Sometimes that gray area between delicately grungy and too grungy is hard to find. It’s so easy to keep layering on the grunge until your design has turned into some mangled concept akin to something a zombie chewed up and spit out.

I wanted a collection of websites that I felt like got close to the grunge line without being too far over. Some designers did a great job of creating a dark design and others had a number of traditional grunge features that were carefully muted. Ultimately, as long as it fits the client’s needs, it doesn’t matter. But the line between “too much” and “just enough” was tread carefully by the designers of the following websites, and I think they nailed it. What do you think?

Theory

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Loft Resumes

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Trailer Park Truck

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Friendly Gents

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Quince Bistro

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Maryland Craft Beer Festival

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Soup Peddler

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Beyond Wonderland 2012

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Paradiso Festival

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Counter Point

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Electric Forest 2012

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Ethical Studios

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Rune Molnes

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Thomas Oliver Band

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1love

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1MD

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Muttink

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DNA to Darwin

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Lucius

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Take the Walk

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Edit Studios

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Rocket Club

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Twirk Ethic

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Corvus

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Electric Pulp

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THS

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Suck Yeah

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Marlon Messam

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Hollister

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Beyond Wonderland 2010

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Any favorites? Do you have any beautifully designed grunge websites you’d like to share? Are “clean” and “grungy” polar opposites in your eyes?

Related posts:

1. 20 Dark Websites For Your Inspiration
2. Design Festival Podcast #9: Design for Mobile Apps and Websites
3. 30 Most Popular CSS Websites of 2011
4. Designing for the Dark Side
5. 30 Websites with Awesome Mascots

Tara Hornor

Tara Hornor has a degree in English and has found her niche writing about marketing, advertising, branding, graphic design, and desktop publishing. She is a Senior Editor for Creative Content Experts, a company that specializes in guest blogging and building backlinks. In addition to her writing career, Tara also enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

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