20 Website Homepage Design Patterns for Pixel Perfection
Knowing what to do and seeing how it works is a great way to research what’s best for your homepage. Often, successful websites will use a combination of best practices, which is why they are successful. For example, the first website on this list (Apple) uses clear branding and a nice balance of white space.
Looking at other websites will allow you to see what looks and feels best and what design elements and practices you want to implement in your own design.
On this page, we’ll share 20 website homepage design examples to inspire your website design!
Once you have an idea of what you want, you can contact us to build it. We can create custom websites for you that are fully optimized and capture your brand.
Bonus Read! Looking for a best practice list for your website? Check out our List of 9 web design best practices
20 web design best practices and examples
We’ve scoured the web and put together homepages that demonstrate best practices, as well as website homepage design examples to help you understand the value a well-designed and user-centric homepage can offer your customers.
1. Have clear branding like Apple
Apple’s logo is iconic, so they don’t even use their name. A single black apple, missing a bite, on a white background and you know what it is. Their entire branding, from their product to their website, is clean, minimalist and 100% aligned with their brand identity.
Their home page is an example of a website that matches that personality, from the font to the design elements.
2. Have simple navigation like Google
Search engines are home pages too! Except for the occasional holiday when Google might change its logo, the home page is incredibly simple. There is a search bar to use prominently displayed in the middle of the page.
Other options like Gmail and photos are hidden but still accessible in the upper right corner.
3. Be responsive in your design like Airbnb
Many websites, such as social media and streaming platforms, pioneered responsive design because they quickly realized that their target audience was viewing them on mobile devices. Airbnb was one of the first accommodation sites to do this.
Today, it seamlessly adapts to different screen sizes and devices. The layout, images, and text are automatically updated so that their users get the optimal experience.
4. Have a fast download time like Dropbox
If cloud solutions are your core business model, having a fast load time will be your biggest unique selling proposition (USP). Dropbox has made its images lightweight, optimized, and backed by efficient encoding practices to ensure fast loading times.
5. Get a catchy title like Slack
Slack always adds a catchy headline to their designs, emphasizing that they’re all about their colleagues being able to communicate. Their statement, “Made for people. Built for Productivity’ emphasizes that this is a place of purpose and professionalism, not a ‘discord’ or casual messaging platform for casual conversations.
6. Implement high-quality images like Squarespace
Squarespace’s top priority is promoting website design and aesthetics. After that, he leads with his own design. It uses high-quality, visually appealing images to showcase the beauty of websites created with its platform.
7. Use minimal text like Stripe
Even though Stripe is in the financial sector, their site doesn’t have an extensive wall of jargon. In fact, their site is the exact opposite. There is decent white space, big, strong headings and then a small paragraph to attract the audience.
This is complemented by a strong call to action (CTA) to guide the user to the next step. Their short copy only highlights features and benefits without overwhelming the user.
8. Integrate good CTAs like Netflix
Netflix’s branding is a great website example of using color to draw the eye. The sharp red-black immediately draws your eye in. But they also use this color combination as a call to action. While the text is still highly visible and legible in white on black, the buttons are the real star of the home page.
Word also calls the user to action using simple, direct, active instructions such as “start” or “enter.” These instructions are strategically placed to encourage the user to push them. After all, everyone always wanted to press the big red button.
9. Use white space like Albert
Albert is a simple bank finance software and they wanted to express that in their website design. Their home page makes incredible use of white space. They also take a very subtle approach to catching the eye with movement. But unlike other sites that do this with a change of text or an entire image, Albert does it by swiping between screens in its app.
It’s a gentle change that attracts interest by focusing on what’s really important. Spacing between elements prevents clutter and allows the user to focus on the product.
10. Use prominent logo placement like Mad Tasty
Mad Tasty has a distinctive logo: White, capitalized text is minimal on a clean black rectangle. The main logo is in a focused dot position on the top banner. The design is then repeated in the CTAs and main headlines. Their logo also serves as a button to their home page, providing an easy way for users to return to their starting point.
11. Create a great “contact us” accessibility like Basecamp
While most companies offer a “contact us page” in their top navigation, most CTAs will probably direct you to sales or their pricing page. Basecamp offers all of this, plus a link to their customer service, and if you want a more personal touch, they offer the CEO’s email address directly.
Many CEOs out there aren’t willing to be that hands-on.
12. Integrate social verification data like Zendesk
Testimonials, case studies, and customer logos feature prominently on the Zendesk home page. The company demonstrates its credibility by showing the positive impact of its solutions on its customers.
Third-party elements work similarly to word-of-mouth credibility. Being endorsed by others reflects well on a company’s customer service and delivery capabilities and makes a potential new customer feel secure in investing in a product.
13. Use interactive elements like Spotify
Almost every element on Spotify’s home page can be interacted with, played with, or expanded to see more options. Spotify is a great website example of how interaction can improve the customer journey.
You can view music and personalized recommendations. With each interaction, the user’s browsing experience is improved and focused on.
14. Be consistent with your layout like Microsoft
Microsoft has had a very clean, consistent, clear, functional brand for decades. They have always prioritized website accessibility and ease of use in their operating systems and software, and their homepage is no different.
It has a clean structure with lines, good use of white space and a simple layout so users can easily navigate and find the product or service they require.
15. Have user accessibility like W3C
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was designed with accessibility in mind. To ensure that all users can access contact information, they include images, keyboard navigation, high contrast options, different language settings, and more. provided an alternative text for
W3C’s main focus is to manage technology to make information accessible to everyone and create guidelines for website accessibility. They demonstrate that they not only discuss these issues, but also exemplify many of them by applying them on their website.
16. Have articles and blog features like TechCrunch
TechCrunch features articles and news on the home page. The main section contains articles that immediately attract the user’s attention.
Each article has attractive thumbnail images and different content formats. Regular updates ensure content remains relevant and encourage users to visit often.
17. Be user-centric with design like Asana
The Asana website focuses on clarity and ease of use. Their support chat box looks quick, their text is written without any jargon and their headlines are short. On the home page, you’ll find helpful videos, easily laid-out features, clear buttons and navigation.
The design puts the essential information first for customers to understand how Asana can help them manage their projects and experience efficiency. There is also a personalization element where recommendations are made based on the user’s needs.
18. Give customization like Tailor Brands
Tailor Brands gives customers the tools to customize and build platforms. Their homepage does the same for the customer, doing everything possible to take the customer on a personalization journey for their idea.
Based on these inputs, the website instantly provides options and recommendations, providing the user with a tailored engagement and relevant experience from the get-go.
19. Include an analytics integration like Shopify
Shopify focuses on highlighting analytics and reporting features for website builders right on its home page. It wants to demonstrate that its platform provides users with valuable information about the performance of their stores.
How do they do it? Provide visitors with detailed sales processes, customer behavior analytics, marketing insights, and more. by providing
20. Give a clear hierarchy like BBC
Newspapers and magazines often give hierarchy to the layout in their print editions. The biggest, most important stories go on page one, and the warm fuzzies go on page three. The BBC is similarly focused on its website, with bigger, more distinctive headlines for the big story and less attention for the rest.
The structure helps users easily find news, articles and other content that interests them.