To make any website truly successful—regardless of its scale—there are many aspects a web designer must consider. Some of them during the planning stage, some during the design process, and others during development. Moreover, some aspects also need to be discussed with the client, aligned with the brand, and even take into account whether the user will genuinely enjoy visiting the site. It may sound childish or overly simple, but think for a moment: if you find a website unpleasant, inconvenient, or uninteresting, would you stay on it? How quickly would you go looking for an alternative?
Every visitor should, on the one hand, be able to easily navigate the site, find pathways through pages, and logically explore the content. But it’s equally important that the website inspires trust and feels pleasant to use. Designers often believe that the main goal is to create an eye-catching homepage with a bold, attractive headline that practically shouts “Look at me!” —and that’s enough. But they completely forget about the footer.
We briefly touched on the importance and uniqueness of the footer earlier this summer when we discussed Google’s approach to web design. But today, we want to give the footer our full attention. It might seem odd—what’s so special or idea-worthy about it? But trust us, there’s more than enough to talk about.
What Are You, Footer?
Most often, the footer is just a spot to drop copyright info, disclaimers, and maybe a few social icons or contact links. It’s often minimal, and sometimes just plain boring. But that’s not necessarily because the designer didn’t want to work on it or wasn’t paid enough. It’s society—the general opinion is: “No one scrolls all the way to the bottom anyway, no one reads what’s down there, so who cares what we include? Let’s throw in a logo, copyright notice, some years—and done.”
But in reality, the footer is just as important as the homepage, the headers, and content sections. Maybe even more important—because many users do scroll all the way down. They look to see what else is there, maybe even something not included in the main navigation.
That’s why you often see subscription forms, registration options, or links to related articles in the footer. You might also find author or webmaster contact info, in case users encounter issues with the site—and much more.
Though, some websites skip the footer entirely. We’ll get to those later…
Regardless of a designer’s personal feelings about the presence of a footer, the better question is: what would users expect to find there? What would they want to see when they reach the end of a page?
Here are four completely different projects—by theme and tech—with entirely different footers. A dairy brand uses a sliding-out menu from the right (containing footer content). One shows contact info, another lists sections, and another encourages visitors to take action. And yet, all of us scrolled to the bottom and were at least curious to see what’s down there. We’re talking about Alpsko Mleko, Weber.com, Brightscout, and Ingphi.
And This Matters…
By designing a footer, you’re giving users extra content and value. The footer can be a tool for secondary navigation, a subtle feature that impresses clients and visitors. Either way, remember this:
Just because the footer is at the bottom doesn’t mean you can ignore it, thinking: “Modern design doesn’t need it. I’ll put a phone number in the corner or at the end. People will scroll eventually and find the contact page and map.” Sure, it depends on the design—but will users scroll to the end? Maybe on one page—but on all of them? And what if the homepage isn’t engaging, but there’s a great link in the footer? It's a gray area—there are arguments both for and against.
We've gathered more diverse examples—some with a footer on every page, others where it’s just a thin strip with key info. It all depends on the topic. If you’re into African safaris, expect lots of data and good navigation. Looking into UK agriculture? The footer will appear smoothly and signal the page’s end. Interested in corporate development? The footer might only be on information pages. Examples include GROWx, baa projektmanagement, Your African Safari, atomico, and morigurashi.
Visualizing the Footer
One of the most effective aspects of any footer is how it looks—its visual appeal. Let’s face it: if you design it tiny or use a tiny font, users will ignore it. No one likes constantly zooming in and out of a browser. Even if your footer only includes social media icons or contact info, they can still look striking and unique.
Just as a designer works to make a site simple and clear, the footer can be good or bad too. Here's what often gets noticed:
Branding. A logo and brand info are commonly placed here. While some designers use footers purely for extra navigation, many users appreciate quick access to basic brand details. This content should match the site’s style—colors, fonts, tone. Take a look at imperion, vuejs.amsterdam, mountaingames, hollandgreen.
Whitespace and clarity. A key factor in all stages of web design. We’ve mentioned this in our blog, but we’ll say it again: when there’s a lot of info, the simplest visual style is best. It keeps things clean and clear. The footer looks great and works well when there’s enough spacing, and when the text is easy to scan. See examples like edmolimited, caulipower, open-wear, avivatalmon, papercast, ykrealestate.
Calls to action and usability. For online stores or service websites, the footer is a great spot for essential user info. It helps users engage and maybe even finalize a purchase. See how ozon, wildberries, shop.primagames, utkonos, amazon, and areatresworkplace handle this.
What Makes Up a Footer
Although all the footers above are different, there are standard elements considered essential: contact info, social media links, navigation links, copyright, and privacy details. Other elements are optional—like maps, logos, taglines, feedback forms, or newsletter subscriptions.
If you're building a personal site for a writer, you can include a short 3-4 line bio, photo, and article list. For a café, a map, address, hours, and reservation number make sense—even if that info is already higher on the page. Users appreciate seeing it again at the bottom.
Pay attention to typography and spacing—people expect links and text in columns, which makes scanning easier. Each column implies unique content, which helps with quick understanding.
Visually separating the footer is important too. Usually, it’s done with a darker color from the site’s palette, or sometimes a white background with colorful logos and illustrations. Either way, the footer should stand out from the rest of the page content.
Look at limoncello, thesavvybackpacker, globalwelsh, ideoagency, microsoftstore, and apple. Even major brands like Microsoft and Apple have footers with links, contacts, social icons, copyright info, and privacy policies—everything according to best practices.
It’s Not That Simple
As promised, let’s get to it…
Some designs—or whole website themes—don’t require a footer at all. These sites either skip it completely or replace it with visual animations. These are usually niche or highly artistic projects. And if a footer is present, it’s minimal and barely noticeable.
For example, studioopz, gravity, voellerei, affilicy, wallpapers.strv, yebocreative, catellanismith—these barely have a traditional footer. Still, they manage to remain informative. Some place all info in the menu, some don’t need it due to their subject matter.
Conclusion
The footer matters in website design. That’s why it’s included in so many variations and filled with diverse content. How well this content is organized and readable can determine the site’s overall success and user satisfaction. If you're wondering: what should I even write there without overdoing or forgetting something, take a good look at the project’s theme and ask: what would I, as a typical visitor, want to find in the footer? If it’s a store, café, or studio, including a map near the footer (or within it) makes perfect sense. But for a site like Microsoft or Gazprom, a map might be unnecessary. It all depends.
One final tip: many of the examples here are not just about good footers—they’re beautiful websites overall. So take a look, explore the pages. You might find unexpected inspiration and new ideas from footers you didn’t even expect to notice.