Here’s a selection of the best web designs of 2017; in this fourth instalment, which I’m writing from the desk at the studio, I’ll walk you through my picks.
As you already know, it’s a personal selection in which we’ve valued graphic creativity, web usability, cutting-edge design, contemporary feel and, in short, anything we thought worth highlighting.
The number doesn’t indicate a ranking position — it’s simply there to number the sites; we consider every one of the picks a winner, whatever the reason.
Without further delay, here they are:
The best web designs of 2017 #4
1.KIKK Festival
This site is devoted to a festival of creative and digital culture; its main interest lies in stressing the use and involvement of new technologies in the artistic and economic spheres.
Its web design really caught my eye for its slightly vintage feel, and it took me back to the SeaLab2021 era.
The range of blue tones and the soft, calm animations make the user experience thoroughly relaxed and take us away from the frenzy of today’s cities.
Something that contrasts sharply with the packed programme of activities — they’ve surely played these two aspects off each other deliberately.
The use of type is well handled too, with a very good mix of headlines, body copy, dates and teasers.
Understated and with a very elegant softness, we felt it deserved a place in our top web designs of 2017.
2.Tendertoart
It’s a contemporary art incubator set up in 2011; the project takes on artists each year to help them improve the quality of their work.
What makes this site’s design one of our picks for the best web designs of 2017 is its navigation.
Through vertical scrolling we can move between its sections, and the transitions between them are impressive.
The makers have managed to bring together technology and usability so that visiting the site never feels overwhelming.
What’s more, the way information is handled is exquisite: there’s a huge amount of content and yet it never feels heavy.
A very elegant, contemporary and forward-looking web design, much like its content.
3.Tux
The site of some cutting-edge makers; this web design is very, very fresh.
Without a hint of fear or self-consciousness, this web design is bold, fresh and contemporary.
Big type, unrestrained use of video and everything the medium has to offer — it’s an overload of creativity in its purest form.
The information, presented in big blocks, leaves no room for doubt: they know what they’re doing and they do it unapologetically.
Big images, big videos, big letters.
Vertical scrolling takes us through every section and, if we’d rather not, there’s the classic menu option.
4.Ever & Ever
This web design revolves around some digital and brand creatives based in London.
The first thing that strikes us on entering Ever & Ever’s site is the opening video: something simple and very elegant, and of course loaded with conceptual content.
The graphic line of the design on this site is very restrained: white on black, supported by very well-chosen sans typefaces.
We found it very bold that the mouse’s vertical scroll actually moves us horizontally through the site.
Everything on this site echoes the contemporary feel that runs through their work.
5.Rich Brown
This site is among the best of 2017 because its web design and graphic design are so appealing.
Rich Brown is a site devoted to an art director and UX/UI digital designer and their portfolio.
As you can imagine the content is impeccable, but setting aside the portfolio itself we have a very contemporary site.
A fresh design, forward-looking and very dynamic, with video, animation, hovers and everything that turns a site into a high-consumption product.
I’d also like to highlight the vertical-scroll side menu, a device that’s working very well for usability and web design.
6.Loftec
This site and its design are devoted to an ultra-modern building in Moscow. Packed with technology, its web design and development had to live up to what we’d find there if we visited.
What struck us most about this web design is the elegance that runs through every one of its elements.
The choice of rendered images is highly polished and contrasts, in a good way, with the real photographs of people.
The colour range — grey, gold, white — is also very well chosen, as is the selection of sans typefaces.
7.Pitch-tents
This web design is devoted to a small tent business.
It has a charming design, with very sixties, slightly hippie illustrations; what stands out most in this web design is the illustration work which, together with the colour range and the choice of type, makes this site worthy of a place among the best web designs of 2017.
The whole thing feels very calm, peaceful and pleasant, which is exactly what they want their products to convey.
8.Astir Crowns
This bottle-cap company has gone for a very contemporary web design, which is welcome in this kind of industrial world, generally more conservative or simply indifferent to its online image.
This web design is highly effective; how simple it is to navigate is remarkable.
Vertical scrolling or an old-school menu moves us through every section of the site.
9.Talkd
Web design devoted to a creative and content agency, storytelling.
What I’d highlight in this site’s design is the elegance and finesse with which the content is presented; once again, vertical scrolling takes us through the site.
The use of type and the background video are very interesting, as are the visual effects created by the combinations of colour and shape.
10.Usa Today
Lastly, here’s this site’s design, so you can see an example of user interaction at the highest level, giving complete feedback from whoever visits our site and letting you interact by writing and much more.
The graphic design also deserves a special mention, since I think it’s very well judged.
And that’s our selection of the best web designs of 2017, in this fourth and final instalment of the year.
Related work
This round-up is from 2017. To see what still holds up today and what does not:
