10 Top Corporate Website Examples to Get Inspired
We get it: corporation and inspiration may rhyme, but they are not often put in a sentence together. Still, a developer or designer must always find something to make their work stand out from the crowd. There is a lot to choose from, yes, and you are ultimately supposed to be delivering a unique piece of work, but there are also some rules in the subtext that corporate websites are expected to follow.
We cannot tell you how to design a website. Only your client can tell you that, and, ideally, a client won’t. You have to stand on your own two feet and deliver a corporate website that is unique and original, but also immediately recognizable as a corporate website; exuding professionalism, confidence, trustworthiness and order.
We cannot, as we’ve said, tell you how to design a website. But we can help you part of the way.
Sure, a big corporation is only there to sell you… something. But its website is selling you it – its capacity of making its products or services wanted. For us, a well designed corporate website looks professional, clean, and trustworthy, but, most importantly, it promotes the brand’s message. Depending on the industry, the latter can mean different things. Here are our pics, in alphabetical order.
Apple
Apple starts you off with an impressive video of its flagship product combined with a menu which mimics the iOS style and a call to action banner showing the company’s humanitarian side and values. The rest of the page is a minimal grid of high-resolution product showcases, while the fine print is laid out immediately below. Graphics-forward and on brand.
Aran Woollen Mills
With a very simple website, Aran Woollen Mills highlights the neat complexity of its products – high quality knitwear. This is reinforced with textile textures and choice of fonts. Other than that, the visitor is immediately supplied with links to social media, and, scrolling down, the company’s mission statement and locations data. The navigation features are clean and simple, but the shop is not front and center: story (i. e. branding) comes first.
Blackberry
Blackberry is a cybersecurity company. And even if you didn’t know that before accessing their website, it is plain to see from the outset. It has a very clean and simple navigation feature at the top, confidence-inspiring slogans in the middle, futuristic but simple and unobtrusive animations, and branding throughout. The austere color palette suggests seriousness, and the call to action is obvious but not pushy. The news ticker reinforces the notion that Blackberry is a service – it is there for you.
Clifford Chance
One of the market leaders in legal services, you can immediately tell that Clifford Chance places a strong emphasis on news about the company, its blog, and the opinion pieces they feature. Its website is minimalist to say the least, but the featured images use strong, bold colors. The other prominent feature is the navigation menu which puts the client portal forward. This website knows who it is for.
Evernote
Evernote being an organizational tool, it stands to reason that Evernote’s website will be tidy and neatly laid out. The color palette is bold, with the black and white tempered with green, while the call to action is discretely animated, just enough to draw the eye. The larger part of the front page is taken up by detailed images of the Evernote app in action, and the potential customer has much of the information they need at a glance.
Fitbit
Fitbit comes in strong with their devices, going so far as to showcase the clever interface. The website’s product is a modern, sleek device, and the website follows the same philosophy, from the color palette, down to the choice of fonts. Scrolling down, you get a very neat overview of the corporation’s products, their design aesthetics, but also their values.
Logitech
We would be remiss to say that Logitech mimics Apple in any way, but the similarity of approach is obvious: the products sell themselves. Discreet branding, simple animation, clear calls to action, bold and technical fonts: Logitech is dependable and means business. The products are sorted into intuitive categories and organized into a color-coordinated display. You could be looking at your very next mouse or keyboard or headset in a matter of seconds.
NASA
NASA gets things done. Big, impressive things. But they’re not obnoxious about it. The latest news about grand plans and epic successes of the world leader in space research are laid out in a neat grid, almost retro, accompanied by doubtlessly impressive, though unmistakably documentary photography – no need for embellishment. All of this is coupled with simple navigation features: the menu and the search bar.
Nord VPN
Nord VPN comes across as a very sales-centered website, with a prominent graphic and a strong call to action. However, the website offers easy navigation to the sales and blog pages, complete with lists of features and links to the knowledge base. Nord also boasts coverage form various media outlets in a simple banner, leveraging other brands to further its own. Blue, a calming color, predominates. You can trust Nord VPN.
Steinway And Sons
Steinway And Sons is the producer of very high quality musical instruments, and everything about their website suggests so. The first thing a visitor sees is a film of the employees in action (though the visitor needs to opt to play the sound, so it is not obnoxious). This just makes so much sense: you see and hear the pianos in action. The rest of the important information is laid out in an elegant grid layout. The navigation to products (pianos) and showrooms are prominent on the front page.
We have already written about corporate themes for WordPress, but we would like to highlight a couple of themes discussed in the article linked.
Deston – Corporate Business Theme
First up, it’s Deston. Ideal for any business, it offers a wide array of functionalities and several eye-catching layouts, letting you put emphasis on your team, your blog, your product or your corporation profile. The theme also includes a large collection of business elements, such as timelines, icons, graphs and charts, but also premium images which you can use on your website.
Justicia – Lawyer and Law Firm Theme
Built with the legal profession in mind, Justicia is much more versatile than the name suggests. A modern and professional theme, its layouts can place different elements of your business in focus: be it a strong team page, or a logo-centered layout, your website will look clean, elegant and professional.
In Conclusion
As you can see, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Still many more to go about designing a website. You can go as minimal or as flashy as you like, so long as you have a clear idea of who the website is for. The next step is to select a good theme and apply your unique talent and skills, and your corporate website will really stand out from the crowd.
We hope this article was helpful. If you liked it, feel free to check out some of these articles as well!
