Bad Websites Examples: 20 Worst Website Designs

Looking for examples of the bad websites to learn from? We have compiled a list of badly designed websites that have a lot of room for improvement in their design or really just should be replaced. 

Websites serve as a first impression for your business. While obvious features such as bad imagery, poor color choice, and outdated branding make for a badly designed website, we’ve also included a few examples of the bad websites that missed the mark on things such as user experience and content organization.

What makes for a badly designed websites?

Some qualities of a poorly designed website include the following:

• Bad image choices – Images that are unprofessional, off brand, pixelated, or wrongly sized can contribute to a poor website design. It is important that your choices for website imagery are cohesive and help tell your brand’s story. Images that are too large can also appear out of focus on some devices, as well as be distracting for the visitor. You also will want to consider avoidance of stock images whenever possible as these can come across as cheesy and outdated.
• Poor color and font choices – Along with bad websites, website imagery, the wrong color scheme or font choice for a website design might also contribute to a bad website design. Colors that are too bright might be distracting and look unprofessional. When it comes to font choice, it is better to stick to simple fonts that are easy to read rather than stylized and cursive font options.
• Cluttered content – There’s nothing worse than coming to a website for a quick source of information, only to find that the page you were looking for is cluttered with information and looks like it will take you 20 minutes to read. When it comes to content presentation, it is better to keep your messaging very straightforward. You also may want to break up your text whenever possible to make your content easier to read through use of multiple paragraphs, thoughtful use of images (avoid having too many if possible), and bulleted lists.
• Outdated branding – Having a website that does not align with your brand’s current image can also contribute to bad website design. You want to ensure that your branding remains relevant and professional to give your website a professional look and feel.
• A lack of responsive design – Smartphones and devices are part of life and it’s important that your website be responsive across device types. Website designs that are not optimized for use on mobile or other portable devices will likely cause visitor frustration from trying to zoom in and out on a webpage. This may lead to complete abandonment of your website for a competitor that has chosen to implement responsive design.
• Bad navigation – A website design that lacks simple navigation is also very frustrating for visitors. If your website has too much content, visitors might not be able to find important information. A website with too many pages that take too long to navigate can also contribute to other issues such as slow website performance.
• Links or buttons that do not work – Some websites have broken links that might lead to web pages that are no longer in use. By forgetting to remove these buttons or webpages, visitors might become confused thinking that there is something wrong with the website, or the device they are accessing it from, and abandon it entirely.