A common misconception is that black is thought of as a color in the same way that red, blue, purple or even green are. In fact, black is the complete absence of all color and light, essentially making it the ultimate non-color. And as such, a certain element of caution needs to be taken when using black as the main color of your web design.
Black will absorb and dilute all colors that surround it, so your secondary color needs to be well chosen and thought out. It works well with bright shades of reds, blues, and greens and can make luminous and vibrant colors stand out. As for the use of black with dark colors, that’s a no-no. It can work, but if the colors are similar, they will merge.
Black is not typically used as the primary color very often in content-heavy websites. It can be used and is very popular by design related personal portfolios and photography sites, as you will see below. It allows the artwork to take center stage and be the primary focus of the viewer.
Of course, the use of black within web design is not only limited to personal portfolios or design agencies, but it is also used across the full spectrum of all web design styles, as you will see from the beautiful web designs below.
Personal Portfolios
Jonah Levine
Blake Allen Design
9ko
Pep López
Arnaud Alves
Leah Haggar
Sebastian Onufszak
Sean Keenan
Thomas Davis
Kubi Media
BlissfullyAware
Aaron Beall
Grav Design
Design Agencies and Companies
Rain Creative Lab
Clusta
Gritti Rollo
Websiteburo
The Black Rabbit Creative Splendidoriam
Floatingworld
Postmachina
IAMMAGO – It's Magic
Only2Designers
Visualquimia
Spindle Design
Schepps Design
Joint Medias
MAC Interactive Architects
Visualbox
Granny&Smith
Ecommerce and Shopping
Quentin Mackay Online
Hunni's
Abercrombie & Fitch
Blogs
Jeff Finley
LooksLikeGoodDesign
Heikowaechter (Photo Blog)
flickrdesign (Photo Blog)
Music and Movies Sites
Thuckers World
Change Given
RickyRyan
Midtsommerjazz 2010
…and all the rest…
USA BY DESIGNERS
Future of Web Design London
Great Bible Tales
ASOS plc
unlike
Wasabi Travel
Madhouse
CouchCreative
MediaFlex – Video Production Melbourne
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