When I’m looking at excellent websites for design inspiration, one of my favorite aspects of design to notice is the navigation menu. While I enjoy seeing excellent designs of all types (minimal to artistic to colorful to dark) and various aspects of the site (including headers and footers), a well-designed and well-executed navigation menu can have more impact on my appreciation of a site than any other single piece of the design.
In this post I’d like to take a look at more than 50 stellar examples of navigation menus that positively impact the design of a website. The list includes a great deal of variety. Regardless of what you personally prefer, there should be some inspirational examples in here for you.
For more design inspiration, see:
- 50 of the Best Church Website Designs
- 25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites
- 25 Beautifully Dark Website Designs
For more design inspiration, see:
November 10th, 2008
Superb list. Thanks for featuring our site.
November 10th, 2008
Thanks for including us here with such great company.
November 11th, 2008
Felix and Henry,
You’re welcome. Excellent work!
November 11th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design (tags: design webdesign navigation menus) [...]
November 11th, 2008
Thanks for including and neat list as well!
November 11th, 2008
Many thanks for including my site in the list. There are some great examples that I haven’t seen before.
November 11th, 2008
God, there’s so much talent about!
Do you actually do any work or do you spend your day looking at everybody elses work?
November 11th, 2008
Thank you very much for featuring my site!
Am really flattered right now
Keep up the good postings!
November 11th, 2008
Great post! Very nice for some inspiration!
November 11th, 2008
This is truly a great and inspiring list; some stunning examples here, nicely done, thanks for sharing!
November 11th, 2008
Andy,
Not as much work as I used to. Surfing around is actually part of my job now, it’s pretty cool.
November 11th, 2008
Great stuff. Vandelay is an awesome design reference!!!!!!
November 11th, 2008
[...] excellent post by Vandelay Design, 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus. I went through it and here are 10 that I liked the most from his [...]
November 11th, 2008
Some more great stuff there! Well done for putting together yet another great collection
I’ve been spreading the word about your blog
November 11th, 2008
Great post… i do agree… I love a good navigation… it sets apart the good and the great…. Fantastic post
November 11th, 2008
Wish we made the list. Maybe next time http://www.michaelaustinproductions.com
November 11th, 2008
A very nice collection of navigation menus. Some are unusually interesting but they definitely have an impact. Thanks for the inspiration, I picked up some good ideas for mine.
November 11th, 2008
Some of these were great. Some not so much. Example: the website Good. Very bland navigation. Could use something more attractive while maintaining simplicity.
November 11th, 2008
[...] menu can have more impact on my appreciation of a site than any other single piece of the design. via Views: 0 Comments: 1 Posted on : elbandito on 22 August, 2008 10:38:22 Daca ai [...]
November 11th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design (tags: webdesign list design inspiration navigation webdevelopment) [...]
November 11th, 2008
Timothy,
Obviously I disagree since I included Good on this list. Yes, it’s simple, but that appeals to me. Thanks for sharing your opinion though.
November 11th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [Vandelay Website Design] — From the same writer/compiler as the Smashing Magazine article (Steven Snell), you’ll find additional inspiration if you’re focusing on designing a more functional and better designed navigation menu - one of the most important areas of any site. [...]
November 11th, 2008
Wow, very inspiring stuff. I especially like the Rzepack Pure nav.
November 12th, 2008
[...] http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/inspirationalnavigation-menus/ [...]
November 12th, 2008
[...] Bookmarked a link on Delicious. 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design [...]
November 12th, 2008
Thanks Steven, Great list
November 12th, 2008
[...] 50 menus de navigation bien jolis [...]
November 12th, 2008
one that i recently found, that i really love is: http://www.weareskylarkin.com/
November 12th, 2008
Cool, thanx!
November 12th, 2008
Thankyou muchly for the inclusion!
November 12th, 2008
Great list,
I also feel like another commentator that some of them are a little bland/ almost repetitive
Some of them are quite wonderful intheir unique ways - Carbonica for example
November 12th, 2008
Great collection and awesome variety. It’s nice to see some very simple plain text menus featured along side the graphic-intense menus.
November 13th, 2008
[...] Però è anche bene non limitarci a fare i soliti, tradizionali menu ma creare qualcosa di nuovo, di originale ed è per questo che VanDelayDesign ha fatto una raccolta di più di 50 menu da cui prendere spunto. [...]
November 13th, 2008
Thanks again!
Beautiful list~
November 13th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
November 13th, 2008
[...] 50 hermosos menus de [...]
November 14th, 2008
[...] 50 CSS Navs [...]
November 16th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
November 16th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design [...]
November 16th, 2008
Wow, quite a list there. It must have taken some time to compile.
November 16th, 2008
[...] week I published a collection of over 50 excellent navigational menus for your design inspiration. Because I found more examples than I used in that post, and because [...]
November 17th, 2008
[...] Part 1 [...]
November 17th, 2008
Great Collection! Congratulations!
November 17th, 2008
nice list… really cool menus.. love all of them … now i just have to learn how to use them … bit new to websites..
November 17th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
November 17th, 2008
Do you offer design services?
Those are extremely elaborate designs..
I would be interested in securing your services. =)
November 18th, 2008
Acai,
Yes, we do offer design services, but these are not examples of our own work, just exemplary work from various designers.
November 18th, 2008
[...] Vandelay Design nos cuentan que en busca de lindos diseños, decidieron crear una galería con ejemplos de lo que [...]
November 18th, 2008
Great list of navigation examples. I always think that the navigation of the site is one of, if not THE, most important part of the design. At the end of the day, the site can look amazing but if no one can get to the information they want to find they are going to click away and, more than likely, not come back.
November 20th, 2008
[...] 50 menus de navegação Compartilhe o post: [...]
November 25th, 2008
Thanks for such a great list!
I really enjoy the variety, each site is unique in some way!
November 26th, 2008
Some very inspirational sites there
November 28th, 2008
Thanks a lot for layouts. A new article about buttons would be very useful too.
December 4th, 2008
[...] menus. Navigation is often one of the most noticeable and significant aspects of the design (see 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus and 50 Gorgeous Navigation Menus - Part II for inspiration). A more attractive menu could make [...]
December 4th, 2008
AMAZING!. Loved most of them. They´re really inspiring. I will be talking about this post in my blog hopping my readers come and have a look. Thanks
December 5th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design Great list of Inspirational navigation menus! (tags: design webdev webdevelopment interface menus web2 examples nav navigation patterns inspiracion gui ui web-design menu graphicdesign showcase CSS web2.0 list webdesign web Resources website html inspiration gallery development lists ux) [...]
December 8th, 2008
thank you great inspiration for sure
December 9th, 2008
[...] 50 incríveis menus de navegação - se você consegue aplicar exatamente aquilo que vê, então essa é uma boa fonte de inspiração para menus. [...]
December 18th, 2008
thanks for the mention! these are all really great examples — good post.
December 20th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [Vandelay Website [...]
December 21st, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [Vandelay Website [...]
December 21st, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [Vandelay Website [...]
December 21st, 2008
[...] 9. 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
December 23rd, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design [...]
December 24th, 2008
[...] addition to being one of the most significant influences on the usability of a site, navigation menus also allow designers an opportunity to get creative and add some interesting and attractive visual [...]
December 30th, 2008
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
December 31st, 2008
I love these lists, but I’ve read an article recently on “Inspiration Overload”. I hope you don’t mine me posting a link. (Remove it if you want).
http://www.viget.com/inspire/overcoming-inspiration-overload/
Basically, it says that there are people (you know who you are) that tend to get overwhelmed by too much design inspiration, and don’t know what to do with it all. In the “good old days” an inspiring piece would appear in the form of a Frazetta painting or an album cover. You really had to seek out the good stuff. Nowadays (is that a word?) we are surrounded by stunning work from countless talented people. The trick is knowing when to stop looking and when to start working!
December 31st, 2008
John,
No problem posting the link, it’s relevant to the post. Yes, I agree with you.
December 31st, 2008
[...] 9. 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
December 31st, 2008
[...] 9. 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
January 1st, 2009
Wow, what a nice collection of navigation menus. A lot of them are quite artistic but the simple ones are cool too.
January 1st, 2009
[...] Gorgeous Navigation Menus Part1 & [...]
January 2nd, 2009
[...] for New Song Ministry in Tacoma, WA (now City Central.org) because it was recognized in a post of Gorgeous Navigation Menus (near the [...]
January 10th, 2009
very good, excellent list, other list but of headers
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/02/01/smashing-header-graphics-contest/
January 15th, 2009
[...] 9. 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
January 19th, 2009
[...] 9. 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
January 20th, 2009
Thanks for the cool list. It is very convenient for me!
January 25th, 2009
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
February 11th, 2009
A really good list, thanks for that one. However, I wonder why you left out the Branford Magazine Template. In my opinion its the best magazine template out there.
But maybe your selection was more into design than functionality?
February 11th, 2009
Jorgs,
Thanks for the comment. I didn’t include any templates in this list, that’s why Branford wasn’t included.
February 15th, 2009
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Design Blog. [...]
March 7th, 2009
Awesome designs. These give me some great inspiration, thanks!
March 8th, 2009
Great menus. This is a great inspiration
March 10th, 2009
Great list! Thanks for the inspiration
I like the menu at the top of this page too
> http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/search
April 16th, 2009
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus [...]
April 17th, 2009
Amazing sites! Will mine ever be worthy (www.realifedesign.ca)?? lol
April 24th, 2009
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design - design, inspiration, modern, navigation, web [...]
April 27th, 2009
Hey! This is a great compilation. Thank you for your nice work
May 12th, 2009
[...] also found a great design blog called Vandelay Design that lists 50 websites with ‘gorgeous naviation menus’. [...]
May 12th, 2009
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Design Blog 50 exemplos de menu de navegação [...]
May 14th, 2009
[...] 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus | Vandelay Website Design - design, inspiration, modern, navigation, web [...]
June 16th, 2009
[...] In: Design inspiration 16 Jun 2009 Go to Source [...]