Smashing Magazine

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Vitaly Friedman Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. Vitaly is writer, speaker, author and editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine. He runs responsive Web design workshops, online workshops and loves solving complex UX, front-end and performance problems in large companies. Get in touch.

March 26, 2007
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Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Inspiration 414 Showcases 168 Simplicity 2

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....

Make your first API call

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 websites 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.

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

Davidville

The place Garrett Dimon calls home. | GarrettDimon.com

Drew Warkentin | Creative Solutions Daily.

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

Goplan - Online project management and collaboration tool

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

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

45royale, Inc. | Atlanta Web Design and Development

Web Design - Normanton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire - Grove

Studio MIKMIK: Graphic design and illustration by Michael Lewis

journal // hicksdesign

[Beta] Rapid coding collaboration: Springloops

Corking Design | Daniel Cork freelance web designer based in Manchester

Tijs Vrolix

Visit MIX07

Apple - iPod + iTunes

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

kottke.org :: home of fine hypertext products

Simple software to help you get organized: 37signals

t:m

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

The Missing Link - Homepage

Wishlistr: Skapa din egen onskelista

IconShoppe ~ Royalty-free stock icons for the web

Solution Watch - Your descriptive source of solutions

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

Left-aligned Designs

Navix Europe | Language, Creative & Consultancy Services

maybe.for.you.

Good Creative - Branding and Graphic Identity

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

Text Link Ads - Smart Link Marketing

Webdesign Werbeagentur Kassel Vitamin J Kommunikation

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

Subtraction 7.0

Vibrant and Dark Designs

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

Lighthouse

Centrigy™

nclud™ a creative web design agency

Revision3

The Consult - Creative Design Agency - Home

Worth Mentioning

An Experiment Gone Useful - Artypapers

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

kartooner.com

SXSW’07: After the Storm - Snook.ca

Design Observer: writings about design & culture

paulbeelen.com

Olof Lonnroth Design - Lonnroth.info

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Navigation menus have to be intuitive, precise and easy-to-use. One simple, basic principle, which is common for all kinds of nav bars you would ever want to use for your projects. In fact, navigation menu is probably the most important element in web design: after all, it is being used more often than any other element on a given page. Therefore it's important to make sure that your visitors...

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