30 Examples of Clean and Minimal Website Navigation
Navigation is one of the most important aspects of a web design, but this doesn’t mean it needs to be overly complicated or over designed. In fact, when it comes to navigating a website, simplicity is a good thing.
Some navigations make use of design elements like 3D bars, buttons, and tabs to appear clickable, which works great for certain web designs. However, clickability can be achieved with a focus on typography, placement, and maybe some subtle line work. For this article, we’ve rounded up 30 clean and minimal website navigations that will inspire you and prove that navigations don’t always have to look like 3D buttons to be effective.
Kilian Muster
bressane
Haik Avanian
Design Instruct
Color Cubic
Big Cartel
Kyle Fiedler
Miguel Buckenmeyer & Co.
Creative Spark
Infintium
Jeroen Homan
Frank Chimero
Mercy
Information Highwayman
We Are VI
Kari Jobe
One Login
Momentify
OVO
Brian Hoff
Shout
North Kingdom
MCA Denver
Jacob Lee
Giant Ant Media
AdFlavor
Waterworks
Sugar Rush Creative
Websiteburo
Corking Design
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Mar 12, 2010
Umm… honestly, I have to admit that none of the above looks nice. I’ve seen a lot of minimal layouts and even more minimal navigation and I can point many that looks better. Perhaps these newest trends aren’t very minimal after all
Mar 12, 2010
Wow, yet another web design blog mentioning my redesigned website… It appears I’ve done something right at last. Thanks a lot for the link!
Kilian
Mar 12, 2010
I think there are some great examples of minimal and clean website navigation above. I agree with Nathan in saying that the examples don’t look fantastic as screenshots, but when you navigate to the actual website, this is when the design really shines through.
The navigation complements the design of the whole site really well which makes me want to carry on looking through the site.
Some of my favourites – Miguel Buckenmeyer & Co. Brian Hoff and Sugar Rush Creative.
Mar 12, 2010
Beautiful. I love minimal website. Thanks for the list!
Mar 12, 2010
Have to say i disagree with nathan (sorry)
I love the collection… take a look at my website as we use ultra minimal site navigation.
James – Lono Creative.
Mar 12, 2010
Erhm, what’s minimalistic about 60% of the examples? They’re “normal” and not minimalistic at all.
Mar 12, 2010
I’m absolutly loving “Sugar Rush Creative”, I’ve always been a massive fan of this navigation.
Mar 12, 2010
A nice list, although in my opinion, a few don’t deserve to be up there.
Loving the majority though!
Mar 12, 2010
I’m a minimalist at heart. Thanks for the fodder.
Mar 12, 2010
These are awesome. I love the Jacob Lee menu.
Mar 12, 2010
What I don’t like about these types of posts – while the above are potentially inspiring, these types of posts don’t break down the why’s of why a minimal navigation is successful. Why should someone mimic this style in their own work? Why should a client strive for this type of clear minimalism?
Mar 12, 2010
Minimalism is the direction were heading in. This is great inspiration for our designers. Thanks bunches!
Mar 12, 2010
AWESOME. I LOVE minimalism. I currently reworking my site to better attain my love for minimalism and typography. Thanks for the great inspiration.
Mar 12, 2010
Only two of the sites listed above are retail or business-to-business outside of the web design world; only two sell something other than the site’s owner or his design services. That’s not a heartening observation.
I’m working with a client right now and we’re struggling with an “evolutionary, not revolutionary” reboot of her website. In the AIDA paradigm, she has plenty of attention from her niche. The biggest challenge of all is still what every designer faces: after “Attention,” how do we go to “Interest, Desire, and Action?” She has a broad category scheme for thousands of products, and designing the home page and interior wayfinding to support visitor clarity with respect to the “Why am I here?” and “What should I do (other than leave)?” questions has occupied much of my time recently.
The examples here are all boutique and, quite frankly, the Faberge’ eggs of navigation. Pretty, but do they really help visitors find what they want?
Mar 12, 2010
These websites are great. I love Infintium’s Navigation Menu.
Mar 12, 2010
good resources and excellent examples. .. I’m a big fan of minimlaistic design so these are great! Shout’s my personal fav…
Mar 12, 2010
one of the most important part of a website and you find some great navigation’s here. very inspiring and useful
Mar 12, 2010
Another great example: http://www.storypixel.com
Mar 15, 2010
No, is not a good example, looks bad..
Mar 29, 2010
I agree with Darlinton.
It’s not a nice site, but then it’s always really easy to be critical of others. Who am I to be critical
A
Mar 12, 2010
I basically modelled my website to be as minimal as possible. http://www.quickpixfix.com I would love to know what you think. Nav is nice and minimal.
Mar 12, 2010
Wow this one is great list resorces!
But this post should break down “why minimal navigation is successful”. and maybe describing the information can make this post really usefull for everyone and the community. thx for share!
Mar 12, 2010
Awesome list. Minimalistic design is really the trend this year.
Mar 13, 2010
Nice collection..
Mar 13, 2010
Nice… great inspirational stuff
Found few more…
http://www.broadbandmix.co.uk
http://ilovetypography.com
http://astheria.com
http://www.rikcatindustries.com
Mar 13, 2010
Nice article..Iam a minimalist…i like the color cubic and sugar rush creative.
Mar 14, 2010
Very Nice Collection. I like most of them
Mar 15, 2010
Very clean and easy for users to navigate.
Mar 16, 2010
Seems that nowadays navigation menu with link description under the link is pretty popular
Mar 16, 2010
Great information!
Muchas gracias por estos ejemplos, siempre sirven.
Mar 16, 2010
Total nav failers. Too simple.
Nothing inspirational!
Mar 18, 2010
Very nice collection of minimal navigation samples. Check out our site for our version of minimal navigation menu.
Mar 19, 2010
nice collection! thx!
Mar 19, 2010
Some nice examples, but what worries me is that several of these sites’ navigation would be unreadable by many people with vision problems. So many designers, even on ‘public’ rather than ‘personal’ sites, seem to know – or care – nothing about the most basic accessibility considerations. The designer/developer needs to inform and educate clients about these considerations or they’re not doing their job and the client gets a compromised product.
Apr 9, 2010
Yes, I found these easy to use too. Nice post. Thanks for sharing.
Apr 9, 2010
great examples!
[...] there are times when a minimal style is more appropriate for the content and it’s audience. A clean and minimal design gets out of the way and lets the content do the talking, and it’s a great way to give [...]
Apr 28, 2010
Amazing stuff as usual…
May 1, 2010
Do you mind if I use the information I got reading from this website on the project that I’m working? I will properly cite you.
Jun 1, 2010
Some of these NAV styles are awesome, but some of them are AWFUL.
The worst offenders are Websiteburo and Corking Designs. The text is practically invisible. I am not blind and the design is barely accessible.
Nice little collection, thanks for yet another list
Jul 8, 2010
just one word “outstanding”
Jul 29, 2010
Great list but you could add some more like mrkwvr or minimalissimo. Anyway thanks for sharing that great list !
Jul 31, 2010
Fabulous, absolutely stunning.
Nothing beats simplicity when it comes to websites, users adore it. That’s what I have found anyway. I really like the Big Cartel nav, it’s very smooth indeed.
Thanks for the ideas!
Jul 31, 2010
Just one word “OUTSTANDING”
my favorite is “Color Cubic”
Thanks from EGYPTTTT