30 Web Designs with Amazing Attention to Detail

Creating a truly beautiful website that stands out from all of the other good web designs out there requires an attention to detail. Sometimes the subtle design details that you may not even notice right away will have a major influence that will help to complete the design. In this post we’ll take a look at 30 sites that show great attention to detail, with an explanation for each.

Design Bombs

Not only does Design Bombs showcase beautiful website designs, its own design is quite impressive. Throughout the site there is detail in a number of different places. In the screenshot below you will see excellent use of drop shadows, slightly different shades of gray, and borders that give a beveled appearance.

Design Bombs

Shopify

Shopify makes use of linear gradients in the gray areas of the design and a radial gradient in the green area. There is also a subtle reflection below the five screenshots. These details are not overwhelming, but they make the design much more polished.

Shopify

Odosketch

Odosketch uses a slightly textured background that gives some added character to the design. The ribbons are also design with attention to detail, which gives them an attractive 3D look.

Odosketch

Tender Support

Tender Support is a beautiful site that uses spacing and alignment very effectively. There is no excess in the design, and each element is precisely placed with a perfect amount of whitespace.

Tender Support

West Coast Poppin

West Coast Poppin uses subtle gradients and borders very well on the navigation menu. Just above the menu you’ll also see a light splatter effect that isn’t overpowering. The sides of the navigation menu also have a 3D element that is designed with great detail to give it a spectatular look. Additionally, the textured background is another design detail, as opposed to using a flat, solid color.

West Coast Poppin

Envato

Envato’s recent re-design uses transparency, subtle gradients, dropshadows and borders to give it a super sleek look. If you want to examine design details for your own learning purposes, take a close look at any of the Envato sites.

Envato

PSDTUTS

PSDTUTS is also from Envato, and it also uses gradients and one-pixel borders to create a beautiful, detailed design.

PSDTUTS

Service Plus Inns & Suites

Service Plus Inns & Suites makes use of texture to give its design some added appeal. The dropshadows from the pictures also help to complete the look without drawing a lot of attention.

Service Plus Inns & Suites

Texture Lovers

Using multiple different textures in one design can be a real challenge to do well, but Texture Lovers pulls it off. Great care was used to make the textures work together.

Texture Lovers

Causecast

Causecast makes use of gradients, lighting effects and transparency to create an attractive design.

Causecast

GoBible

GoBible uses a nice gradient in the background, which is subtle but effective. Dropshadows are used on the buttons, photos, and on a 3D element that controls the slider. There is also some reflection used on images lower on the page.

GoBible

Carreras Con Futuro

The most prominent element of the design of Carreras Con Futuro is the background, which features a hand-drawn style and splatter effects. However, there is also a light texture applied to the background at the top of the page. The texture is probably not noticed as much as the hand-drawn elements and the splatter effects, but it helps to complete the look.

Carreras Con Futuro

Sower of Seeds

Sower of Seeds uses drop shadows to give a 3D look to the navigation menu. There’s also a slight texture to the header area that works very well. The light gray diagonal stripes are used throughout the design to set it off from the solid white background that is used in some areas.

Sower of Seeds

Tutorial9

Tutorial9 uses slight gradients, drop shadows and borders to really complete its look. Every area of the blog theme seems to have been given plenty of attention and consideration.

Tutorial9

Web Design Ledger

Web Design Ledger has a beautiful design with effective typography and an attractive color scheme, but the background image includes some cool details. The wood background includes some items that appear to have been doodled or scratched into the wood.

Web Design Ledger

Function

Function uses a subtle grunge effect on the background of the content area, and also on the borders that are used to separate columns. Rather than using solid one-pixel borders, they use borders that have a hand-drawn feel.

Function

Atebits

Atebits has a rather simple layout, but it looks very appealing because of the textures, drop shadows, and borders. It’s an example of how effective attention to detail can make something with a basic layout look very professional and attractive.

Atebits

nYq Design Group

nYq Design uses a lot of texture. The dark brick background is very prominent, but the use of texture on the navigation menu and the featured work area work well with the overall design. The links in the navigation menu also use a hand-drawn font, which is a subtle but effective change from Arial of Georgia.

nYq Design Group

Pulse

Pulse uses a gradient and transparency to create a impressive look. The headline or tagline also uses a slight drop shadow that looks great on top of that background. Both links on the homepage to the pricing and signup use a blue color that helps it to stand out.

Pulse

Ugmonk

Ugmonk recently re-designed their site. The left and right sides of the header use a border and drop shadow to give it a bit of a 3D look.ย  The background pattern is another design detail that gives it different look as opposed to a solid background color.

Ugmonk

Nine Fashion

Nine Fashion uses gradients and borders very sublty in the header to help create the stylish look of the site.

Nine Fashion

Hello Themes

Hello Themes has a very colorful design and uses a combination of different shades and gradients. Borders help to give the navigation menu a beveled look. Buttons on the site also use gradients, borders and drop shadows to demonstrate the attention to detail.

Hello Themes

The Sak

The Sak uses textures and a background image/pattern along with hand-drawn fonts that complete the look. The header particularly has a lot of detail with different texture and fonts. A drop shadow is used for the torn paper look.

The Sak

Jarad Johnson

A lot of portfolio sites have dark backgrounds, but Jarad Johnson’s is unique. Subtle light effects are used with the pattern to create a stunning dark background.

Jarad Johnson

From the Couch

From the Couch demonstrates attention to detail in the 3D elements of the design. The 3D ribbons and borders in the sidebar navigation are done very precisely. The rounded corners, borders and color scheme also help to complete a very polished look.

From the Couch

Mark Forrester

Mark Forrester’s borders and 3D elements show a great deal of attention to detail in the content area, although the header illustration is obviously the most prominent aspect of the design.

Mark Forrester

The Swish Life

The layout of the Swish Life is beautifully spaced out and aligned. The content is well-organized, accessible and not crammed in to small areas. This is an excellent example of how even a content-heavy site can make use of whitespace.

The Swish Life

Ecosimply

Ecosimply’s blog design uses borders and drop shadows effectively. The tabbed navigation uses a gradient and a slight change on hover.

Ecosimply

What Katie Does

What Katie Does uses a rather subtle repeating texture on the background of the site. The texture is not overpowering but it has a big impact on the look of the site.

What Katie Does

The Photo Argus

The Photo Argus makes nice use of transparency to the big background photo. A simple, but attractive, color scheme is used by the site.

The Photo Argus

For more design inspiration please see:

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Stephen Snell is the owner and editor of Vandelay Design, a popular design blog.
  1. November 10, 2009

    Awesome! I could look at these all day. I love sites that pay attention to detail down to the pixel.

  2. November 10, 2009

    Please, please, PLEASE tell me the typo in the title is deliberate. There is not enough irony left in the world to deal with an unintentional typo in the title of an article about attention to detail, no less within the term “attention to detail” itself.

  3. November 10, 2009

    Trueenough,
    Well, as much as I would like to say it was intentional, it wasn’t. Thanks for pointing it out, and yes, I agree it’s a pretty bad mistake to make, and quite ironic.

  4. Trueenough
    November 10, 2009

    You are a nobler man than I; I would have totally lied. ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. November 10, 2009

    lol@the typo ๐Ÿ˜›

    Really great post though. I’ve always been a firm believer that attention to detail is what sets great design apart from good design. These websites are a prime example!

  6. November 11, 2009

    great.

    thanks for the info.

  7. November 11, 2009

    I really like the Design Bombs website. Good job by Soh Tanaka.

  8. November 11, 2009

    Nice list ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. November 11, 2009

    Some really great work here.

    Just to let ya know, webdesignledger.com has a shiny new design so you might want to change your screenshot ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. raj
    November 11, 2009

    gooooooooood

  11. November 11, 2009

    Nice list and well described!
    I love the details in the examples.

  12. November 11, 2009

    really cool web designs with high voltage attentions. thanks

  13. November 11, 2009

    Very lovly websites!
    This is how webistes should look!

  14. November 11, 2009

    Woot!! thanks for featuring one of my sites ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€ :D, you made my day.

    Thanks for the post all of them are great!!

  15. November 11, 2009

    Excellent post. I hope attention to detail never goes away. It is the little things in life that give me enjoyment.

  16. November 11, 2009

    Great post. Typo or no typo it was worth the click.

  17. November 11, 2009

    The attention given to the look’n’feel is overrated when you look at what these companies are trying to sell. Focus on the interaction design and larger parts of the design instead.

  18. November 11, 2009

    Great Post!

    I really believe that it is the little subtle designs that really compliment the entire design , such as ( the small drop shadows , gradients and textures) .

    Thanks,

    -CP

  19. November 11, 2009

    Steve thank you for including From the Couch in your list.

    These days it’s all too easy to put a list together with a title ‘1000 excellent red sites’. I love that you explain your reasoning for each sites inclusion on the list, it makes them worth reading!

    Regarding that typo, I do that alllll the time so you have my sympathies ๐Ÿ™‚

    We were previewing a yet-to-be-released theme called ‘Through the Lens’ but I spelt Lens with an ‘e’ at the end. By the time someone pointed it out I had screen shots all over the place. Rather embarrassing.

  20. November 11, 2009

    David,
    Thanks for letting me know I’m not alone. It never fails that the thing you forget to check is where the error will be.

    Martin,
    I agree with you that there are other parts of a site that are more important, but details can help to complete a design. Looking at the “larger parts” of the design is fine, but it’s not what this post was intended to do.

  21. November 11, 2009

    This is a really nice list – a high quality list. thank you for putting it together. Seems like it could spawn a half dozen sequels… things like “30 web designs with amazing use of gradients” or “30 web designs with great use of whitespace” or maybe “30 beautiful web designs built on wordpress” etc…

  22. November 11, 2009

    The respect of the grid is impressive in all these examples…

  23. November 11, 2009

    This is a good list and I really appreciate you adding in comments on what you think makes the site nice. So often I see large showcases of good work, but rarely does the author explain their choices.

  24. November 11, 2009

    Really great collection, and I love how they’re from totally different categories. I can tell you really did your research. great job!

    *minor* quibble: (another typo) for the “What Katie Does” entry, repaeting –> repeating. ๐Ÿ™‚

  25. November 11, 2009

    Kristina,
    Thanks for the feedback and for pointing out my mistake. It was a rough day for typos.

  26. November 11, 2009

    Ha Ha no worries! Glad to be of service. ๐Ÿ™‚ Keep up the great content.

  27. November 11, 2009

    Great attention to detail, but a lot of inattention to creativity. Somebody please kill the trend of using a variety of cirlcle sizes in bright colors, all semi-transparent, that looks like a blend of city lights out of focus mixed with fairy dust. WAAAAAY too overused. But hey, web designers are coders first, designers second I guess.

  28. November 11, 2009

    Thanks for featuring WDL Steven. Although the detail in the screenshot can no longer be seen on the actual site, since we just launched our redesign today. ๐Ÿ™‚

  29. November 12, 2009

    Attetion to detail requires more time for project development

  30. November 13, 2009

    Wow gr8 collections !!!! nice work gr8 job

  31. November 14, 2009

    Good source of inspiration. Thanks a lot.

    cheers!

  32. November 14, 2009

    great collection.. Most of the design having very attractive colours and get tips for that..

    Thanks for sharing this..

  33. November 15, 2009

    Thank you! I’m adding some more. Panic Coda: http://www.panic.com/coda/ and Pixelmator: http://www.pixelmator.com/ thank you for the list…

  34. November 16, 2009

    Appreciate the mention. Fantastic list to be associated with!

  35. November 22, 2009

    A beautiful collection.. very attractive colours some sites. Thanks for sharing. Add to bookmart immediately!

  36. December 14, 2009

    Nice post
    Thank you ๐Ÿ˜‰

  37. December 21, 2009

    thanks essential info

  38. February 19, 2010

    The respect of the grid is impressive in all these examplesโ€ฆ

  39. March 4, 2010

    Would love some feedback on my twitter background. Its not a website but i worked hard on its detail.

  40. March 4, 2010

    Would love some feedback on my twitter background. Its not a website but i worked hard on its detail. http://www.twitter.com/isablah

  41. April 18, 2010

    Wow those are some great examples, Odosketch is probably my favorite one Thanks for post, Jen

  42. May 12, 2010

    Nice post .Thank for share

  43. July 14, 2010

    Awesome Web Design Company!!!

  44. July 23, 2010

    Awesome Web Design Company!!!

  45. Tuomas
    August 13, 2010

    Cheers for this. Details are the hardest part, but they make by far the most impact even though you might not think about them.

    Excellent stuff.

  46. August 15, 2010

    I really like the Design Bombs website. Good job by Soh Tanaka.

  47. September 12, 2010

    I like the Nine Fashion website. Thanks so much

  48. September 22, 2010

    Great list! I love the detail!

  49. October 9, 2010

    great post! thanks for sharing! Iโ€™m subscribing now to your blog.

  50. November 4, 2010

    this is awesome..thanks for sharing….

  51. November 10, 2010

    Thank you for this amazing list! we’ve developed a project for free website templates. it may be useful. thank you for the listโ€ฆ

  52. November 15, 2010

    Awesome designs. Its professional design, Nice job

  53. November 24, 2010

    Some amazing designs and idea generators.

  54. December 5, 2010

    Great collection, i think attention to detail is a major point in webdesign.

  55. December 15, 2010

    I could only WISH I could do any of these. So much color! These models are beautiful

  56. January 17, 2011

    Wow each layout is wonderful , though I have seen many of those . I will use others for my Sydney Clients.

  57. March 20, 2011

    Great, great! I like Texture Lovers. It’s so beautiful and magical. Great Collection. Thanks so much!

  58. April 18, 2011

    Good collection and very much inspired from it
    thanks for the post …………………

  59. May 17, 2011

    These are stunning, especially Tender Support!

  60. July 23, 2011

    great collection! my favorite is atebits!

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