.com/interface-tutorials/create-a-sleek-high-end-web-design-from-scratch/

    By the way, do you use a special tool for the screenshots, or do you grab all of them manually and resize them in photoshop ?

  10. James Abney-Hastings
    June 10th, 2008

    This is a great list! Good work finding underexposed ones, there are some old favorites I’ve seen a few times but most are new to me. I agree that a dark look isn’t suitable for all sites but used in the right place and done well like these ones the results can be spectacular.

  11. Fabio
    June 10th, 2008

    really nice! great list

  12. WishMyLove
    June 10th, 2008

    I would like to thanks…
    Great list I like your blog!

    Cheers,
    Szabolcs

  13. Ricardo
    June 10th, 2008

    Great list. I didn’t know some of them.

  14. real estate
    June 10th, 2008

    Those are really cool dark web site and the template is nice, I did go some of the site and got many thing.

  15. Tuomas
    June 10th, 2008

    One of the great additions would be http://www.i-marco.nl/weblog/
    by Marco van Hylckama Vlieg.

  16. Fubiz
    June 10th, 2008

    Amazing selection!

  17. Graham Strong
    June 10th, 2008

    I think what is great about dark websites is that they are so much harder to pull off. Most people prefer lighter colour schemes, I think. One good reason is that it is easier to read dark type on a white background than vice versa.

    But when a dark site is done right, the effects can be stunning as you have shown here.

    ~Graham

  18. Bob
    June 10th, 2008

    I see PSDTuts has left its mark on a few of these……
    (Goodbytes and James B)

  19. Eric
    June 10th, 2008

    I really like that first one - Infinite Imagination. All of these are pretty inspiring. In fact, time to get back to work instead of going around reading blogs! ;)

    - Eric

  20. WEB STREET - 暗めで美しいウェブサイト50個
    June 10th, 2008

    [...] via : 25 Beautifully Dark Website Designs | Vandelay Website Design via : 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part II | Vandelay Website Design AddClipsUrl = [...]

  21. JD
    June 10th, 2008

    Wonderful collection!

  22. HighFivez.com: Your Guide Through The Blogosphere. Find Blogs and Blog Posts.
    June 10th, 2008

    [...] 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part II [...]

  23. Roshan Shah
    June 10th, 2008

    You may also add http://www.la2day.com in your list.

  24. sir jorge
    June 10th, 2008

    those are really good, great even.

  25. Jason
    June 10th, 2008

    I am working on one. Please give some feedback. I don’t know which direction I should take it. http://synergydesigns.synergydesigns.org Thanks, J

  26. 25 jolis sites avec le design sombre | Kimly
    June 10th, 2008

    [...] Lien : Design sombre [...]

  27. 25 hermosos diseños con tonalidades oscuras | frogx.three
    June 11th, 2008

    [...] vandelay design nos han listado 25 diseños con tonalidades oscuras muy bien logrados y muy [...]

  28. BURAK ÖNAL
    June 11th, 2008

    those are really good, great even.

  29. 25 diseños web obscuros | roc21
    June 11th, 2008

    [...] la lista completa | [vandelaydesign.com] [...]

  30. Vehicle Shipping
    June 11th, 2008

    great collection of websites!

  31. James B
    June 11th, 2008

    Wow, honoured to have made it into one of these collections, thanks very much!

    Although having looked through, 1minus1 is absolutely stunning. Can’t fault it, top marks from me to them! Nice collection of websites mate, again thanks very much

    James

  32. Vandelay Design
    June 11th, 2008

    James,
    You’re welcome. Thanks for taking a moment to stop by and comment.

  33. Enlaces rápidos XXVI | Infected-FX
    June 11th, 2008

    [...] Diseños oscurosVandelay nos sorprende nuevamente con una muy buena lista de “dark sites” con excelente diseño. [...]

  34. Tristan
    June 12th, 2008

    This is an great looking dark webpage also: http://www.der-vigilant.de

  35. Jimeee
    June 12th, 2008

    Good list, thanks. Smashing Mag also have something similar.

    I’ll use this chance to give my own dark website a shameless plug:

    http://www.azeemalim.co.uk

  36. web design company
    June 12th, 2008

    Nice website designs that are dark

  37. links for 2008-06-12 « 個人的な雑記
    June 12th, 2008

    [...] 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part II | Vandelay Website Design (tags: webdesign inspiration Design CSS Gallery colors) [...]

  38. Jeremy
    June 12th, 2008

    Great collection of sites, these are always inspirational to me as I tend to prefer a bit of a darker design. It is nice to see a few I haven’t run across in the CSS galleries yet.

  39. Alojaweb
    June 13th, 2008

    nice collection, thanks for the contribution.

  40. Leigh Taylor
    June 13th, 2008

    Wow thanks for putting me up there! Didn’t expect to get so much flattery for my temp portfolio!

    @LaurenMarie
    As i am writing this, mine has only been up just over 3 weeks so either Vandelay has a good eye or special scouting powers!!!

  41. Vandelay Design
    June 13th, 2008

    Leigh,
    You’re welcome, and thanks for taking a moment to visit and comment. I’d like to think I have special scouting powers, but I’m just human.

  42. London Escorts
    June 14th, 2008

    I am really surprised to see these dark websites. Most of the dark website’s main problem is some deep color don’t match with each other. But in these sites the did match.

  43. facebook
    June 14th, 2008

    I think the webmasters hired some fine arts specialist for color combination. They are very choosy i guess. And also they are very good designer.

  44. Surf Raporu 17 Haziran 2008 | Taylan Aktepe
    June 17th, 2008

    [...] Koyu renklerle tasarlanmış sitelere merakınız varsa mutlaka gözatın… [...]

  45. 25 sitios oscuros y lindos | Isopixel
    June 18th, 2008

    [...] Breves Buena recopilación de sitios oscuros y atractivos. Serie I y serie II# [...]

  46. design nottingham
    June 19th, 2008

    White text on black backgrounds are always going to be harder on the eyes than the opposite but these sites work really well because they use almost white text which really seems to make a difference!

  47. Xtence
    June 19th, 2008

    very nice list, i look forward to see more of this
    these are the hardest designs to make because of the white text, but it’s allways a challenge !!!!

  48. GoodBytes
    June 21st, 2008

    Nice to see we are on the list too! I love the James B header ! All other designs are great as well.

  49. 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part II | Rookie Millionaire
    June 21st, 2008

    [...] 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part II In the right situation, a dark website background can create a stunning look. As a follow up to the original collection from several months ago, here are another 25 dark websites for your design inspiration. Infinite Imagination [...]

  50. Dark Design
    June 23rd, 2008

    Check this one from my friend’s studio: http://www.happydesign.ru/portfolio/index.php?cat_id=1&page=5

  51. Why are designers never 100% satisfied? | David Airey :: Graphic and Logo Designer
    June 30th, 2008

    [...] that I favour simplicity and white space in design. Dark backgrounds, such as those featured on Vandelay and Smashing Magazine, aren’t my thing. A few of my favourite blog authors use dark web [...]

  52. Why are designers never 100% satisfied? | Dalton Trent's Blog
    July 8th, 2008

    [...] that I favour simplicity and white space in design. Dark backgrounds, such as those featured on Vandelay and Smashing Magazine, aren’t my thing. A few of my favourite blog authors use dark web [...]

  53. Ricardo
    July 21st, 2008

    it is dark and beautiful :-)
    it’s my site.
    please say me a word about it.

  54. Two Mad Geeks » 25 Beautifully Dark Websites
    July 31st, 2008

    [...] Link: Vandelay Website Design [...]

  55. nick
    September 16th, 2008

    two more for consideration…

    http://www.justmythoughts.com

    and

    http://www.nickhand.net

  56. nick
    September 16th, 2008

    hmmm the http://www.justmythoughts.com link was wrong, here it is:

    http://www.justmythoughts.com

  57. baroquedub » Blog Archive » Web design inspiration
    November 11th, 2008

    [...] Beautifully Dark Websites Part II [...]

  58. SJL Web Design
    December 23rd, 2008

    Nice collection Vandelay Design! some really nice dark designs. If you get a chance we would be honored if you could take a look at our site, maybe you could consider adding it to part 3, if you ever get round to making it.

  59. 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part 3 | Vandelay Website Design
    December 29th, 2008

    [...] In the past, I’ve published two collections of great dark designs (see part one and part two), and here is part [...]

  60. Web Page Design For You » Blog Archive » 25 Beautifully Dark Websites - Part 3
    December 29th, 2008

    [...] In the past, I’ve published two collections of great dark designs (see part one and part two), and here is part [...]

  61. Website Design Roy
    January 26th, 2009

    Nice list of dark designs. Sometimes I think to myself why I didn’t think of that….doh!

Leave a Reply