20 Creative Web Layouts That Have Shot For The Stars and Hit

Let’s imagine we are in the jury for an ice skating competition, holding cards with highest possible score of 6. We would gladly give fives to all the beautiful websites, following today’s trends and needs – responsiveness, readability, with interactive elements – you get the idea. What does it take to raise the 6 card above our heads and to make our jaws drop? The highest scoring are the mind-blowingly CREATIVE web layouts out there. Of course, they know the “routine” and the compulsory parts of a good design by heart, but they pull out of their hats some really impressive tricks with a wow factor.

Let’s see 20 of the top scoring performers in creativity, interaction, immersive experiences and innovation in web design. You choose what to do with the information – follow their lead, use them as  inspiration, aim for that level in your own projects or just enjoy/play around with the experience they offer.

Lights on. Game on.

1. Signes du quotidien

The first one in our picks of creative web layouts is Signes du quotidein. Minimalist design with lots of white space and several colorful dots. The cool thing here is the interaction part – you have to drag and drop a colorful spot into the box to explore. Clean, neat and playful – great job!

2. Ponto

Big photo, pan effect and transparent isometric shapes. Definitely a unique approach to web layout and we can’t help but admit there is a certain feel of luxury and sophistication about it. Smoothly earned place in our creative web layouts selection. Check it out.

3. Giampiero Bodino

Hand-drawn illustrations have been a hit in the recent years. This website for boutique jewelry is one of the most exquisite examples of creative web layouts with pencil illustrations. There is a parallax and overlay effect on the different elements of the design composition, creating a beautiful illusion of space and exploration. Scrolling down the website, you notice subtle, elegant animations, small blocks of texts and big, bright photos of the jewelry. Don’t miss out on having a look at the “sketchbook” – panning shadow effects and small animated illustrations are candy for the eye.

4. Cyclemon

Who are you? Which bike matches your personality best? Cyclemon has the answers to these questions – on scrolling you explore different models of bikes, while enjoying different colorful backgrounds and probably, you will end up raising you hand, spontaneously voting “yes” for one of the awesome designs. Very catchy web layout – makes you explore more. We think we have a lot of Gangstas at the office? What about you, don’t be shy – share your style with us!

5. Bonnemarque

At a first glance, it looks as if there are random words on the landing page of Bonnemarque. Of course, keywords of the company, but not logically connected into a “meaningful sentence”. Wait… Several words are highlighted at the same time, now forming punchy slogans. It is like a puzzle or scrabble – how cool is that! The overall layout is very airy, naturally flowing from section to section with nice overlaying elements and scrolling effects.

6. History of Icons by Futuramo

We love the assymetric layout decisions, the floating elements, appearing from different corners of screen. Great representative of the simple, bold and intuitive creative web layouts.

7. Alexandre Rochet

There is something ghostly and spooky about the music and the design of the landing page. Scrolling down, you can relax away from the initial strong impression and enjoy a very calculated, clean design. The burger menu is almost hidden, the scrolling is smooth and that earns more points for this design.

8. The Boat

If you are looking to immerse yourself in storytelling and into an edgy design with lots of character and personality – you’ve come to the right place. There is so much to explore – the shifts from light to dark screens, the wave effect on illustrations, the shifts in saturation of the colors. Marvelous job – one of our favorites on the creative web layouts list.

9. Made By Few

Simple parallax and layering effects blend well the quirky hand-drawn illustrations. The design is simple, yet with lots of character to it. We give points for colors, proportion and the cool font of the name, matching the visuals perfectly.

10. Peugeot Hybrid4

Do you like graphic novels? Well, Peugeot keep you entertained, while presenting you with their product. There is a great sense of action, motion and “being there” feel to the flipping scenes of the story. They use fast-forwarding, flying-in effects and sounds, which only serve to underline the dramatic and tense feel. We admire their decision to go for a “digital book”, instead of the safe choice – video. We are impressed by their creativity!

11. MON

Another creative website layout with a game element to it. Click and drag your mouse over the colorful shapes (hairs) of the… monster and enjoy eye-pleasing dangle effect animation. Click on the icons at the bottom of the screen and explore some scary (cute) monster mouth opening and curious eyes watching in the dark. Click and drag again for some more hidden liquid effects – it is addictive!

12. Creative Cruise

Hillarious animated cartoon characters with somewhat inappropriate behaviour (you’ve been warned!). One of the heroes grabs you at the very start, on page load, with some crazy wiggle and leaves you with no choice but to smile and wait for the landing page. Cruises should be fun, colorful and memorable experiences, so the design of the website perfectly fits the vision. The nice pan effect adds sense of space to the design – a very nice touch!

13. NewActon

Very distinctive style of hand-drawn illustrations, changing their hue – a nice approach, adding motion and dynamics to the page. Another creative solution is the overlaying and panning of the different elements of the illustrations – the block colors and outline. When you click on a group of projects, the rest of the illustrations zoom out and you are presented with particular information for the chosen group. The zooming in and out effect add sense of depth and help you focus on certain areas. “Breathing” website layout – great job!

14. KUUM

Clean, simple design with fresh colors. Flip and zoom effects on scroll, combines with smooth, fading  and smart color transitions. We also love the hidden menu on the right of the screen. At first you might think the menu is only made up of dots, but on hover you are surprised by cool color animated bars. Great attention to details, that is why, it earns a place on our creative website layouts list!

15. Tolia Icecream

Extremely creative imagery, characters, style and popping colors! What make the design even more creative are the subtle “wind” effects on clothes and hair, the animation of static photos – slighlty moving eyes, rotating pattern of a lighthouse, etc. An important element of a successful design is the ability to make it contemporary and speak to your audience, by including references to today’s hot topics and trends. Wondering what we are talking about? Well, find the hillarious interpretation of Games of Thrones in their pages slides. Try not to laugh, but you will…

16. Joywave Music

Unusual design and interaction solution – you can’t explore the website by clicks, but only by “entering” commands. Not sure how patient the audience would be, but if you are natural-born explorer and love secrets, you will enjoy taking control. The overal feel of the design is very technical, somewhat “Matrix” style, with mix of symbols and textures. Have a look!

17. The DNA Project

Nice 3D and pan effects, plus almost invisible small dots, following your cursor. Unpretentious, melancholic and spacious layout. It encourages you to immerse yourself into the music and to “flow” with it. Enjoy!

18. Noni Noni

First, you are invited to draw a shape with your mouse. Then, the website translates into the shape made of vibrating dots. The simple, colorful shapes of a snail, mouth, donut, etc. rotate in space and have a 3d quality to them. We love everything about this layout – the animations on the text, the colors and the overall playful element. Great style of the simplified shapes.

19. Savor. Wavs by Chipotle

Beautiful colors and hues flowing from one to another. The animation with painterly leaves with different sizes adds depth and the eyes are naturally drawn to the delicate motion. Contemporary design, which won us with its elegance and color pallete. Wait! There is more: when you click on an ingredient of the menu, a video with splashing elements starts in the background and a sound is played – specific for each one of the ingredients. Basically, you cook up your own music, while making a meal. Great interaction and a fun gourmet experience!

20. Emitt Fenn

Website of a musician, with simple monochrome stripes and large white space. So now what? On hover, various photos, colors and name of songs appear. Hovering on particular color paints the rest of the stripes in similar nuances. We think it’s very stylish, simple, dynamic and that you should click and explore the songs too. You can follow the playing time of the track at the bottom of the screen and enjoy abstract animations synchronized to the rhythm of the song.

Any creative web layouts to share with us?

We are sure there are many other examples of creative outbursts. Share with us! We will gladly include them in our selection for an even richer experience. Thanks, see you next time!

Cheers,

htmlBurger team