It's ironic, given the astounding rate at which web design and development methods are progressing, that increasing numbers of web designers are looking to the past rather than the future for inspiration when creating new web sites. Despite being hugely popular in other forms of graphic design for many years now, most people have avoided using a vintage aesthetic on the web, thinking it wouldn't fit with this thoroughly modern medium. Not any more, however. Vintage and retro stylistic elements are popping up all over the place online, becoming a major web design craze.

Here, you'll find 40 of the most incredibly well designed vintage web sites. In reality, of course, they're only vintage at the most superficial of levels. Peel back the vintage veneer and you'll find cutting edge web development and design processes have been employed. Hopefully you'll take inspiration from the online shops, corporate sites and blogs below to create your own vintage designs. All you really need is a muted colour palette, vintage fonts and a bit of dirt and grunge. Some old packaging, advertising, photos, scrapbook pages and newspaper clippings won't hurt either!

• 1. (ctrl + N)
  
  
• 2. Level 2 Design
  
  
• 3. Custom
  
  
• 4. Ready Photosite
  
  
• 5. Thunderfuel
  
  
• 6. Cottonseed Oil Comeback Tour
  
  
• 7. mediaBOOM
  
  
• 8. The Dollar Dreadful
  
  
• 9. Tangled Decals
  
  
• 10. The New York Moon
  
  
• 11. Visit Cascadia
  
  
• 12. Tennessee Vacation
  
  
• 13. Dallas Advertising Agency
  
  
• 14. Prahba
  
  
• 15. The Retrovert
  
  
• 16. Eric Henning
  
  
• 17. Peacock Park Design
  
  
• 18. Sparky’s Garage
  
  
• 19. Michela Chiucini
  
  
• 20. Fred Perry- 100 Years
  
  
• 21. L’Unita
  
  
• 22. RejectedRobot
  
  
• 23. FOUND Magazine
  
  
• 24. The Blizzards
  
  
• 25. Klassiker In Acryl
  
  
• 26. Singularity Concepts
  
  
• 27. Gary Nock
  
  
• 28. CSS Tinderbox
  
  
• 29. Small Stone Recordings
  
  
• 30. Five Cent Stand
  
  
• 31. Thigpen Designs
  
  
• 32. The Superest
  
  
• 33. WDDG
  
  
• 34. Letterhead Fonts
  
  
• 35. Robotmania
  
  
• 36. Freelenz
  
  
• 37. Orlando FL Graphic Design and Web Solutions
  
  
• 38. Lanikai Properties
  
  
• 39. Big Sweater Design
  
  
• 40. Sprocket House
  
  

• About The Author

  Tom is a writer and designer with an interest in print design, modern and retro art. He is currently working as a writer for a supplier of printing accessories, inks and HP Laserjet cartridges for a Manchester, England based company called Cartridge Save. You can follow his posts about print design, print advertising and art on their blog, CreativeCloud.