When designing a website, there are a number of different styles you can adopt to get the message of a brand across effectively to customers, users or readers. The important thing to consider is to pick a style that matches the brand you are designing for. Also, there’s no reason why you need to stick to one particular style. Multiple different styles can merge together perfectly fine as you’ll spot in some of the examples below.

Here is a look at ten of the most creative styles in use in web design today with examples of some of the best websites that utilise them.

1. Illustrations and Cartoons

Illustrations and cartoon drawings can really bring a web design to life. Drawing is a creative activity by definition and by incorporating it into a website’s design is one of the most creative methods of presenting information on the web.

The variety of this style is only limited by the designers imagination and can be hand-drawn or vector based imagery. Check out the examples below.

Flourish

Owltastic

The Pixel

Artua

Pampaneo

2. Two Tone Colour

Using only two colours to create a design doesn’t sound like a particularly inspiring style of design until you see it used well. When used well it can indeed be very inspiring and allows more focus on other aspects of the design such as typography and layout. More focus can be placed on the content as this style of web design ties in well with the minimalistic design which increases the users’ focus on the content.

To see just how inspiring and less distracting this type of design can be take a look at the following examples of some of the best uses to two-tone colours in web design.

Squarespace Blog

Carsonified

Helveti-Tweet

Circus Family

3. Photo-Realism

Photo-realism is a technique that everyone will be familiar with immediately purely because of the associated realism. It is a great way to complement the content especially when used as a large background image.

The following examples show just how stunning photo realistic based web designs can be.

Ecoki

Work Awesome

Palm

Alexey Abramov

Food Inc. Movie

4. Transparency

Transparency is a great way of making text more readable when placed above images. Doing so also preserves the part of the image below the text so that the full image can still be seen to some degree.

With the increasing demise of IE6 and ways of making transparent PNG files behave in IE6, transparency has become a viable style in web design. So much so that some sites rely on it heavily.

Envato

Core

Fix Outlook

Pizzaza

Line 25

5. Beautiful Typography

Ultimately good typography is what helps make text more readable on the web but he design of typography can be inspiring in its own right. Great typography is an art and therefore is one of the more creative ways to display content online.

Arranging native type on a website is slowly improving with services such as Typekit popping up but of course, image replacement techniques can be used for any unsupported fonts.

Andrew Lindstrom

João Andrade

Mulletized

Jack Bloom

idsgn

6. Textures and Patterns

Using textures and patterns can be a good way of adding depth to a web design. The most common use of this style is on the background either as a repeated image or a big background image.

Simone Maranzana

Matt Mullenweg

Xperience

Biola Undergrad

Shannon Moeller

7. Grunge

The grunge look can often look a little messy and untidy but that is part of the appeal. Especially in web design, as current trends point more towards the clean and tidy styles that is more appealing but grunge design still has its place primarily with brands which it is appropriate for.

Syc Fuk

ths

Ali Tabatabaei

8. Nature

Natural elements within a web design create a familiar relationship with the outdoors and evokes the feeling of being down-to-earth. Nature can also give a design an organic feel. Have a look at the examples below to see how nature can be used effectively in web design.

Komodo Media

Tomáš Pojeta

Weberica

Outdoor Italia

Silverback

9. Abstract

Abstraction is a very creative artform due to the freedom it gives the designer. Abstract art can be given a meaning or have no meaning at all or it can be interpreted in any way the viewer wishes or it can simply be used as a good looking visual effect. As such, this style is probably the most diverse in its creativity meaning that designs can be unique to themselves and be more memorable as a result.

The freedom of abstract design is used to stunning effect on the web.

Lyrical Media

DSDesign

Gummisig

Make Photoshop Faster

duoh!

10. Retro

Retro design is a niche style that is a fairly recent trend in web design. It is commonly used to sell a product or service with styles that originate from anywhere from the 1920s to the 1970s. It is interesting to see modern interpretations of what was common in that era and below are some examples being used on the web currently.

Forty Seven Media

Jeff Sarmiento

Edgewater

The New York Moon

All Star Lanes

To help make a good color selection or arrangement, the situations when two colors are in a harmonious combination have been split into six color categories or schemes. They are: Monochromatic, Analogous, Complementary, Split Complementary, Triadic and Tetradic.

In this post we will take a look at each, and highlight some effective examples of there use within web design.

1. Monochromatic Color Harmony

As the name dictates, this calming color scheme uses only a single color as a base and allows its various shades, tints and tones to be included with in its palette.

? A Monochromatic Color Harmony or Scheme

Using monochromatic harmony expresses unity and and instills elegance, while at the same time is neither powerful or bold enough to to allow you to focus on any particular aspect of the design (due to its lack of color contrast).

Here are some beautiful examples of Monochromatic Color Schemes within web design:

1.1 Loewy Design

1.2 TagDiri

1.3 WilsonMiner

1.4 nclud

2. Analogous Color Harmony

Analogous color schemes are basically made up of colors that are directly next to each other on the 12 point color wheel.

? An Analogous Color Harmony or Scheme

Compared with the monochromatic scheme (above), the analogous offers more nuances, but suffers from the same defect – a lack of color contrast.
To use this scheme effectively, you have to choose one dominant color, a second to support and lastly a third color, that is used as the accent, which will give your web design a dramatic impact.
It is also recommended not to use too many hues and avoid the combination of cool and warm colors.

Here are some examples of Analogous Color Schemes within web design:

2.1 ustvarjalko

2.2 Ecoki

2.3 Outlaw Design Blog

2.4 Whooray Records

3. Complementary Color Harmony

With complementary color schemes we finally have recipe for good color contrast.

? A Complementary Color Harmony or Scheme

This scheme basically uses two colors located on opposite ends of the color wheel (such as, red is opposite of green and orange is opposite blue…meaning they are complementary…).

Due to the huge effect and power of the contrast, web designers will choose one domintant color (usually the background) and another to highlight the most important elements of the page (the content).
Any shade or tint of a color can be used in a complementary color scheme, but desaturated colors should not be used, as you will lose positive contrast and the sites overall impact will greatly decrease.
Such as red is opposite of green…meaning they are complementary.

Here are some examples of Complementary Color Schemes within web designs:

3.1 Gobierno Federal Mexico

3.2 Douglas Menezes

3.3 Frenzy Labs

3.4 Blogger BakeOff

4. Split Complementary Color Harmony

To ease the contrast of the two colors from the complementary scheme (see above), split complementary schemes use a combination of three colors.

? A Split Complementary Color Scheme

They are formed by combining a primary color from the color wheel with colors on each side of its complement. (Or, in layman’s terms, in the formation of the letter Y).

Here are some examples of Split Complementary Color Schemes within web designs:

4.1 Apps Templates

4.2 PSD Chimp

4.3 Nuances Communication

5. Triadic and Tetradic Color Harmony

Triadic Color Scheme
As its name suggests, triadic uses the power of three colors which are situated at 120 degrees from each other (these points are determined by an equilateral triangle) on the 12 step color wheel. There color harmonies tend to be bold and vibrant, even if you choose to use pale or unsaturated versions of the original hue.

? A Triadic Color Scheme or Harmony

This harmony could be considered your best color scheme option, with its effective contrast. You could use one color for a background and the two remaining for content and the highlighted areas. The colors should be carefully balanced – let one color dominate and use the two others for accent.

Tetradic Color Scheme
Yes, you have guessed it, tetradic uses a combination of four colors, determined by a square or rectangle placed over the color wheel. To create different harmonies, the square or rectangle can be rotated, which will result in the creation of a new harmonious tetradic schemes.

? A Tetradic Color Scheme or Harmony

In a logical deduction this scheme has the greatest number of combinations, it is based on two complementary pairs. This can be a double-edged sword though – it does offer the biggest option of color, but can give problems for good harmony. Be very carefully when choosing these colors.

Both of these (triadic and tetradic) color combinations are difficult to interpret, most websites will use a combination of four colors based on these color schemes, making it difficult to highlight with examples. Throw a stick into the the deep recesses of the web, and the chances are you will wind up hitting a site with either a tiadic or a tetradic color scheme.

As such, you may like to browse these web design inspirational posts, and view how to effectively use all of the above color scheme and harmonies out in the wild:

Choose a good color scheme

Colors have a way of speaking to people, drawing their attention, and just simply mesmerizing them. Certain colors invoke a whole spectrum of emotions in people. The way your visitors react to your website can either make or break your business. The emotional reactions of your visitors plays a big role in boosting your company’s brand. People tend to associate different colors with different moods, and studies have shown that colors have a way of changing a person’s mood.

If the colors that you choose for your website can evoke such a vast array of emotions in people, then you can be rest assurd that you are already halfway there to success. So, to create such emotion inspiring website’s, you need to be extremely careful when choosing a color for your website. Colors are classified into 3 categories, namely Cool, Warm and Neutral.

Cool colors consist of:

• Blue
• Green
• Purple

Warm colors consist of:

• Red
• Yellow
• Orange
• Pink

Neutral colors consist of:

• White
• Grey
• Brown
• Black

The following are a few guidelines when making your web pages:

• Make sure that your text is readable. Black or white would do good for the text. Yellow or white or any of the other light colors would work well on a dark colored background. If you have a white background, then stay away from using colors like yellow, gray or green.
• Use colors that are pleasing to the eyes.
• Make sure the colors you use portray your company’s image to the visitors.
• Do not use images as a background behind your text. This makes it hard for the visitor to read. If at all you need to use an image, fade it out as a watermark.
• Make sure the colors are uniform throughout your pages.

When designing your site, choose a good color scheme. The overall impression that your site gives out is what will decide your future. Hiring a good web designing company can help greatly in this area.