Bento grids are becoming increasingly popular. Named after Japanese bento boxes, which neatly separate a meal into different compartments, bento website design breaks pages down into neat cards. Each card has one focus, and the result is a page that is packed full of information, without being difficult to scan.
A New Era of Minimalism
For years, websites leaned into minimalism and large areas of white space. Even though this worked for some sites, it didn’t work for sites that had several features or numerous selling points. Bento grids, on the other hand, retain the clean typography associated with minimalistic design, but add hierarchy and structure.
Apple spearheaded the Bento movement and pushed it into the mainstream. Instead of having every Apple Watch or iPhone in a column, major selling points can be established with supporting details and large visuals. This makes it easier to understand more complicated technology in just a few seconds.
Bento grids are now common in SaaS, e-commerce, and even entertainment. Procreate, for example, uses a multi-block grid to show the features on the site. Netflix, although it isn’t a classic bento-grid site, is built on the same principles.
Dividing featured tiles gives them more space and prominence, while ensuring that viewers are guided to the next item. Even UK bingo sites take inspiration from this format.
Displaying several types of information at once, including navigational links, promotions, and bingo rooms that open and close in real-time, can be challenging, but adopting a bento-inspired design with clearly segmented containers and white gutters helps to stop each element from competing for attention.
A Defining Website Trend for 2026
Bento designs don’t just add boxes to a page; they ensure that each part of the page has a purpose. Some of the best practices that have to be followed when implementing a bento design include prioritizing key features. Pinpoint the elements that make your business stand out and then arrange them according to hierarchy on the page.
Designing a grid layout that splits content into containers is also useful. Each container should highlight a single feature to aid the browsing experience. Colors and other visual elements can be used to reinforce the bento design.
Using images is the best way to reinforce the message. Even though each bento container on the site should be unique, it’s important to be consistent. Apple UK’s website provides a source of inspiration here, as the containers are not only used to show products, but also the trade-in value of devices, the innovations that set the latest iPhone apart, and gift cards. Even though the offerings are distinctly different, the bento format provides cohesion.
Some of the most common mistakes when creating a bento box website include having poor visual hierarchy, broken mobile layouts, and clustered elements that don’t align with each other. As the latest stats show, users complete tasks 23% faster on a modular bento layout when compared to a traditional linear design, and users look at larger boxes longer than smaller ones; it’s clear that this design is here to stay.
