Brutalism in web design is a style that intentionally looks raw and unfinished. It prioritizes function over form and rejects the polish of modern web aesthetics.
Brutalist websites look like someone forgot to add the CSS. They didn't forget. They chose this. The deliberate ugliness is the point.
Border radius
Colors used
Font family
Intentionality
In brutalist design, the code is not hidden. Structure is celebrated. The grid is visible. The container has a border. Nothing pretends to be something it isn't.
Every choice is deliberate. The chaos is calculated. The rawness is refined. Breaking rules requires knowing them first.
Not everything needs to align. Grid systems are a suggestion. Margins can be arbitrary. This block is intentionally shifted.
Brutalist web design emerged as a reaction to the homogenization of the internet. Every website looked the same: rounded corners, gradient buttons, card layouts, hero images. The web had become a template.
Brutalism said: enough. Let the HTML show. Let the links be links. Let the text be text. Remove the veneer and show the material.
Named after the architectural movement of the 1950s-70s, which celebrated raw concrete (béton brut), brutalist websites celebrate raw markup. Unadorned. Functional. Honest.
Is it ugly? Maybe. Is it memorable? Absolutely. In a world of sameness, brutalism stands out by refusing to fit in.
This page contains no images. Typography is the illustration. Whitespace is the decoration. The border is the frame. Everything you need is text.