Criteria

What makes the cut

SITED is small on purpose. A website gets in when it is a clear piece of design that other designers can learn from. Here is what we look at, in order.

1. It is Swiss

The studio, the client or the project has to be based in Switzerland. Swiss studios working for foreign clients count, and so do foreign studios working for Swiss clients. Every site has a city and a canton, so you can browse by place.

2. One clear idea

The best sites have a single idea and carry it through every page: a grid, a typeface, a way of moving, a tone of voice. If you can describe the site in one sentence, it usually works. That sentence is what we write as the “Why” of every entry.

3. Typography and layout

Type is where Swiss design started, and it is still the first thing we check. We look for a considered choice of typeface, a clear hierarchy, and a layout with rhythm. It does not have to be a grid, but it has to be on purpose. See all styles.

4. Details

Motion that helps instead of distracting. Colour that belongs to the brand. Good photography and good writing. The small things are what make a site worth studying.

5. It works

The site has to be live, load in a reasonable time and work on a phone. We capture every entry on desktop, tablet and mobile, so a site that breaks on small screens does not make it.

What does not count

• Payment. Inclusion is free and cannot be bought.
• Awards. We do not run them and we do not copy them.
• Size. A one-page portfolio can sit next to a museum or a bank.
• Platform. Hand-coded, Webflow, WordPress or Kirby: only the result matters.

How a site is added

Every site is picked and checked by hand. We take the screenshots, read the fonts and the tech, pull the colour palette, tag it and credit the people who made it, when we know them. If we got a credit wrong, write to us and we fix it.

Suggest one

Know a site that fits? Submit it. Your own work is welcome too.