Sleek and Delicate Website Design with Circular Navigation
What makes a website so unique, interesting and attention-grabbing? The days of site owners relying on a ‘Content, is a king‘ ideology has passed. So the answer is quite tricky. Nowadays, the overall impression of the project comes from several factors. Of course, content still plays the first fiddle, yet without a proper shell that includes modern design, high-end techniques, eye-pleasing effects, excellent visual experience, fast loading, great readability and most importantly appropriate and handy navigation, it will lose its significance and power. Ok, you may say that without content, other constituents are simply useless. Yep, you are right, however you still can’t do without proper navigation.
Navigation and content are two main and essential parts that when used wisely, do not need other decor or complementary effects. Together they can provide users with everything they may need from your project. While the modern web is overfilled with navicons, as a rule, presented via hamburger buttons, there are still projects that prefer to utilize some unconventional solutions that stay on top of fashion. Today we are going to take a look at circular navigation and control centers. They easily break away from the majority of websites, giving a note of refinement to the UI. Let’s explore some fresh and distinctive examples.
Circular Navigation in Website Design
Volvo
Like the official Volvo logo, the website has a magnificent circular vibe that naturally associates with wheels and vehicles. The semi-transparent relatively huge round shaped menu items that are scattered throughout the homepage fit here like a glove.
1701 Franciacorta
1701 Franciacorta opts in favor of round shapes to reinforce their navigation’s appearance. Not only does a secondary menu feature circles but also the main one placed in the upper left corner utilizes dots.
Wine Explorer
Wine Explorer has an artistic appeal achieved through numerous details. Whether it is the splendid textured background, sketchy and rough social media icons or the centerpiece composed of circles in the heart of the page, everything contributes to the general feeling in equal parts.
Hipster Sound
Hipster Sound has several tools for moving around the project. There is a trendy hamburger button that includes some settings, small social media box hidden under a lovely gear icon and a series of relatively huge line style round shaped icons that represent various places in a visually interesting manner.
My Austria
My Austria is a top-notch project packed with some high-end features. It is an entirely interactive website that lets you explore Vienna. The control center that is composed of numerous sleek circles offers an excellent navigation as well as provides some extra information about the place in a non-intrusive manner.
Under Armour
Under Armour utilizes a massive circular control panel that allows manipulations with a video stream. It also includes some helpful features that are intended to make you feel more comfortable.
The Edge Dubai
The Edge Dubai has a matchless landing page that instantly catches the eye. Dynamic pointers that overfill the whole screen add to the interactivity as well as enrich user experience greatly. Although icons are quite microscopic, their intelligibility and legibility outweigh this small disadvantage.
Well Storied
Well Storied leverages circles to skillfully navigate users through a pile of information hidden inside the project. Round shaped pointers are the best and natural fit for the nmap inspired design.
Nadezhda Womens Health Hospital
Nadezhda leverages huge circles with image backgrounds that enormously contribute to the overall atmosphere of the website. The navigation ideally blends in, making the main categories focal points that are hard to miss.
Sonance Audition
Sonance Audition has a smooth, elegant and subtle appearance. The background, set in a grayscale mode, in tandem with the elegant, pure white logotype in the center and a small vertical navbar that consists of chic outline circular icons make the design excel from others.
Game of purpose
Here a series of circles are used to demonstrate stages of the game that need to be unlocked. They are skillfully connected and have an illustrative appearance that are well-suited for the overall environment.
Edilteco
Edilteco utilizes huge circular icons for supporting the products section. They have two looks. The default includes monotone glyphs made with simplicity in mind that fit into the design perfectly, and the active one shows some lavish bright images that call the attention.
Keeping New York On Track
Keeping NY on track divides its story into 4 chapters, each of which is represented by a bright, eye-catching circle. Thanks to the vibrant realization they naturally stand out in sharp contrast against the subtle and moderate background, providing users with some focal points.
Luxury Resorts
Luxury Resorts establishes a magnificent and alluring atmosphere. The spectacular photo background is skillfully bolstered by nifty hand-drawn typography and funny sketchy icons. The control center on the left features a duplicate of the main navigation, with one small exception; glyphs are placed in sleek line circles to give them a distinctive look.
Hokoyo
Hokoyo goes for an interesting solution for demonstrating its portfolio pieces. The minimalist landing page exhibits a circle broken into 15 uneven parts, where each part hides a link and corresponding image of a work.
Little Black Classics
Little Black Classics employs a massive circle to direct the whole attention to the info box. It also opts for a classy black-and-white color scheme that ideally supports the nameplate and the idea.
Audi TT
Audi TT Microsite is an interactive project that instantly awakens interest. As usual, the moto website features a promotional auto and some complementary components that contribute to the general feeling. As befits, the navigation is composed on the basis of round shapes that go perfectly well with the concept.
Hed Kandi
Hed Kandi exudes an image of cheerfulness and joy. The vibrant semi-transparent gradient that overlaps the picturesque image backdrop nicely interacts with solid flat style illustrated icons placed in the heart of the header section. Icons indicate types of vibe and enhance the design.
7Up
Here a circle as the main shape for navigation and decorative goals was chosen not accidentally. Since 7Up is a drink full of bubbles, round shaped items look like an ideal option. They naturally contribute to the atmosphere and add piquancy.
Interaction with Artificial Physics
Interaction with Artificial Physics is a first-rate personal portfolio that is a sheer source of inspiration. Each work is hidden under a sort of a swing of a pendulum that reacts on user’s action according to the general rules of physics.
Conclusion
Circular control centers, circular navigation items or simple dots look pretty native to users since they can be simply associated with finger touches. Not only does this type of navigation enhance wide-screen website designs but also look particularly good on tiny devices such as tablets, cell phones and, of course, smart watches.
