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Smashing Magazine we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

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Let’s put it straight - simplicity is more complex than you probably think it is. To design a web-site in user-friendly tones, presenting all information and removing unnecessary details isn’t easy. In fact, many designers don’t manage to find the right mix between details and their presentation on the screen, which usually results in an information overkill and/or decreased usability. However, some designers do manage to find the right balance and create usable, elegant and clean web-sites with simple layouts.

We’ve selected some of them. 49 simple, clean, sometimes even minimalistic designs, which all stick closely to one single principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid!. You can also download the whole KISS-gallery in PDF (7,2 Mb) - the document includes high-resolution screenshots and the list of all showcased web-sites. Please do not copy the list, but refer to it with a link.

Update: We’ve been buried as inaccurate/spam on Digg.com. If you don’t think that this post is inaccuarate and you don’t see any spam here, keep digging us and let us know your opinion in the comments.

Recently we’ve suggested few start points one could start learning simplicity from. If you are looking for inspiration, you’d probably like to check

we’ve selected recently.

Centered Designs

1. Davidville

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Davidville

2. The place Garrett Dimon calls home. | GarrettDimon.com

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - The place Garrett Dimon calls home. | GarrettDimon.com

3. Drew Warkentin | Creative Solutions Daily.

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Drew Warkentin | Creative Solutions Daily.

4. Goplan - Online project management and collaboration tool

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Goplan - Online project management and collaboration tool

5. Business Logs: Blog Design, Blog Consulting, Web 2.0 Services.

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Business Logs” Blog Design, Blog Consulting, Web 2.0 Services.

6. 31Three - Web Development in Niagara, Ontario

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - 31Three - Web Development, Website Design, Web Design, Graphic Design in Niagara, Ontario

7. 45royale, Inc. | Atlanta Web Design and Development

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - 45royale, Inc. | Atlanta Web Design and Development

8. JeffCroft.com: Homepage

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - JeffCroft.com: Homepage

9. Web Design - Normanton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire - Grove

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Web Design - Normanton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire - Grove

10. Jewelboxing - Super Jewel Box Packaging System - CD and DVD Cases

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Jewelboxing - Super Jewel Box Packaging System - CD and DVD Cases

11. Studio MIKMIK: Graphic design and illustration by Michael Lewis

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Studio MIKMIK: Graphic design and illustration by Michael Lewis

12. journal // hicksdesign

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - journal // hicksdesign

13. [Beta] Rapid coding collaboration: Springloops

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - [Beta] Rapid coding collaboration: Springloops

14. Corking Design | Daniel Cork freelance web designer based in Manchester

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Corking Design | Daniel Cork freelance web designer based in Manchester

15. Tijs Vrolix

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Tijs Vrolix

16. Visit MIX07

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Visit MIX07

17. Apple - iPod + iTunes

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Apple - iPod + iTunes

18. The Book Magazine - read online book reviews, author interviews

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - The Book Magazine - read online book reviews, author interviews and win books in our competitions

19. kottke.org :: home of fine hypertext products

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - kottke.org :: home of fine hypertext products

20. Simple software to help you get organized: 37signals

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Simple software to help you get organized: 37signals

21. t:m

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - t:m

22. The Missing Link - Homepage

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - The Missing Link - Homepage

23. Wishlistr: Skapa din egen onskelista

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Wishlistr: Skapa din egen onskelista

24. IconShoppe ~ Royalty-free stock icons for the web

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - IconShoppe ~ Royalty-free stock icons for the web

25. Solution Watch - Your descriptive source of solutions

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Solution Watch - Your descriptive source of solutions

Left-aligned Designs

26. Navix Europe | Language, Creative & Consultancy Services

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Navix Europe | Language, Creative & Consultancy Services

27. maybe.for.you.

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - maybe.for.you.

28. Good Creative - Branding and Graphic Identity

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Good Creative - Branding and Graphic Identity

29. Text Link Ads - Smart Link Marketing

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Text Link Ads - Smart Link Marketing

30. Webdesign Werbeagentur Kassel Vitamin J Kommunikation

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Webdesign Werbeagentur Kassel Werbung Corporate Design CMS Vitamin J Kommunikation

31. Subtraction 7.0

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Subtraction 7.0

Vibrant and Dark Designs

32. We Create Things

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - We Create Things

33. Lighthouse

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Lighthouse

34. Centrigy™

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Centrigy™

35. nclud™ a creative web design agency

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - nclud™ a creative web design agency

36. White Image - Irish Art

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - White Image - Irish Art

37. Revision3

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Revision3

38. The Consult - Creative Design Agency - Home

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - The Consult - Creative Design Agency - Home

A Little Bit More Noisy, but Still Simple and Clean Designs

39. Webreakstuff

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Webreakstuff

40. @media 2007 | The Cutting Edge Conference for Web Professionals

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - @media 2007 | The Cutting Edge Conference for Web Professionals

41. only a blog

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - only a blog

Worth Mentioning

42. An Experiment Gone Useful - Artypapers

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Wishingline Design Studios | Services - Services Summary

43. kartooner.com

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - kartooner.com

44. Unspace

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Unspace

45. Wishingline Design Studios | Services - Services Summary

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Wishingline Design Studios | Services - Services Summary

46. SXSW’07: After the Storm - Snook.ca

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Wishingline Design Studios | Services - Services Summary

47. Design Observer: writings about design & culture

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Design Observer: writings about design & culture

48. paulbeelen.com

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - paulbeelen.com

49. Olof Lonnroth Design - Lonnroth.info

Keep It Simple, Stupid - Simple Usable Designs - Olof Lonnroth Design - Lonnroth.info

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  1. 1.

    maksik (March 26th, 2007, 9:11 pm)

    Cool!!!

  2. 2.

    Eddie Sowden (March 26th, 2007, 9:28 pm)

    Some nice sites. Its interesting to see how many use only a single column for their main content and how many who have lots of columns.

    Just out of interest how do you go about finding the sites that you use for your lists? Are they just sites that you happen to know of already or do you go to gallery sites looking for good designs?

  3. 3.

    Vitaly Friedman (March 26th, 2007, 9:44 pm)

    2Eddie: thanks. First of all, we list at least 15-20 sites we know and seen earlier. Afterwards we search through 10-15 CSS-galleries and select some of the most beautiful examples we find.

  4. 4.

    Quakeulf (March 26th, 2007, 10:08 pm)

    I really like these articles. They are so inspirational, but they make me feel like ass in comparison. :p

  5. 5.

    James Broad (March 26th, 2007, 10:11 pm)

    Fab resource!

  6. 6.

    Lee Rickler (March 26th, 2007, 10:12 pm)

    A lot of my Link [z6.co.uk] follow the KISS rule and mainly revolve around 1 master area.
    It’s the cleanest, easiest way to design.

  7. 7.

    Carlos Eduardo (March 26th, 2007, 10:34 pm)

    I like simplicity!

    So many designers that I know, doesn’t like simple layouts, because they think it’s boring and ugly…

    Sometimes it’s harder than create complex layouts… You need to know where and when white space is the better choice.

  8. 8.

    add (March 26th, 2007, 11:30 pm)

    guys at digitalweb don’t have a feed, 2007? sooo lame

  9. 9.

    Grinch (March 27th, 2007, 12:47 am)

    If it is simplicity with style your after then a link posted on one of your earlier posts should surely be up there. Link [www.nypocreative.co.uk]. Less is more.

  10. 10.

    Andrew (March 27th, 2007, 1:22 am)

    Great list. I am in a continuous process of revisions in an aim to find the perfect simplicity. I am not there yet but this should help a lot.

  11. 11.

    Bloghash.com (March 27th, 2007, 3:04 am)

    Very true! It’s more tough that one could imagine to make something very simple and yet come up with an excellent design. Your article has some nice looking website and inspires me to follow their approach.

    Thank you for the list!

  12. 12.

    Bill B (March 27th, 2007, 5:24 am)

    I love clean design. As a multimedia/graphic designer I have been inclined to learn Flash in the past few years. Taking a look at where the web is going, ie Web 2.0 I feel flash based websites are going to be ancient history except for certain exceptions. Anyone else feel the same way? Let me know.

  13. 13.

    BadSlacks (March 27th, 2007, 5:29 am)

    Agreed - simple is better. I’ve tried to balance an inviting design and the presentation of content on my blog using the concept of “keeping it as simple as possible.”

    Link [www.badslacks.com]

  14. 14.

    John Mason (March 27th, 2007, 5:50 am)

    I really like the PDF file version for this post. I printed it out and put it in page protectors in a binder. I find that I can flip through the binder and look as designs and get ideas faster than surfing lots of sites. I also put my own comments on the printouts. Can you make PDFs of the other posts that you have done on website design? The 4 you have listed below the introduction text would be great. Your site is great, keep up the good work.

  15. 15.

    Ryan Merket (March 27th, 2007, 8:53 am)

    I like my firms site (very simple): Link [www.pendergraphics.com]

  16. 16.

    Aaron (March 27th, 2007, 12:01 pm)

    Awesome list - one more for keeping it simple: Link [www.seventhvision.com.au]

  17. 17.

    Joe (March 27th, 2007, 1:26 pm)

    May be u can also make a list of complicated web site, that u should not follow. :D

  18. 18.

    David G. Paul (March 27th, 2007, 2:33 pm)

    there’s some damn nice sites there, maybe one day I’ll actually manage to make a site as nice

  19. 19.

    george (March 27th, 2007, 3:17 pm)

    also worth mentioning would be bloobseven.net

  20. 20.

    helmut (March 27th, 2007, 9:46 pm)

    i’ve seen couple of the designs presented here also at open source design sites - i guess here are the original ones (the designers who created layouts for open source..).

  21. 21.

    quard (March 28th, 2007, 3:52 am)

    Thanks for this great list!

  22. 22.

    Pomster (March 28th, 2007, 4:39 pm)

    As always, I love your lists and this one is superb. Insired!

  23. 23.

    Seth (March 29th, 2007, 2:37 am)

    wow the famous “KISS” in web design, it interests to me.

    greetings!

  24. 24.

    Custom Web Site Design (March 29th, 2007, 6:26 pm)

    Some people are saying that simple design is boring… well simple design can be boring… but I also think simple design is the key if you want a website that works for your business… a very often a complicated design can work against your business… just my opinion :)

  25. 25.

    Mizan (April 4th, 2007, 10:39 pm)

    Wow, i could certainly use these techniques of web 2.0 in my web designing. Nice article

  26. 26.

    rohit prasad (April 11th, 2007, 1:36 pm)

    Please add my site also in sutable category

  27. 27.

    Laurens (April 26th, 2007, 5:33 pm)

    Awesome!

  28. 28.

    Pablo Rosales (May 6th, 2007, 10:22 am)

    Great, i love minimalistic designs, can’t help it

  29. 29.

    carlo isles (May 7th, 2007, 3:26 pm)

    Everything is so simple. I love it. :)

  30. 30.

    Ma-co Brown (May 7th, 2007, 4:18 pm)

    Excellent Usability and Fantastic User Interface.

  31. 31.

    Richard (May 14th, 2007, 2:32 pm)

    I have gone through your site its good and excellent,and i found many interesting things to read ,gathered information
    so here i am linking you relevant site to get more details,

    onlinebookreviews

  32. 32.

    Alin (May 18th, 2007, 2:48 pm)

    have gone through your site its good and excellent, and i found many interesting things to read,gathered information.
    So here i am linking you relevant site to get more details,
    Link [www.squidoo.com]

  33. 33.

    ArcticSoft (May 22nd, 2007, 3:23 am)

    I like most of them. I do not like Apples site. It appears simple but after using it, it is pretty terrible. Most of the time you dont know what section you are under as each tab is a whole different site in itself. But the idea is great. I like simple Link [www.arcticsoft.net]

  34. 34.

    Steve Jobs (May 22nd, 2007, 4:20 am)

    If anyone has ever used Apple’s “iWork” application, many of these layouts look rather familiar. Most could have been designed in iWork, just by using the templates for the basic layout.

  35. 35.

    Jennifer Farley (May 22nd, 2007, 7:54 pm)

    More Inspiration! Thanks. Just found this after looking at your new list. The only problem with these lovely designs is that it makes me want to go and re-design mine all the time.

  36. 36.

    Kev (May 23rd, 2007, 5:47 am)

    Thanks for the include! Can’t believe I’m on a list with some of these designers!

  37. 37.

    Photographer (June 25th, 2007, 5:08 am)

    Outstanding post. These are all excellent designs. Certainly a good mixture of text and graphics. I am certainly learning a lot from these designs, and as we like to say imitation is a sincerest form of flattery.

  38. 38.

    Keral Patel (July 17th, 2007, 12:44 pm)

    Quite a collection here. I have also wanted to make good CSS designs but I am just moving to it.

  39. 39.

    Nathan Chapman (September 17th, 2007, 5:11 pm)

    Good Article, but:

    Would this make my site too complicated?
    I’m not trying to spam, I just have made it recently and have no idea.

    Thanks anyways, Nathan

  40. 40.

    Roy (September 21st, 2007, 5:39 pm)

    Great designs!

    One of my favourite Link [www.abacusdatasys.com]

  41. 41.

    Arjun (September 30th, 2007, 2:03 am)

    assume collection……. but ll try to do better than u…. its challenge!!!!!!!!!!!1

  42. 42.

    mauc (November 7th, 2007, 5:31 pm)

    simple is cool. and your list is quite inspiring!

  43. 43.

    Ian Yang (November 21st, 2007, 10:04 am)

    When I do need a BIG changeover for my website, this is the place I definitely will come for inspiration! Excellent picks!! :P

  44. 44.

    Jeff Adams (January 5th, 2008, 2:08 pm)

    oooh some lovely wee designs in here, i like the darker ones they seem more elegant somehow. When I need a revamp or design inspiration, these are the types of blogs i like to check out thanks smashing magazine!!

  45. 45.

    ase (January 9th, 2008, 6:14 pm)

    where is darinfireball.net ?

  46. 46.

    Peter (January 11th, 2008, 12:54 pm)

    Hey, fantastic list of sites. So simple and elegant :)

    One site that I find really simple and good looking but isn’t listed here is Link [www.pixelshell.com] — check it out.

  47. 47.

    Reed (January 11th, 2008, 1:12 pm)

    So simple means white and boring?

  48. 48.

    dodser (January 14th, 2008, 9:16 am)

    Did any one else notice that Link [whiteimage.com]
    lifted / stole / copied their design from
    Link [www.iconshoppe.com]

  49. 49.

    Martin Olsson (January 14th, 2008, 12:47 pm)

    Bare-knuckle simplicity - gone too far? Link [smpl.se]

  50. 50.

    a friend (January 14th, 2008, 2:28 pm)

    the link to the email advertising site might have triggered your burial on digg

  51. 51.

    greywulf (January 22nd, 2008, 12:36 pm)

    You know, for a post about KISS web design, this site looks a LOT better once I blocked all the &^&%&ing advertising!!

    Maybe it would be a good idea to learn your own lessons, perhaps :)

  52. 52.

    Bjarni Wark (January 24th, 2008, 4:48 pm)

    I am looking at seeing some designs that use 50/50 spacing for layout, I would say something similar to the idea of how a book would display its conent

  53. 53.

    simon (January 26th, 2008, 9:55 am)

    Nice article but I disagree a wee bit, simple is good for a lot of sites, yes. take a look at the apple store, its not simple, take a look at any big e-commerce store, ebay, dell the list is endless, most of the sites you show are non-commercial blogs etc, while the web 2 style look works for them, it simply work quite work that way with e-commerce sites, where conversion and design are king.

  54. 54.

    Nix (March 2nd, 2008, 7:43 pm)

    I think that keeping the design clean & simple is the best for your website design.

  55. 55.

    computer jobs (March 20th, 2008, 3:06 am)

    Thanks. very useful information, all the time i was look for it ;)

  56. 56.

    Man (March 23rd, 2008, 10:12 am)

    Great designs!

  57. 57.

    James (March 24th, 2008, 4:30 am)

    Simple, clean design is an excellent idea for a great looking website.

    You dont want anything too fancy otherwise you distract your readers. I love the examples in this post.

  58. 58.

    Jerzy (April 11th, 2008, 10:33 pm)

    I admire 32. website, nice and i am going to use it . thanks!
    Link [frengly.com]

  59. 59.

    Ryan Harris (May 1st, 2008, 12:30 pm)

    I absolutely love springloops.com. Another one of my favorites is Link [ryanharrisdesign.com]

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