There's no denying the importance of modern website design. Studies show that visitors form an impression of a website within seconds, with design, content, and usability as the most crucial factors. Design, however, is by far the most significant driving force.

Websites that follow modern web design trends help brands stand out from the crowd. Having a memorable or impressive site captures visitors’ interest and creates a positive impression of your brand from the beginning.

What makes a website modern is a moving target, but these sites share several key features: unique typography, custom illustrations, engaging animations, high-quality images, and whitespace.

We’ve put together five modern website examples for inspiration to get you started. 

5 trendy websites to inspire your next design

From clean and compact to captivating and colorful, here are five exciting websites to spark your next web design idea.

1. By Alice Lee

Alice Lee is a San Francisco-based illustrator, muralist, and the owner of this portfolio.

The first thing you’ll notice on this colorful website is the parallax effect built into the header image on the homepage. Parallax scrolling is a modern design technique that makes background images move slower than foreground ones, creating the impression of a 3D space. Alice uses it to make her cityscape shift when you hover over the image.

Alice’s website uses whitespace perfectly — the gaps between images keep the middle of the website compact while providing breathing room on the sides. The white background also complements the contrasting black text and vibrantly colored custom illustrations. Adding your own illustrations adds uniqueness to any modern website while showing potential customers your talent.

We love how the edge-to-edge banners divide the home page. Our favorite element, however, is the way the dog in the website logo opens and closes its eyes, following your cursor. Subtle animations like these separate outdated websites from contemporary ones.

The bright colors of Alice’s illustrations are eye-catching, the pictures on the “Ceramics” page are high-quality, and the call-to-actions (CTAs) are subtly sprinkled throughout the website. Alice’s portfolio is a go-to reference for creative professionals looking to show off (and sell) their work.

2. Astrology Club by Spotify

Astrology Club is an initiative by Spotify to increase awareness of its extensive podcast library. 

Before reaching the home page, you’re met with a loading animation that takes you from 0-100% with an immersive visual design mimicking the phases of the moon. The wait is short, and the home page appears with floating stickers and a background that moves in relation to the cursor.

There’s a gentle soundtrack and a background that changes color as you navigate the site, keeping to a palette of rich orange, dark blue, and pale purple. Merging interactive animations and sound combines two sensory experiences to create a unique audiovisual experience. Gone are the days of simple text-and-image websites — the interactive and immersive quality of modern websites demands attention to every detail.

The website invites to take the quiz, which takes you through a beautiful scrolling journey of “aligning the stars” before providing podcast recommendations. It’s a colorful and immersive experience from start to finish. 

3. Mack & Pouya

This website claims to “capture all the feels,” and we couldn’t agree more. Mack & Pouya are wedding photographers who deliver on the big blue heading of their landing page. 

All the content fits onto this one-page website, making navigation simple. This maximalist website mimics the vibrancy and excitement of a wedding. 

In the pricing section, interactive sliders, knobs, and a map of the US make up the “Build your own package” section. The price updates in the right corner as you adjust your needs, creating a live quote for their services. No need to wait for an email from the photographers or to click around the site searching for pricing information. You can determine if these services fit your budget right away. 

The contact section has an illustration of a couple with colorful wedding-themed graphics surrounding them and the heading “CHECK FOR YOUR DATE.” This form lets you submit a request to see if Mack & Pouya are free on your big day without navigating to a new page.

If you scroll to the very bottom, you’re met with a bonus section: the background is black with the words “LOVE IS …” sprawled in big white letters across the middle. Several circles then rain into the screen with various words floating around in circles in a ball pit-like design to complete the sentence. 

Overall, the website has a beautiful user interface with bold colors and an even bolder UX design. If you’re after web design inspiration for the best-in-class user experience, look no further than Mack & Pouya.

4. Atomus

The websites we’ve looked at so far have all used bright colors, expansive designs, and multiple fonts. Atomus stands out from the rest of the pack with its black background and clean, bold color palette. 

Atomus is a digital design system for Figma, a UI design software. The website uses a minimalist design, which is a common feature of modern design. Many companies are rebranding and moving away from layered logos with shadows and depth to flatter, cleaner designs.

At first glance, the website seems like a serious tool for graphic design — the cursors on the banner move to tweak various elements. As you scroll, however, you’ll find the design elements are animated, making the entire website interactive.

Dragging your cursor over the words below the header banner reveals humorous GIFs that correspond with the terms. Below that, a rectangle full of playful buttons jumps around, and the buttons change color when you click on them. Moving further down, you’re greeted by a virtual editor with different color palettes and font options.

The “What you’ll do with it” section is similar to Mack & Pouya’s ball pit — the words rise from the bottom of the solid-color boxes, and all the elements move when you interact with them. We love how the cursor turns into a pointer emoji when moving objects around.

Atomus is an excellent combination of minimalism, functionality, and a simple, vibrant color palette. It shows what you can do with a plain black background, interactive graphics, and a little creativity.

5. Mubasic

Mubasic offers an expanding library of high-quality children’s music. The website perfectly blends colorful design, audiovisual components, and animations — three standout features of modern web design. The landing page is divided into blocks with muted colors and a single font, giving the site a clean appearance.

The first interactive element resembles piano keys. The keys display the letters M-U-B-A-S-I-C and play different sound clips when you click them. The following section shows different snippets of music you can pause and play, sorted by preferred genre and mood. Icons from different streaming platforms fall into place, explaining where you can find music featured on the Musbasic site. 

The rest of the site has similar pop-up animations, high-quality pictures, and crisp icons. An FAQ tells visitors anything they might need to know. 

Design modern websites with Webflow

Many of the websites above were made with Webflow. We’re a visual web development platform that helps make websites from scratch — without coding knowledge.

At Webflow, we don’t just give you the tools to create websites — we teach you how to use them. Check out our free courses on Webflow University and bring your next website design idea to life today.