50 Fantastic (Nostalgic) Retro Website Designs

Tara Hornor
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While coming up with this research, I struggled with the concept of “retro.” What is retro, really? Retro is the Beach Boys, World War II posters, psychedelic designs, and vintage 1940s and 50s Chevy ads. While I can’t put it into so many words, I can definitely show you what I think the idea of retro is in terms of web design.

This collection of retro website designs is just one perspective on the retro genre. You could go in many different directions with lots of different retro concepts, and this collection hopefully touches on most of the main themes. What kinds of retro elements do you reach for when you want to give something an older look and feel?


1. Dilly Deli


2. Visual Republic


3. Bean Exchange


4. Pointless Corp


5. Mister Aero


6. Go Live Button


7. Macaroni Bros


8. You Know Who Design


9. Forefather’s Group


10. Fred Perry


11. Big Sweater Design


12. Sprocket House


13. Time For Cake


14. Revolution Church


15. Target Scope


16. Thigpen Designs


17. Thrush Exhaust


18. Thunderfuel


19. Radio: The New York Moon


20. Small Stones Recordings


21. Eric Henning


22. Level 2 Design


23. Custom Design


24. Devotchka


25. Forty Seven Media


26. Cotton Seed Oil Tour


27. Jeff Sarmiento


28. Media Boom


29. AdaptD


30. ZZZ Drink


31. Jared Campbell


32. Walking Wall of Words


33. Peter Nappi


34. Jolly Duck Hunting


35. Forever Heavy


36. Web-O-Matic


37. Cabedge


38. Brock Kenzler


39. Trailer Park Truck


40. Shoshorov


41. Robedwards


42. Retro Edge Design


43. Black Moon Design


44. i Avion


45. Big State Festival


46. Web Designer


47. Dollar Dreadful


48. 1927


49. Mom and Popcorn


50. Lanikai Properties


Do you have any retro web designs to share? What does “retro” mean to you?