25 Beautifully Dark Website Designs

Published February 25th, 2008 in Galleries

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A few weeks ago I published a gallery of Beautifully Colorful Websites that drew a lot of interest from designers. I thought it would be appropriate to follow that up with a collection of great designs that feature dark colors. As always, feel free to leave your comments and mention your favorites.

Hydra Studio

Evan Eckard

Print Huge

Brandon Muth

Maurice Krijtenberg

Tim Kadlec

Merix

Drew Wilson

Aten Design Group

Deluxe Digital Media

Mojave

Quantics

Ten Thousand Things

George Lazaros

Whooray Records

Here’s Life Mission Africa

Daniel Oliver

Shifting Creations

First Light Landscaping

If you liked this collection, also see:

98 Responses to “25 Beautifully Dark Website Designs”

Jermayn February 25th, 2008

Nice indeed!

some of these really use the dark colours well!

I like the websites that use graphics as a main feature
Maurice Krijtenberg
Taxis Aeroport
smashLab

to name a few

Vandelay Design February 25th, 2008

Jermayn,
Thanks for commenting. Those are some of my favorites as well.

Jermayn February 25th, 2008

They are different!
Not the same as everything else which is good!

Deron Sizemore February 25th, 2008

Very nice! I think I’ll include some of these on my CSS gallery NiceStylesheet if that’s alright with you?

-Deron

xensen February 25th, 2008

I think dark themes are great for photoblogs. I don’t like them so much if there is a lot of text.

bill February 26th, 2008

I like the german http://www.mein-brandenburg.com too.

Azeem February 26th, 2008

Evan Eckard’s site is exceptional. I love the clean lines and simplicity – something I tried for my own dark portfolio site.

PinkPetrol February 26th, 2008

Niceeeeeeeeee!

Fubiz February 26th, 2008

Beautiful selection!

John Bullitt February 26th, 2008

One of my favorites: The splash page of the National Security Agency (http://www.nsa.gov). Deliciously creepy. Just looking at it, I feel like I’m being watched…

Stephan Miller February 26th, 2008

I like it. I have never used a dark design for a site. These may change my attitude.

Carlos Eduardo Appel Klein - DigitalDesk February 26th, 2008

Nice collection. The smashLAB is very cool!

Dave Dragon February 26th, 2008

My Blog also has a Dark Theme: http://davedragon.rilysi.com
I have always preferred darker themes.

Jason Cain February 26th, 2008

I am working on one. Any suggestions would be great. http://synergydesigns.synergydesigns.org

anglictina February 26th, 2008

Nice, really beautiful dark designs

Thomas February 26th, 2008

I think http://www.charlottesullivan.net is pretty nice for a dark themed website.

alan February 26th, 2008

wow, you missed http://www.2advanced.com/

nice list tho

drake February 26th, 2008

All good!

I like the spaciness of http://www.jvchdworld.co.uk, really good use of black and darkness too.

drake February 26th, 2008

http://www.jvchdworld.co.uk (comma got thrown in in previous post)

Kelly February 26th, 2008

Did Daniel Oliver get logo inspiration from David Airey, or the other way around? They seem very similar, at first I thought it was a redo of David Airey’s site.

gwegner.de February 26th, 2008

What do you think: http://www.gwegner.de

Vandelay Design February 26th, 2008

Deron,
Thanks for the comment. You can feature anything you want in your gallery.

Azeem,
I agree. Evan’s site is one of my favorites here.

Kelly,
I really have no idea when the site was published. I know David Airey’s has been around for a while.

Adrian February 26th, 2008

Thanks for the mention, much appreciated

Vandelay Design February 26th, 2008

No problem Adrian. Thanks for stopping by.

Reese February 27th, 2008

I wonder what you guys think of http://www.movielol.org …

Ashfield February 27th, 2008

What do you think of http://www.john-hodgson.com

Amanda February 27th, 2008

I am sad that my website was not included as it’s dark and beautiful too!! http://www.soapbxx.com

Digital Revolutions February 27th, 2008

Nice list

Reynder (Webdesign) February 27th, 2008

Good list. Interesting to read that one of your favourites is one of the examples I really do not like (Taxis Aeroport).

Tim Kadlec February 27th, 2008

Thanks for the nod! You’ve got some really great designs displayed here…an honor to be mentioned with them.

Vandelay Design February 27th, 2008

Revnder,
Actually, to be specific I like some of the other ones that were mentioned more than that one. Of the 3 that were mentioned, I prefer the other 2.

Tim,
You’re welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

Rose February 27th, 2008

You should check out by dark (yet bright) site interhuss.com

In any case, thanks for the cool site links. Most of them are gorgeous..a few are merely good.

David February 27th, 2008

thx alot! great sites!

Juggling Jason February 29th, 2008

For a minimal site that makes great use of blacks and greys check out

http://www.nizuc.com/

Funny t shirts March 3rd, 2008

I love the George Lazaros one. I am kinda into the urban vibe and got that feel from this site but since I am a dude, the hot mag really got my interest. When in doubt, throw a few half nude models on your site and whatch your traffic take off.

baby March 4th, 2008

Great website!! Keep up the good work!!

Phoebe July 8th, 2008

http://www.MichaelGrimaldi.net – this dark website really shows up the graphite drawings – what do you guys think of dark sites for artwork?

Vandelay Design July 8th, 2008

Phoebe,
I like dark websites for art galleries/portfolios, but personally I find the navigation of that site to be un-user friendly.

Vhic Hufana July 24th, 2008

I love dark websites. Print Huge is very cool, clean and amazing. Very nice collection…Keep ‘em coming!

Gemma July 24th, 2008

That JVC site is beautiful, i love good dark websites

Graphic Design Services July 29th, 2008

Nice collections!

Graphic Art August 31st, 2008

David Hellman design is very very beautiful. I love it very much. I hope to see more designs that really inspires people.

Chris Odell November 9th, 2008

Omg! I’m in love with the First Light Landscaping theme. I will have to sort my blog out fast! Many thanks for the top tip!

JD November 16th, 2008

Amazing list.
I just posted a similar article about dark portfolios

Atlanta Criminal Lawyer December 11th, 2008

Awesome list – how did you compile it? Dark website – really bring out bold colors which are very visually appealing.

Irfan January 21st, 2009

I found these dark designs, very helpful

thanks
Irfan

chuks Mbata London [United Kingdom] February 13th, 2009

This is creativity,this is a great talent expressed.I desire to have a dark website,how can I go about it.

Foto Syur February 13th, 2009

WOW!! Now I’m not afraid of the dark anymore…

K-Nine February 25th, 2009

Wow! Definitely inspiring!

chuks Mbata London [United Kingdom] March 29th, 2009

how can i set up my own dark website?

'Sabina Kersten March 31st, 2009

In this list there is a screendump used for ‘David Hellman’ which is exactly the same design as a website used by a secondhand clothing store http://www.hetwinkeltjearnhem.nl/index.asp?id=dhri88bghntbnnnwqakzy7339mzaspk593422
On this site the design is claimed by someone else than David Hellman.

When clicking on the David Hellman screendump, you cannot find that design. But it made me curious.

WHO IS THE REAL DESIGNER?

Vandelay Design March 31st, 2009

Sabina,
David Hellman has since changed the design of his site, as you noticed. I am 90% sure that David’s design was the original and the other was the copy.