Design style: brutalist
Brutalist websites with raw type and stark layouts
frascati can take the brutalist mood when you ask: stark layouts, visible lines, big type and few colours. It keeps text readable and leaves out glow and grain.
What defines it
- Stark layouts that show their structure, with visible lines between sections
- Very large, heavy headlines
- Monospace or plain grotesque fonts
- Few colours: near black on off-white with one loud accent
- Content first: plain lists and big links instead of ornaments
Where it fits
- Galleries, exhibitions and art spaces
- Independent magazines and publishers
- Design and architecture studios
- Music venues, labels and bands
- Brands that want to look deliberately unpolished
A prompt to start from
Copy it into frascati and change the details to yours.
“Build a brutalist website for our independent art space in Zurich. A stark layout with visible lines between sections, very large headlines in a monospace font, near-black text on an off-white background and one loud red accent. Pages for current exhibitions, visiting hours and contact.”
The first version takes about two minutes.
Questions
- What is brutalist web design?
- A style that shows its structure instead of hiding it: plain layouts, visible lines, big type and little decoration. The name comes from Brutalist architecture, which leaves raw concrete visible.
- Can frascati build a brutalist site?
- It can take the mood when you ask: stark layouts, visible lines, heavy or monospace type and few colours. It keeps its own rules: text contrast of at least 4.5:1, no glow or grain, and layouts that work on phones.
- Is brutalist design hard to use?
- It does not have to be. A site can look raw and still be clear: readable text, obvious links and a menu that works on a phone. That is the version frascati builds.
Your website, about two minutes from now
3 days free with a card, then from $12 a month. The plan starts automatically unless you cancel.