Brutalist web design strips the browser back to its defaults — Times New Roman, electric blue links, solid black borders, and nothing else. Emerging around 2014 as a conscious rejection of polished SaaS aesthetics, it treats raw HTML structure as both medium and message.

The movement draws its name from béton brut (raw concrete) and channels the same confrontational honesty into digital form. Sites like brutalistwebsites.com, Drudge Report, and Balenciaga's 2015 redesign proved that refusing decoration could itself be a powerful design statement.