Clean and organized web design is easy on the user’s eye and it’s simple to find what you’re looking for. Google, Apple, Microsoft, and other major web corporations seem to have similar design frameworks. Everything is bland when the visual aspect of a website should be used to showcase a product. Brutalism is a design that’s coming back and it’s all about website appearance. It may not be polished, but it’ll catch visitors’ attention and make a statement. Continue reading to learn about this trend and where it came from.
The Origins
The term “brutalism” comes from the French word béton-brut, which means “raw-concrete.” It’s a reference to the Brutalist architecture movement in western Europe. The era lasted from the 1950s to the 1970s. Brutalist structures lacked any decorations (even paint) and were exposed concrete. Sometimes the buildings would have their architectural plan exposed. These projects were meant to honest and against anything fancy – just plain and simple buildings.
Brutalism in Web Design
The brutalist aesthetic in web design came along around 2016. It’s what you might expect it to be: seemingly devoid of decoration. What’s meant by decoration is the sophistication created by CSS and Javascript.
Brutalist websites have a raw look to them as if they were made in the days when the Internet only had HTML. The content can look messy and randomly scattered. The fonts are simple and monospace. They have a stark appearance just like European Brutalist architecture. There’s a boldness to Brutalist sites. It can be the background, font color, font size, composition, or something else. The whole point is that the design is meant to catch your attention. It’s not supposed to be comfortable to look at. Websites with Brutalists designs are changing up the old, boring web format. The trend is minimalist, but it isn’t neat. Some people may think these kinds of websites have made a design mistake or aren’t professional. However, everything is done on purpose. Aside from getting users’ attention, the fact that Brutalist websites are stripped down when it comes to code can actually improve conversion rates. Because these sites aren’t written with a ton of code, they load much faster than sites that use a lot of CSS and similar languages. According to Kissmetrics, conversions can drop 7% if a website has just a one-second loading delay. Having a simple, one-page website (as is popular among Brutalist websites) is likely to be better for business.
Consider a Brutalist Website
Try standing out from the crowd of boring web design with a bold, Brutalist design. Many of these websites have stark backgrounds, such as black or white, and it’s not unheard of to see a bright red or static background. There’s no symmetry and the content often overlaps or runs off the page. The elements of the Brutalist design are simple. Think of navigation and text written with HTML. Brutalism is an interesting, rugged approach to web design that shouldn’t immediately be shunned. Rather, we should consider embracing it. Feel free to contact us with any questions about web design.
