11 Best News & Magazine Website Designs in 2023

11 Best News & Magazine Website Designs in 2023
Article by DesignRush DesignRush
Last Updated: October 30, 2023

Magazine and newspaper publications are still very relevant in the era of instantaneous information flow on social media. However, digital platforms are today's dominant media and publications are adapting to this. By 2025, there will be 1.8 billion digital magazine and newspaper readers globally.

The industry’s growing character presents a new imperative to magazine & newspaper publishers: to fight for the readers’ attention with great web design.

Get comfortable in your favorite reading chair as we list the best news and magazine website designs that stir the audience’s imagination with sensational aesthetics and far-sighted usability. Let’s get straight to it!

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1. Inmemoriam by Brainlane

[Source: Inmemoriam]

Standout Features:

  • Calming color palette
  • Easy-to-spot query
  • A place to pay respects

Inmemoriam is a website that informs people of loved ones' passing and provides a space for joint mourning for friends and family. Brainlane designed the website to look peaceful, with melancholic notes and natural imagery decorating its pages.

One of the main highlights of the design is the query between the hero section and the most recent obituaries posted. It's easy to find and navigate around, a simple yet considerate touch, especially for those who aren't tech-savvy. It's further simplified by a "personal filter" option that helps users narrow down their search.

Each obituary contains the details of the date and location of birth and passing, as well as their life and cause of death. The users can then share their thoughts via written condolence or show compassion through digital flower placing or candle lighting.

2. NJUZ by Redirekt

[Source: NJUZ]

Standout Features:

  • Large headings
  • Clean and modern
  • Orange as an accent color

Redirekt's website design for the news agency NJUZ delivers impeccable resemblance to most news portals. The layout is well-structured, and the branding is on point.

There's extensive use of positive space on the left side of the screen, and the news is highlighted through a hover effect that creates a border-like design on the article. On the right side, you can view the agency's social media, with made-up tweets to preserve the satire in all seriousness.

The modern and clean look is elevated through efficient uses of orange to underline headlines or bring attention to the buttons.

3. ONASA by iT Systems

[Source: ONASA]

Standout Features:

  • Professional color palette
  • One-line quick view
  • Main and recent news in segments

ONASA's website design by iT Systems retains a trustworthy look, primarily through the professional color palette featuring blue, white, gray, and black.

A contrasting black bar at the top of the page includes the date, login button, and a quick overview of the headlines.

The main body includes clearly divided sections separating the headline carousel and the main news section at the central part of the screen.

4. RB by Claire McIntosh

[Source: Claire McIntosh]

Standout Features:

  • Trending news section
  • Approximate reading time
  • Clean interface

RB is a news portal dedicated to helping small and medium businesses thrive through constant news on the market. Claire McIntosh designed the brand's website to reflect the readers' needs, helping them navigate towards the news they're interested in.

The clean and easy-to-navigate website features different categories on the header below the logo. It includes the latest news, top articles, an about page, and a contact page. There's also a Trending Page box on the right side of the screen.

Lastly, the design showcases its orientation toward users' needs by adding the approximate reading time for each article.

5. Gordon by Kiselev

[Source: Gordon]

Standout Features:

  • Eye-catching use of red
  • Traditional newspaper layout
  • Counters and top topics

Kiselev provided a modern and reliable news portal that updates Ukraniana on the latest local and world news. Gordon's website has a lot of positive space leveraged through an attention-grabbing red color to highlight certain sections.

Aside from the regular menu options, the fixed navbar includes counters measuring the losses of its enemy in the country's conflict and easy access to current hot topics.

The body resembles a traditional newspaper layout, with brief news listed on the left and the main article of the day centered next to it. There are images present to give readers a glimpse of what the article is about.

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6. Dnevnik by Studio X Digital

[Source: Dnevnik]

Standout Features:

  • Simple colors
  • Multimedia representation
  • Schedule of TV programs

Dnevnik is a Bulgarian news agency whose website was designed by Studio X Digital. The website design ensures the brand provides information and offers a forum for its audience to share their thoughts on different topics.

A hamburger menu next to the logo triggers a dropdown menu showcasing a list of categories and subcategories to filter the news. The news list is presented with the posting time, category, and the number of comments.

Aside from text and images, the website design also includes video content for those who prefer a visual representation of the news. Moreover, the website features other elements like TV program schedules, surveys, and featured comments.

7. CARE Climate Change & Resilience By Ruby Studio

magazine websites design

[Source: CARE Climate Change & Resilience]

Standout features:

  • A menu icon that opens a vibrant, full-screen navigation
  • Visuals-oriented storytelling on the homepage
  • Vertical navigation bar

CARE Climate Change and Resilience (CCCR) is a humanitarian organization that helps people in impoverished areas stricken by climate change. Their website, a work of Denmark’s Ruby Studio, details and explains the organization’s mission with a visually captivating user journey.

The homepage opens with full-screen photography, the organization’s name in big, white font, and a search bar. Green, orange, and brown tones prevail, forming a cognitive association with nature preservation, one of CCCR’s primary aims.

One constant element that remains on the site as the user moves down the page is the unconventional, vertical menu bar on the left-hand side of the screen. It contains several vital links to CCCR’s most informative pages.

But the bulk of links to other pages is within the hamburger menu icon that opens a full-screen navigation screen in vibrant yellow.

The Explore page’s layout is particularly attractive and engaging. At the top, a handy tool lets visitors filter through success stories based on a country, theme, language, year, or format. The results appear below in a two-column grid layout with round-edged photos with plenty of space between each.

Professional photography, world maps, and rounded, orange CTA buttons deliver a sufficient amount of concise messaging to the reader. The sliding “Donate” window on the right opens a simple payment form that lets visitors choose or input a certain amount they would like to contribute to this noble cause.

8. Yuriy Vitrenko's Library By Nextpage

best magazine websites

[Source: Yuriy Vitrenko's Library]

Standout features:

  • A minimal, purpose-driven design
  • Book-like layout for focus and attention
  • Great choice of typography

Yuriy Vitrenko was one of the key figures in the historic arbitration process between Naftogaz and Gazprom, Ukraine’s and Russia’s oil and natural gas behemoths.

Designed and developed by Nextpage digital agency, Vitrenko’s website contains a collection of insider documents from the period of his tenure at Naftogaz. These documents explain the crucial role Naftogaz played in ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence in recent conflicts with Russia.

The seriousness of the website’s theme and content dictates a layout that delivers information in a succinct and direct fashion, without boasting too much eye candy. As such, Yuriy Vitrenko’s Library is a highly efficient, UX-centric, and navigation-oriented chronicle of events.

This website design resembles that of a book, with large main headings, an all-white background, and classic, italic font. As the web design agency puts it, they used the book as a main inspiration “because it is the most common form of information transfer and a symbol of wisdom and knowledge.”

Simple content delivery focused attention management and a purposeful style are the three defining traits of this website.

The main menu navigation points to all the pages relevant to Vitrenko’s struggle to keep the oil giant independent. To help the users get all the details on this affair and join the debate, the menu remains with the visitor the whole time in case they want to jump straight into another aspect of this unique legal case.

9. Salt In Our Hair By Nick Noordijk

best magazine website design

[Source: Salt in Our Hair]

Standout features:

  • Colorful design with various fonts and uneven layout
  • Extremely lightweight with fast loading times
  • Well-formatted blog article pages

Salt in Our Hair is a travel blog website founded, designed, and developed by a Dutch couple, Hannah and Nick.

Sporting fun and zany design, Salt in Our Hair is the embodiment of a feel-good tourist lifestyle. It appeals to the aesthetics of the increasingly influential travel bloggers and Instagrammers.

This becomes obvious as soon as the visitor lands on the homepage and is greeted by a very informal, custom-made logo, top-notch photography, and intuitive main menu navigation. The website’s Shop section sells numerous Lightroom preset collections that enable users to color-edit their photos on the go.

Scrolling down the homepage reveals a bevy of content modules in various forms and shapes, from perfect squares to freestyle circles and everything in between. The uneven layout introduces a welcome element of unpredictability, while the collection of different yet complementary fonts keeps it all together.

Overlapping and intentionally mismatched coloring, plenty of white space, and large headings play into the casual character of this travel magazine website design. The homepage user journey ends with a lovingly designed About Us section detailing the founders’ biographies and a lead-capturing newsletter subscription form.

The website’s major strength is the diversity of its content. In that regard, it offers far more than just pretty pictures of places. Travel logs and journals are the centerpieces, yes, but there are also helpful advice and photography tips as well as blog articles on sustainability, budgeting, tech, and other relevant topics.

10. Tales Of Ceylon By Antyra

Best News & Magazine Website Designs

[Source: Tales of Ceylon]

Standout features:

  • A very clean and well-formatted mega menu
  • Striking background graphics
  • A search bar with automatic result suggestions

Tales of Ceylon is a travel blog and online magazine that is focused on folklore, mythology and the actual history of Sri Lanka’s cities and other notable destinations. Besides providing tips to avid travelers and tourists, it also lists various experiences and activities they get to enjoy in Sri Lanka (whose name was Ceylon until 1972.)

Created by Antyra Solutions, the website kickstarts a very comprehensive user journey with a stunning carousel display of Sri Lanka’s select destinations.

Full-screen photography with a subtle grainy effect and motion graphics contains the name of each place in big, bold letters that are “tucked away” behind each destination’s featured landmark feature for a very convincing 3D effect.

The main menu navigation on top of the page is, in fact, the mega menu that opens once the visitor hovers over the menu items. The mega menu contains images of certain articles and categories and has a highly contrasting white background.

Below the fold are striking illustrations and custom graphics that lend excitement to the accompanying content. Handwritten typography in headings and a commonly used sans serif font for the main bits of content create a pleasing reading experience.

The article pages are extremely simple and neatly formatted, with plenty of white space surrounding the content and with no supplemental elements on either side of the page. This helps users focus on important information and avoid feeling overwhelmed by superfluous elements.

11. Tokyo Voice By Junsuke Takeda

best newspaper websites design

[Source: Tokyo Voice]

Standout features:

  • Stunning portrait photos
  • A consistent half-half layout design
  • On-brand use of black and white colors and imagery

Tokyo Voice is a magazine and online portal that profiles and interviews the “regular” citizens of Japan’s interesting capital. People of all ages, genders, and walks of life get to share their life stories and experiences.

The website, conceived and delivered by Hiroshima-based Junsuke Takeda, closely follows the appearance of a physical magazine for better brand consistency. The logo’s font, however, is slightly different as it adopts a bold, sans-serif look that is more effective online than the magazine’s standard serif font.

Tokyo Voice’s website homepage is divided into two vertical halves. On the left are photo portraits of Tokyo’s residents, along with brief interview snippets, set in motion via a carousel and gallery view. To the right is a big chunk of white space containing the brand’s logo and an assortment of hashtags that help search the site complementary to the left half, making it much more engaging visually.

Clicking the main menu button on the top right corner opens full-screen navigation that follows the same two-column layout. The only difference is that it uses a “negative” color scheme compared to the homepage, with black on the right and white on the left.

The Articles section containing the full collection of individual interviews follows a simple but effective grid layout with four columns and a main menu navigation bar pushed to the far right. The individual interview pages revert to the half-half design of the homepage once the reader selects a particular article.

To the left are professionally shot images of the interviewee that transition with a very soft effect as the visitor reads through the article and scrolls down. Meanwhile, to the right, the subject’s storyline unfolds in a thin, black font against a hefty amount of white background.

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