30 Beautiful Examples of Grunge in Web Design

November 15th, 2008 by Jacob Gube | 91 Comments | Stumble It! Delicious

Grunge is a stylish design trend that gives web designs a less uniform, less structured, and more organic look-and-feel. It’s characterized by textured/gritty backgrounds, uneven/torn edges, worn, faded and aged graphic elements inspired by urban and industrial architecture and scenery. It gives a way for designers to venture away from the glossy, flashy, and rigid design elements that characterize the "Web 2.0"style – a style that still dominates mainstream web design.

In this collection, you’ll find 30 excellent examples of grunge in web design for your inspiration. From portfolios and fashion websites to online stores and church sites – you’ll find a variety of websites that choose to "dirty up" their web design.

Cogitatur

TROZO GALLERY

The Lippincott

Von Dutch Originals

Bridge55

James Lai Creative

Biola Undergrad

The Trian Woodburns

revolution church

Jared Campbell

nYq Design Studio

Jeremy Zevin

Sarah Hyland

Casio Exilim Lab

The Farmer & The Chef

Syc Fuk

Red9ine Tattoos

Xperience 08

Meagan Fisher

Soma Communities

Dirty Pretty Things

Bristol Archive Records

{ths}

Gary Nock

Elliot Jay Stocks

Bart-Jan Verhoef

Ali Felski

POWER TO THE POSTER

Lataka

Sourcebits TangledDecals

Your thoughts?

Why do designers choose grunge themes? Are there benefits towards straying away from the mainstream design trends? Share your thoughts in the comments!

91 Comments

CreamScoop.com

November 15th, 2008

Some really good designs, I specially like the ones with a 50’s, 60’s feel.

Simon

November 16th, 2008

I love the grungy feel - I have considered using a grunge design on my blog, but it don’t think it fits the mood right.
However, many of the websites that use the grunge designs in this article are very formal websites, which shows how effective and popular grunge has become

weblizzer

November 16th, 2008

i like this mostly,…. i’ve bookmark some of the sites..

Johnathan

November 16th, 2008

I would like to suggest a site I enjoy, it has a little grunge to it I think.

http://www.stephenfry.com

SPFLDnet

November 16th, 2008

It’s like the Blues. You get five tunes, and tens of thousands of stories.

liam

November 16th, 2008

Brilliant stuff, I really REALLY love the design on Gary Nock’s website. Great collection Jacob.

Ann Storer

November 16th, 2008

Beautiful stuff! It seems like grunge is everywhere on the web these days, but I don’t care if it’s trendy — I really like it. Thanks for posting these.

Online hry zdarma

November 16th, 2008

I like Soma Communities - it is look very good …

Thomas

November 16th, 2008

Thanks :)

Aaron

November 16th, 2008

I really like the Von Dutch bridge55 designs.

Max

November 16th, 2008

supposidly gunge is on the way out, but i dont care as it defines certain peoples styles, these are some great designs.

Kim

November 16th, 2008

Awesome - opened MY eyes - thanks!

Alex Linebrink

November 16th, 2008

Awesome list. I’ve seen quite a few before, but many are new, and look GREAT.

Here’s another: http://www.thatindiedude.com

Web Design

November 16th, 2008

Great list. Some of the grunge design in the 60s are much better.

AlexB2

November 16th, 2008

http://www.reel-radio.fm

Katy Rawson

November 16th, 2008

Some great designs here. The Train Woodburns and Ali Felski are my favorites though.

Mike

November 16th, 2008

Great list, here’s another: http://www.ourlittleplanet.org

ntopics

November 16th, 2008

Your right! These are beautiful examples of grunge web sites.
Its nice to see artistic qualities in today’s web sites because there’s so much rigid design in web sites today.
Thanks for displaying these examples of grunge web sites
from Tony.

James Allen

November 16th, 2008

This stuff looks great, but too many of these sites force the user to scroll in one direction or another. Here’s a great grungy design that doesn’t force the user to scroll to see everything at once (navigation takes care of that in a nice web 2.0 way): http://www.clapperclawfestival.com/

snowkage

November 16th, 2008

lots of good textures here on this new site http://www.textureninja.com

Greg H

November 16th, 2008

I love theory11.com designed by wa007. From the list above, Elliot Jay Stocks is also one of my favs.

Kevin

November 16th, 2008

Very nice list - good to see some new ones instead of the same ones I see on all the other grunge example posts.

Studio1Z

November 16th, 2008

I like all your designs, beautiful work!

Rishi Luchun

November 16th, 2008

I normally prefer the more clean looking websites, but these have really grown on me. nice works.

Nick

November 16th, 2008

Some are nice, but I’m honestly getting tired of the grunge trend.

Bangbouh Stock

November 16th, 2008

Great collection of some very well executed uses of grunge in design. Thanks!

dark laith

November 16th, 2008

this is a nice design, should’ve made it to the list :( http://kolekcja.cropptown.pl/?z=man_zone

dev

November 16th, 2008

I’m surprised I didn’t see mattbrett.com on here!

nsane

November 16th, 2008

As a graphic designer, I was never too fond of Grunge style, but I have to say that these sites pull it off big time. There is a lot of 2.0 effects added to it, so I think that is what makes it look less dark than what a grunge effect usually offers.

insic

November 17th, 2008

i love this type of design.

Robert

November 17th, 2008

Really nice designs! The layout’s stands out very nicely and I like the use of colors on the designs.

relax

November 17th, 2008

Great list. Some of the grunge design in the 60s are much better.

Ollie Kavanagh

November 17th, 2008

I wouldn’t say I chose grunge for my personal site as its a design theme, more because it defines who I am, if it so happens its the in thing at the moment then so be it.