20 Best New Websites, October 2021

It’s a mixed bag of candy this month, but nothing that should make you scream with fright. Enjoy!

Tether

This single-page site for forthcoming cycle safety system Tether uses a balanced combination of hero video and illustration to explain its features.

Wayfinder

Wayfinder is a game about our connection to nature that uses generative code, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining to create a new experience each time it is played.

Beechhouse

Beechhouse has a clean, airy feel, with subtle scrolling animation. For a tattoo studio, the overall feel is refreshingly light, without a rose-filled skull to be seen.

edenspiekermann_

This is how you do a portfolio site with absolute confidence.

Forward Festival

Forward Festival is a series of creative conferences run by Forward Creatives design agency. This is an excellent example of a classic magazine site with enough individuality to pull the user in and keep them engaged.

Danmarks Motionsuge

Denmark’s Exercise Week focuses on a national campaign (in Denmark) to get Danish people to be more active. A fresh color scheme, offset grid, and strong photography all create a dynamic feel. And it is somehow reassuring to the rest of us that even the second happiest population in the world needs to exercise more.

Franco Maria Ricci

Because we have come to expect load times to be almost nothing, loading screens are not something too many sites bother with. However, this site for publisher Franco Maria Ricci is a pleasing exception.

Pierre Yovanovitch

Stylishly curated portfolio and catalog site for interior and furniture designer Pierre Yovanovitch.

Gir

Silicone spatulas are probably not the first subject most of us fantasize about designing a site for, but that’s what makes this site for Gir extra good. The ‘add to cart’ footer widget on individual product pages is done well, making sure a buy button is always present but without being over pushy.

Gastronomical

Bright, bold, and in your face, this site for Gastronomical pancake and waffle mix is about as far from Betty Crocker as it could get, bringing ‘cool’ to home baking.

FC XV

Marking 15 years of Dutch fashion brand Fabienne Chapot, this microsite makes a feature of the illustration style used by the brand for its prints.

Websmith Studio

This is a good, simple portfolio site with good use of color to highlight, and the background noise effect adds subtle interest. Good name too.

Van Gogh Museum

This is definitely one of the better museum websites around. The use of color creates warmth without detracting from the sense of space. The ability to search the collection visually is a welcome feature.

Chérie Healey

Life coach Chérie Healey’s site manages to stay on the right side of positive and uplifting without tipping over into hippy meme territory.

Kalso

To mark the launch of the new Earth Shoes website, this microsite traces the history of the original Kalso Earth shoes, starting with their inventor Anne Kalsø herself.

The Order of the Good Death

The Order of the Good Death is aimed at changing attitudes around a subject that most of us find extremely difficult, in a way that is informative and at the same time appealing. The tone of the content is as essential here as the visual style.

Air Company

The use of split-screen works well here for Air Company, to show now and future, along with some great photography and video.

Wild Fi

Wild Fi design agency’s site manages to be colorful but clean at the same time. Bold type and a balance between black on white and white on black make an impact.

Firefly

This site for Firefly digital design agency has some great little details, notably a glow around the cursor.

StudioBand

Dark neutral colors provide a calm, muted background for video and photography of work in StudioBand’s portfolio site redesign.

Paddi MacDonnell

Paddi MacDonnell is a designer and entrepreneur from Northern Ireland, follow her on Twitter.