The concept of one-page website design may conjure up painful images of the early Internet: unresponsive, unsophisticated webpages that lack any hint of the bells and whistles we have come to expect in our modern-day Internet experience. However, contemporary one-page web design offers a deluge of benefits to both viewer and designer.

At its most basic function, the purpose of a website is to communicate a specific idea that will compel its visitors to take a particular action, and stories provide the most effective vehicle for delivering messages. Therefore, the bedrock for successful one-page website design is a strong narrative. A well-designed single page website allows the story to take center stage, a position often occupied by overly complicated web design with multi-pages to navigate. This particular trend lends itself exceptionally well to portfolio design but has also become popular for product sites and web applications, almost any website that isn’t terribly content heavy.

For the designer, these single page websites afford a more creative design experience, with more straightforward, faster iteration. Designers can intertwine interactive elements into the scrolling experience, rather than isolating them on separate pages, divided by a click and page load that creates a stop and start experience for the viewer.  Designing a website in a one-page format also creates more uniformity across platforms, as users are more accustomed to scrolling content on smaller screen sizes. Lastly, with fewer places for the viewer to wander, the designer is able to direct the visitors more clearly to the most important call to action of the site.

Single page websites are fully loaded in the initial page load, this creates a more fluid, efficient, and uninterrupted experience for the user. This continuous, narrative-driven scrolling experience encourages visitors to spend more time on the website and has even been proven to increase sharing. (It’s far more challenging to share an entire standard site with someone)  For the user, a one-page web design provides an uncomplicated, more intuitive experience than its clunky, conventional counterpart.

Every Last Drop

The Every Last Drop website was created by Nice and Serious creative agency in conjunction with the UK-based non-profit environmental agency, Waterwise, to create awareness about how much water individuals consume daily, not only through their individual actions but in the production of the products they consume as well.

This website was designed to reach as much of the population as possible. The scrolling-dependent, animated cartoon that drives the narrative was a smart choice. The use of a bright, modern color palette and simple animations enable the website to have a cartoon feel without being childish, resulting in a website that is compelling and entertaining to a wide age range.

While the website isn’t as responsive as some, cutting out the edges of the illustration, and taking an extremely long time to load on smaller screen sizes, I believe this website is very successful. The quirky scrolling animations and changing scenes encourage viewers to scroll to the bottom of the page, where all further, pertinent information can be found. On the viewer’s journey to the bottom of the page, they encounter startling, but potentially dry statistics, presented in a more impactful way than if they had been presented in a bulleted list. The unique, entertaining design of the website almost guarantees that the viewers will share it with their friends and family, increasing awareness about water consumption, which is the purpose of the website’s existence. The designers at Nice and Serious creative agency took statistical information and communicated it through the use of compelling, entertaining, and effective narrative in a format that begs to be shared.

 

Banyak Surf Adventure

This stunning example of a one-page website was created to advertise Banyak’s surf charter in North Sumatra. The site is exceptionally artistic and masterfully designed while maintaining the approachability and friendliness of the company it represents.

The website is a seamless combination of idyllic photography of North Sumatra blended with tropical, bright watercolor brushstrokes, verging on a psychedelic neons. The animated pop-out text, enclosed in brightly colored boxes, along with the coordinating photography, creates visual interest as you scroll through the beautifully designed page. The aesthetic of the website communicates the ideology as the charter itself: No bad vibes, no wifi. Lots of adventure and good music. If you are an adventurous traveler in search of a lo-fi, high-adventure excursion, this website is calling your name. The designer of this site  was particularly masterful in creating an aesthetic that will immediately resonate with their audience.

In my opinion, this is another very successful one-page design. It is responsive across a variety of screen sizes, and the range of layout choices and animations create a compelling experience as users scroll through the website’s content. I have never surfed a day in my life, and I was ready to book a charter by the time I reached the bottom of this site.

 

Wandure

 

My last example of one-page web designs is Wandure, the web counterpart for one of the many dating apps on the market today. This web page is clearly more straightforward than my first two examples, but by no means does that mean it is less successful. In fact, in this case, I think the simplicity of the website works significantly to its benefit. The design of the site is minimal, yet quirky, boasting more animated llamas than any other dating site on the Internet.

 

The minimal, modern color palette and use of cute, for lack of a better word, animations throughout the site speak to a younger crowd of singles, and, considering, Wandure’s defining element is that they plan a surprise first date for every match, I think the quirky, design choices make sense as far as attracting a more adventurous, albeit niche market. Overall, amongst a sea of analogous dating sites, I think Wandure stands out as fresh and well-branded.

 

I think the simplicity of this website’s design makes it successful. The one-page design makes it impossibly easy to navigate. While the website’s primary function is to drive viewers to download the app, the site contains a fair amount of useful information, giving it more purpose than merely linking to the App Store. The webpage is responsive, maintaining it’s content and vibe throughout several screen sizes, however, there was a noticeable absence of dancing llamas in the mobile site, which was mildly disappointing, but not a deal-breaker for the adventurous single, I suppose.

 

Here you have it, three creative examples of one-page website design that are as contemporary and informative as any multi-page site on the web. The strong narrative behind each of these sites creates a compelling experience for the viewers, and due to the streamlined nature of single-page design, the designer has been extremely thoughtful about communicating only the most important pieces of information, allowing, us to gain a comprehensive understanding of the site, quickly and efficiently. I read recently that most people typically spend less than one minute on a website before clicking away to the next. With that in mind, it makes a great deal of sense that designers are embracing the one-page design across a variety of purposes.