30 Examples of Clean and Minimal Website Navigation

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55 Comments

1. Nathan March 12, 2010 at 3:52 AM Reply

   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 🙂

   1. Alex October 18, 2011 at 10:37 AM Reply

      “Umm… honestly, I have to admit”, Nathan your mistake here is to admit something that to others can see as minimal websites. That`s the usual mistake we all do from time to time, “admitting” is very different from an opinion. Unless one of the websites above is yours, to admit something like this implies that you had to do something on the creation of that specific “thing”.

      Alex.

2. Kilian Muster March 12, 2010 at 4:23 AM Reply

   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

3. Daniel Long March 12, 2010 at 5:23 AM Reply

   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.

4. Francesco Ciabatta March 12, 2010 at 7:22 AM Reply

   Beautiful. I love minimal website. Thanks for the list!

5. lono March 12, 2010 at 7:25 AM Reply

   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.

6. F March 12, 2010 at 9:10 AM Reply

   Erhm, what’s minimalistic about 60% of the examples? They’re “normal” and not minimalistic at all.

7. Dave | SEO Nottingham March 12, 2010 at 9:48 AM Reply

   I’m absolutly loving “Sugar Rush Creative”, I’ve always been a massive fan of this navigation.

8. Cueburst March 12, 2010 at 10:08 AM Reply

   A nice list, although in my opinion, a few don’t deserve to be up there.

   Loving the majority though!

9. Justin Carroll March 12, 2010 at 10:36 AM Reply

   I’m a minimalist at heart. Thanks for the fodder. 🙂

10. Amberly | Web Designer March 12, 2010 at 12:20 PM Reply

    These are awesome. I love the Jacob Lee menu.

11. Jen March 12, 2010 at 12:43 PM Reply

    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?

12. chicago web design March 12, 2010 at 1:06 PM Reply

    Minimalism is the direction were heading in. This is great inspiration for our designers. Thanks bunches!

13. Tom Dahm March 12, 2010 at 1:08 PM Reply

    AWESOME. I LOVE minimalism. I currently reworking my site to better attain my love for minimalism and typography. Thanks for the great inspiration.

14. Elf M. Sternberg March 12, 2010 at 1:08 PM Reply

    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?

15. Web Design Soul March 12, 2010 at 1:46 PM Reply

    These websites are great. I love Infintium’s Navigation Menu.

16. Web Design by 314media.com St. Louis March 12, 2010 at 2:53 PM Reply

    good resources and excellent examples. .. I’m a big fan of minimlaistic design so these are great! Shout’s my personal fav…

    1. rob January 3, 2011 at 8:22 AM Reply

       Great list. Some fantastic navigation options on here.

17. Lava360 March 12, 2010 at 3:21 PM Reply

    one of the most important part of a website and you find some great navigation’s here. very inspiring and useful

18. Peter V Cook March 12, 2010 at 3:39 PM Reply

    Another great example: https://www.storypixel.com

    1. Darlinton March 15, 2010 at 3:49 PM Reply

       No, is not a good example, looks bad..

    2. Drew March 29, 2010 at 8:13 AM Reply

       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

19. Brian Walsh March 12, 2010 at 4:44 PM Reply

    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. 😛

20. fgaeg March 12, 2010 at 5:54 PM Reply

    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!

21. Peach March 12, 2010 at 9:28 PM Reply

    Awesome list. Minimalistic design is really the trend this year.

22. Web Development Outsourcing Company March 13, 2010 at 12:21 AM Reply

    Nice collection..

23. Sunny G March 13, 2010 at 9:03 AM Reply

    Nice… great inspirational stuff

    Found few more…
    https://www.broadbandmix.co.uk
    https://ilovetypography.com
    https://astheria.com
    https://www.rikcatindustries.com

24. Web design chennai March 13, 2010 at 2:42 PM Reply

    Nice article..Iam a minimalist…i like the color cubic and sugar rush creative.

25. Tanya March 14, 2010 at 1:46 PM Reply

    Very Nice Collection. I like most of them 🙂

26. Jordan Walker March 15, 2010 at 9:00 AM Reply

    Very clean and easy for users to navigate.

27. Alex Aguilar March 16, 2010 at 2:51 PM Reply

    Seems that nowadays navigation menu with link description under the link is pretty popular

28. thegraphiks March 16, 2010 at 4:52 PM Reply

    Great information!
    Muchas gracias por estos ejemplos, siempre sirven.

29. void March 16, 2010 at 8:01 PM Reply

    Total nav failers. Too simple.
    Nothing inspirational!

30. Xander March 18, 2010 at 11:20 AM Reply

    Very nice collection of minimal navigation samples. Check out our site for our version of minimal navigation menu.

31. Maksim Shaihalov March 19, 2010 at 4:23 PM Reply

    nice collection! thx!

32. Miles March 19, 2010 at 4:52 PM Reply

    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.

33. chicago web design April 9, 2010 at 10:14 AM Reply

    Yes, I found these easy to use too. Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

34. bodybuilding clothing April 9, 2010 at 11:20 AM Reply

    great examples!

35. Curtis Shae April 28, 2010 at 5:50 PM Reply

    Amazing stuff as usual…

36. Felicia D. Henegar May 1, 2010 at 3:15 PM Reply

    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.

37. Vincent Roman June 1, 2010 at 8:31 AM Reply

    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 🙂

38. yehya hafez July 8, 2010 at 3:18 AM Reply

    just one word “outstanding”

39. Aker July 29, 2010 at 12:23 PM Reply

    Great list but you could add some more like mrkwvr or minimalissimo. Anyway thanks for sharing that great list !

40. Marty Rogers July 31, 2010 at 1:46 AM Reply

    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!

41. egyptian web designer July 31, 2010 at 6:42 AM Reply

    Just one word “OUTSTANDING”
    my favorite is “Color Cubic”
    Thanks from EGYPTTTT

42. Matthew Menard September 13, 2010 at 3:35 PM Reply

    Great list, some very nice examples of clean and simple navigation, a few were almost too simple 😉

43. Web design portfolio October 12, 2010 at 10:44 AM Reply

    great collection

44. Kyle Hildebrant March 4, 2011 at 1:38 PM Reply

    Thanks for featuring OVO in this list. W’re happy to be included.

45. Zia April 26, 2011 at 10:15 AM Reply

    simple, nice & clean 🙂

46. Krista May 31, 2011 at 2:02 AM Reply

    Really great examples. Love the minimalist look.

47. Manu August 19, 2011 at 5:48 AM Reply

    For this amazing collection i suggest niuenso.com

48. Karl May 9, 2012 at 6:07 AM Reply

    Hy guys,

    I want to thank for the nice list of menu,and I just wanted to share a cool free minimal menu design – the files are PSD and you could use them to create really cool menus. https://www.creattor.com/web-elements/minimal-menu-3992
    I used the files to design a couple of websites, but I think they’re useful for everyone.

49. Richard Tomkins June 5, 2012 at 3:15 PM Reply

    I loved them all.

50. Christopher Becker June 28, 2012 at 5:41 AM Reply

    an AWESOME collection, thanks for sharing….

51. Howard Steele June 21, 2013 at 9:48 AM Reply

    Simplicity rules! Most popular web resources have very simple, minimalistic designs. Great post! Enjoyed it 🙂