Even if it sounds weird, retro and vintage style imply a modern trend nowadays, particularly in web design. Retro elements are being used more and more often in various design contexts. E.g., personal websites, business pages, online shops and photo portfolios can be designed in vintage and every online presence will possess its own style and peculiarity. Websites with vintage outlook always are attractive, elegant and creative, and what is not less important, retro-styled websites will never look boring. We’d like to supplement our words with real examples of websites designed in vintage style, and show you something interesting before we proceed:

1. Retro Boutique

An excellent website with lots of vintage elements and retro music playing while you are browsing its pages. As a result you get a super vintage online presence appreciated by the viewers, and if it is a boutique you will definitely attract a lot of new clients.

2. Free Range Designs

This website features simple but refined retro style which is a winning solution for a portfolio website, like this one. Blue and brown colors are used very often to express the retro feeling in website design and this combination always looks nice!

3. Andy Patrick Design

Vintage outlook of this very website is achieved through retro-style typography of different styles and graphic elements which reflect vintage. Minimalism in colors adds to special retro look of the website and is very attractive.

4. Dilly Deli

This colorful website of the cafe is really stunning. Each element of the design was created according to the cafe interior and at the same time the warm colors stimulate the appetite. Thus every Internet visitor can easily feel this retro atmosphere and wants to become a real visitor of this nice cafe.

So what design elements and peculiarities can we single out in websites with retro and vintage design? First, such websites reflect the time period they represent, e.g. from 1910s to 1930s or from 1950s to 1980s. Anyway, some old-fashioned objects will be used, and these elements will imply something that was essential in the past creating some nostalgic feeling and evoking memories.

We can pick up some key graphic elements which relate to retro and vintage design and are always used to convey the message of the style:

• old posters illustrations
• illustrations from movies, vinyls, old ads
• old-style typography and handwriting
• old cars, TV and radio devices
• old photographs
• torn paper
• dirty colors and textures
• elements of pop-art

Every designer who tries to create a beautiful retro or vintage style for website tries his best to invent some creative idea and use graphic elements in the way they would really have a spirit of old times. You could already estimate a list of complete websites with retro and vintage design, and now we’d like to show you how professional designers can convey the old style in their own themes and templates developed for websites of various purposes. We’ve picked up some admiration-worthy themes for you to take a look, estimate, get inspired and use any of them for your own vintage website creation!

1. Ermark Adora WordPress by ermark

This is a clean WP theme developed specifically for restaurants, cafes websites and sites which showcase products. In the style of this theme vintage elements are noticed at once, and excellent functionality only adds to the success of any website established on the basis of this theme.

2. Sophis – elegant theme by synesthete

Sophis is distinguished by elegant retro design and unique sense of style. Though the template is completely readymade you can choose between 5 skins and various background colors sets to create an exclusive outlook for your new website.

3. Retro Portfolio – One Page Vintage WordPress Theme by opendept

A very nice WordPress theme created with a good sense of retro style. Here you will notice a lot of old-times graphic elements, typical retro colors and typography. All this helps you set up an elegant website with a blog and portfolio at ease.

4. Perfect – another Newsletter with Template Builder by revaxarts

This cool newsletter template allows you choosing between 9 premade layouts, 10 color schemes and 29 various elements to create the very newsletter you want. Of course, refined retro style looks great!

5. Chocolate T by Dream-Theme

If you are in need of elegant and creative theme for Tumblr this is the best choice for you beyond doubt. It is sophisticated and possesses combinations of shadows and gradients for the most catchy and stylish outlook.

6. Vagenta – Clean & Unique PSD Template by honryou

This is a unique portfolio PSD template which will become an excellent basis for studio websites or personal pages. You can not but notice retro style elements from the first sight and can not but like this theme!

7. Retro Scroll – Creative One Page Html Template by josweb

Retro Scroll is a professional one page HTML template with vertical scrollbar and vintage design style. It is suitable for creating of your own online portfolio and presentation of your creative projects.

8. Bhinneka – a Responsive WordPress Them by population2

This is a responsive WordPress theme in traditional retro style and unusual bright colors. It will perfectly fit for non-profit organization, charity, or corporate websites.

9. Primento WordPress Portfolio by KobusSwartz

Primento is a One Page WordPress Portfolio which includes a HTML Resume and PSD files. This theme has a unique retro and creative look and feel and at the same time it is easy to edit and maintain.

10. Gigawatt – WordPress Video Theme by obox

Gigawatt is a video WordPress theme with vintage look which balances between grunge and minimal layout. If you want to use this theme to display photos instead of videos you can do that too, use up to 6 different filters when uploading your pics to make sure they are consistent across the site.

11. ExpoSlide – Creative One Page Html Template by josweb

It is one more example of a well-done retro one page HTML template that scrolls horizontally. ExpoSlide will help you to create your personal online profile with plenty of your featured projects.

12. The First – Multipurposes WordPress Theme by PWvintage

Finally, The First is a Multi-Purposes retro-styled WordPress Theme with the vintage collages, old-style typography and old-paper background. User can change any background, color, heading font through Admin Panel.

So we tried to show the best examples of retro and vintage style in web design, both in fully-fledged websites and ready-made website templates. You can get inspired, use the showcased themes for your own website creation or develop some retro-styled online presence on your own with unique idea and stylish vintage elements. Let your initiatives be successful!