Posted on 21. Dec, 2009 by bmackler in Inspiration
One sure fire way to make a bold and impressive impact with your website is the use of large backgrounds. As computer monitors transition from 19 and 21 inches to even larger wide screen monitors, it seems like more websites are being designed with over-sized photo or illustrated image as the preferred background. The result can be a stunning visual effect that adds more life and depth to your design compared to the traditional tiled background graphic. Here is a collection of 40 websites that use this style large image as the site background. Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.
Raven at Lora Bay

Raven at Lora Bay
Old Loft

Old Loft
MacAllan Ridge

MacAllan Ridge
Museum of Science and Industry – Chicago

Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago
Preservation Initiatives

Preservation Initiatives
Reklambyra Stockholm

Reklambyra Stockholm
Electricurrent

Electricurrent
Viget Inspire

Viget Inspire
Moxie Sozo

Moxie Sozo
RingVMedia

Ring V Media
August

August
Orca Bay Seafoods

Orca Bay Seafoods
Gazelle Touch

Gazelle Touch
Champney’s Resorts

Champney's Resorts
David Torondel

David Torondel
My Kinetic Kreations

My Kinetic Kreations
Green Globe

Green Globe Ideas
Cafe Sydney

Salomon Sports

Salomon Sports
Hutch House

Hutch House
Carolina Jesus

Carolina Jesus
X3 Studios Blog

x3 Studios Blog
Matt Mullenweg

Matt Mullenweg
Beatles Rock Band

Beatles Rock Band
Tennessee Vacation

Tennessee Vacation
Skate 2

Skate 2
Kulturbanause

Kulturbanause
Leaf Tea Shop

Leaf Tea Shop
Le Nordik

Le Nordik
Form Troopers

Form Troopers
Lanbruk’s Gunyah

Lanbruk's Gunyah
Get London Reading

Get London Reading
Mellow Mushroom

Mellow Mushroom
AlexArt

AlexArt
Roar-Design with Impact

Roar - Design with Impact
Paul Smith Menswear

Paul Smith Menswear
Agami Creative

Agami Creative
menyacocoichi

menyacocoichi
The Circumference

The Circumference
Industrial Door Contractors

Industrial Door Contractors
Tags: best of the web, Inspiration, web design, web trends
40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds
21. Dec, 2009
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uberVU - social comments
21. Dec, 2009
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Azterik Media
21. Dec, 2009
Great collection of some creative and innovative website designs. Thanks for posting them!
[Reply]
40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds | Web Design Tutorials and Inspiration | Learn Photoshop Online | Creative Inspiration | Web Resources » Web Design
22. Dec, 2009
[...] 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds | Web Design Tutorials and Inspiration | Learn Photoshop On… [...]
Sara
22. Dec, 2009
Nice collection! thanks!!
[Reply]
tripwire magazine | tripwire magazine
22. Dec, 2009
[...] 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds [...]
Noel Wiggins
22. Dec, 2009
The mellow mushroom example is outt of site!
man what an outstanding job of juxtaposing full bleed imagery with line art.
very fun and energetic website that effectively conveys a since of fun hip and a great place to want to eat, makes me want to take road trip to atlanta just to check it out…
–
Thanks and Regards
Noel for Nopun.com
a graphic design studio
[Reply]
90+ New Community Posts for Designers and Developers | tripwire magazine
22. Dec, 2009
[...] 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds [...]
Jonathan Patterson
22. Dec, 2009
These are pretty sweet. I like Moxie Sozo’s work.
[Reply]
90+ New Community Posts for Designers and Developers | Programming Blog
22. Dec, 2009
[...] 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds [...]
links for 2009-12-22 « Mandarine
23. Dec, 2009
[...] 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds | Web Design Tutorials and Inspiration | Learn Photoshop On… (tags: webdesign inspiration background) [...]
40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds | Web Design Tutorials and Inspiration | Learn Photoshop Online | Creative Inspiration | Web Resources | Squico
23. Dec, 2009
[...] In: Design inspiration 23 Dec 2009 Go to Source [...]
Sean
25. Dec, 2009
I really like the sites you mentioned. Some of those big bold backgrounds are so strange just by themselves, but they really work when in that context.
[Reply]
Arthur
27. Dec, 2009
another good one web site in this thematic
http://www.simonam.com
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Pixellaar
31. Dec, 2009
another good one web site in this thematic
http://www.pixellaar.nl
[Reply]
bmackler Reply:
January 4th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
@Pixellaar, Very good example, Shame I missed this one. Thank you for bringing to my attention
[Reply]
90+ New Community Posts for Designers and Developers | Afif Fattouh - Web Specialist
05. Jan, 2010
[...] 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds [...]
Kristian
06. Jan, 2010
Another effective one is http:www.yourstrategically.com
I know how to do it with Flash, but anyone know any easy tutorials to do this with php or javascript or non Flash?
[Reply]
Jane......I LOVE WEB DESIGN....
13. Jan, 2010
“kulturbanause”
Its awesome.. the background image is awesome.
Thanks to Google Translate i finally crack the contents in to English.
Great Post..
[Reply]
eagrapho » Top 40 Background and Texture Tutorials and Resources
14. Jan, 2010
[...] For more information, see 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds [...]
NYC Web Design
15. Jan, 2010
Really collection was awesome…
Thanks for compilation
[Reply]
Kenneth Wang
04. Feb, 2010
It that becoming a trend? Especially with transparent/translucent looking themes (popularised by interfaces on OS?) http://www.acclario.com/
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صوربنات
16. Feb, 2010
they work fine all with that big background and this return to the good coding and less JS in the mean page
from my point the 1st one is the most beautiful
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nilesh
22. May, 2010
Excellent collection. i am recreating my website. this list help me alot..
[Reply]
webdesign bremen
15. Jul, 2010
its soooooo manana!!!
great work good job.
greetings from bremen
[Reply]
Large Photo Background Showcases
26. Aug, 2010
[...] designtutorials4u.com – 40 Awesome Websites with Big Backgrounds [...]
Joyeria Contemporanea
21. Sep, 2010
Say you wanted to create a dummy data file with different post-types in order to prototype a theme, you’d have to manually create each and every entry of your XML file
[Reply]
London Web Design Agency
03. Nov, 2010
great link… i found some perfect results for me here… thanks a lot to share!
[Reply]
Dave Wayne
30. Nov, 2010
Grest find I’m just about to do a large photo background wensite site for a client, so the some good ideas here.
But I think I wont be loading a new large image for each page, rather load content onto single image.
Dave.
[Reply]
web design
15. Dec, 2010
I really like the mellow mushroom, plenty of ideas.
[Reply]
Background Images on Websites « i want the dreamers disease
29. Feb, 2012
[...] 2. Designtutorials4u.com Websites with Big Backgrounds [...]