No website owner wishes to hear the words ‘yawn’ or ‘boring’ used in reference to what they put out there for their users. Therefore, it’s only natural that they’d be interested in ways to give their design that extra something that will make it stand out and be memorable.

One fun way to achieve this is by tapping into your inner child and incorporating cartoon-like images and graphics into your site. Actually, go nuts, add fairytale scenes, imaginary landscapes, comic book drawings, made up characters or funny mascots in order to get that much sought after eye-catching effect.

If used properly, a website design stands on its own. It can capture the user’s attention, increase the amount of time they spend browsing, direct them towards the sections the owner wants viewed most and, last but not least, give the user a good first impression about the people who put the website out.

To show you just how successful such an approach can be for your website, here’s a list of 20 awesome examples of cartoon themed website design.

Cartoon Themed Website Design Examples

Fabrika Online is a publisher and operator of game projects and it isn’t afraid to showcase amazing graphics from their games by means of a slider section placed on their homepage.

Dumbwaystodie is a website with a message started by Metro. It seeks to raise awareness about accidents due to negligence. The campaign uses funny, intelligent graphics to get its point across and make its visitors smile.

Stuff and nonsense is a well known website design studio hailing from the UK. They choose, wisely I might add, to showcase their skill through a hilarious and appealing graphic design placed in the header section of their home page.

Pictoaplicaciones is a company thatintroduces its team members through a funny and stylish cartoon graphic that piques your interest instantly.

Bully in a box is also a website with a message. It uses cartoon graphics that are completely relatable for children in order to tackle the ever growing problem of bullying. The characters that are showcased on the home page are very well drawn and they help teach kids everywhere how to deal with unpleasant situations without resorting to violence.

Card stories is a website for an online card playing game. Its graphics are rich in detail and attract visitors through a likable mascot, a well chosen colour palette and an overall happy go lucky tone.

Netiko is a company that offers professional web development services and gives you a sense of the talent they can boast with the first time you enter their site. The little robot characters you can see below have a certain charm that cannot be denied.

Made for Humans is a website that brilliantly matches its name with the graphics it employes. What better way to showcase your product as especially designed for humans but through the dispair of these robots?

Needagents wants its users to trust their services and have no doubt about the reliability of the company. It manages to do this by using a cartoon design with dark shades of blue and serious looking characters.

WordPress Maker seeks to make its users understand the work processes employed by means of a funny and easy to understand cartoon placed on their home page.

Shape is a website design company that gives you a sense of their clear cut and elegant style right off the bat with the graphics they’ve put up on their own page.

Andreia Carqueija has a very well thought of design, sporting pleasing contrasts and bold typography. Also, the cartoon drawing of the owner adds a little extra to an already attractive page.

Well done team GB is a hilarious site that displays the best moments of the UK team during the 2012 Olympics. It uses amusing and intelligent cartoon characters to promote national pride.

Alessandra Balzani is the page of an Italian website designer and developer that brings a charming note of childhood innocence by employing a little girl mascot.

MailBoxing advertises the app by displaying low-poly graphics that add a certain note of wierdness to the website. The effect is quite entertaining and appealing for the viewer.

Rainbow Nursery has chosen a very adequate cartoon themed interactive design to convey warmth and trust to parents with little children.

Nasa: Prospect uses brilliantly executed graphics to tell the story of an astronout in outerspace. Their message comes across easily, in a very entertaining way.

XHTML Crab knows exactlly how to ensnare the visitor’s attention through its eye catching mascot.

Captain Dash intelligently employes the superhero concept into its design. The character displayed on the home page is beautifully drawn and placed.

Fountain of Youth Coconut Water goes to considerable lengths to show that less is more. By only using a handfull of colours and taking careful consideration of how they interact with negative space, the website manages to showcase an attractive and pleasing design.

In conclusion, you shouldn’t write off cartoon themed designs as something that belong exclusively on websites for children. There are a lot of very serious companies out there that weren’t afraid to take a risk and play this unconventional card and made it work. These websites are very apt at drawing the user’s attention and making their browsing experience all the more enjoyable and memorable. By using clean graphics and amusing doodles, these designs appeal to the child in everyone and put through a feeling of honesty and openness that is very well liked by users.