10 Examples of Excellent Responsive Website Design

Modern users differ from those who accessed websites from their home or office PCs around a decade ago. Today’s customers are mostly mobile. They wish to have a seamless UX as they shift from a laptop to a tablet or a smartphone on the go. Thus, responsive web design becomes a mandatory requirement for a user-friendly, popular web product, not an innovative twist it used to be.

If you’re planning to create an app or website, think about responsiveness first. Your product should meet the user’s needs at any device, which is the key principle of flexibility modern users seek. Here is a guide on how to make the website responsive, together with ten inspiring examples.

10 Examples of Responsive Web Design for Your Inspiration

Here are some brilliant website examples to show what we mean when talking about responsiveness.

#1 Ashcroft Law Firm

Responsiveness in design meant leaving primary calls to action and emphasizing all partners for Ashcroft. In an effort to capture as many visual pieces as possible, the law firm’s designers left the attorneys’ images on the front page (visible in all versions). They created a smooth, refined visual image with a restrained color palette and Sans Serif fonts.

#2 Etsy

Etsy’s approach to responsive web design is characterized by a “mobile-first” principle. Thus, its developers focused on providing all the minimum required functionality in a mobile version first, scaling the website up to the desktop version later. As a result of such work, Etsy’s visitors can easily approach the top trending categories of products in any website version from any device.

#3 Dribble

Dribble is a designer community that serves as an example of the classy, responsive design itself. The square-tiled image layout of its main page is optimized fluidly and changes as you change the device or scale the web page up and down. As a result of using fluid CSS grid markups, the designers of Dribble achieved a great scaling effect. The number of columns adjusts as you change the screen size without affecting the overall website usability. Besides, each tile has a set of images for varied screen sizes, enabling real-time image restacking.

#4 Amazon

It would be wrong to talk about responsive web design without mentioning Amazon. The website of this ecommerce giant is a golden standard of responsiveness. You can experiment with the layout on a desktop, seeing how the content evolves as you scale the page up and down. A mobile version gives users a completely different experience, though with the same functionality. Mobile layout is simplified compared to the desktop and tablet version, but it prioritizes the simplicity of product search. So, all users will see a large, visible search tab at the center of a mobile website layout to complete their shopping hassle-free.

#5 New York City Ballet

The primary information users coming to the New York City Ballet’s website seek is the way to attend their shows. Thus, the web design was made responsive to this need, with users seeing impressive videos in the background and receiving the bare minimum they require to book a ticket. When you’re on the desktop version of the website, you get complete data about the show, while the mobile version only showcases the “Order” button. Still, the menu stays unchanged in all versions, placed conveniently in the top left or right corners of the main page.

#6 Wired

Wired has gone the extra mile to allow simple reading and sharing of their stories on social media. The desktop version of the website is vivid and bright, though with clear-cut navigation and menu. When you come to the mobile version of the website, you’ll see a much-simplified layout prioritizing the top stories. Thus, you are guaranteed a seamless viewing and reading experience from whatever device you’re using.

#7 Popular Science

Popular Science is a magazine covering a broad range of topics, so content is central to such a resource. This website copes with the task of content accessibility and ease of reading excellently, as the pages scale quickly across devices. The seamless user experience is achieved with a wise choice of clear fonts and fluid images. Thus, users can enjoy hassle-free scrolling through the magazine’s latest articles without any visual bottlenecks or usability problems.

#8 MGSM

Everything is cool about the MGSM website, and it’s not only about the cutting-edge clothing they present. An unusual solution (that doesn’t always work well) is the use of a background hero on pages of all sizes. The image is always clear and bright, coherent with the brand image overall. It’s also flexible, scaling down and up as you change the device screen sizes. Still, the best web design solution is the availability of product images on all kinds of screens; you can quickly scroll through the recent collections, even on a smartphone.

#9 Smashing Magazine

At first glance, you might be shocked by the screaming red as the website’s primary color. This vividness, however, doesn’t prevent users from seeing the clear organizational structure and all elements of the menu on the site. The website is super easy to navigate, even when you visit it from a smartphone. The secret of responsive web design success here is the wise use of spacing and proper typography choices. You’ll be delighted to see how the menu and breadcrumbs sections evolve when you open the resource on different devices.

#10 Andersson-Wise Architects

The architecture firm Andersson/Wise started working in 2001, but its lively, flexible website saw the world only recently. Here, web designers incorporated high-resolution motion graphics and fluidity of visual elements to enable a hassle-free, intuitive, and visually pleasing user experience on the website. This website is listed in the top 50 responsive websites awarded by Awwwards, which suggests a high level of recognition of the designer’s effort put into making a single, fluid website.

Make Your Site Responsive!

Excited about the endless opportunities responsive web design gives? You can study more best UI/UX design examples to find your own path, identifying the approach for your business niche and specific product. Follow these prompts to achieve maximum responsiveness and usability, and your audience will reward you by coming back for more.