200 best 404 error page designs for inspiration

One common term for web designers is the 404 or “Not Found” error message, which is a standard response that indicates to the person that the client was actually able to establish communication with the server but this one was not able to find the requested page. It’s important to state that these 404 pages are not another way to say “server not found” and similar errors, because in those cases the problem relies on connection.

Many designers make custom 404 pages that can be considered small little secrets that not all the people is going to discover and on this huge compilation, we have gathered some of the greatest and more creative 404 designs on the internet, maybe yours has been featured, it’s time to grasp some inspiring designs.

404 pages are more than just dead end links, people often forget about them and don’t even consider about how to take advantage of this element to offer people a more comfortable experience instead of just showing the “the page doesn’t exist” message. Having a custom 404 page will tell your visitors that you thought about everything, including those parts that don’t represent any profit at all to you.

Regarding this subject, there are a series of tips that can help you construct a good 404 page that communicates the situation to the visitor and gives him a way out. Among the best practices for making 404 pages we can list:

Help people go back

If you place a “go back” link within your 404 page, you will prevent people from leaving your website, so if you establish a way to save people from the 404 disaster your fans will forgive you and then will return to continue stumbling across your site.

Inform about the problem

When people reach a 404 page, they often think that the site is down, their connection is down or something is simply wrong, and that’s why is very important to provide information to the user about the situation, which is usually that the site they’re looking for is no longer there or has been migrated to a different source. By doing this you will prevent users from losing their trust towards you.

The end is just the beginning

Arriving to a 404 site is not the end of the road, it’s just the end of one of the several paths that you can follow inside a website’s navigation. Make sure that when people arrives to your 404 page, they will not only receive information regarding the problem but they can also find life-saving links to continue their browsing from that point, this statement proves that even a 404 page can be useful.

Place trackers

What makes people arrive to your 404 page?, that’s a question that you can answer (at least partially) by placing a tracker that shows you the previous page that the person was visiting before reaching the 404 or inquiring about which search terms did the person input prior stumbling upon the page.

Personalize your page

Don’t be lazy, making an additional page will not take you much time and will definitely improve the quality of your website both in terms of navigation and aesthetic. You don’t have to make it all animated and stuff, just keep it integrated with the rest of the site so it becomes less obvious that the surfer has reached an error page, we’re sure that the following roundup will serve you as an inspiration to help you make your own 404.

Whilst gathering the information for this article, we decided to determine the key categories that will help us classify the different 404 pages that we found during our research, from photographs to illustrations, we covered every major style and included into the list, so you can make an easier lecture of the post. After this quick introduction it’s time to begin with the countdown.

Our top selection

Before you scroll until the end of this list, we like to offer you a hand-picked selection featuring some of the most fancy and creative 404 designs of the list, ranging from the most minimal and yet attractive examples to those who almost cross the line that determines whether something can be described as good design or simply kitsch.

Aroma Gusto

Beautiful 404 page with an unconventional diagramming, nice color palette that is consequent with the whole coffee concept and obviously the great photograph, everything on this 404 page works perfectly well and delivers a high quality page that definitely more than one person will like to revisit.

Walk With You

One of the nicest 404 designs; a great color palette made out of brown tones, light green and blue, which is basically an earth color palette. The typeface management is accurate and works fine with the graphics, the main text is also highlighted by the beautiful waterfall illustration that fits well with the rest of the page.

Blizzard Entertainment

One of the greatest 404 pages, Blizzard’s design is just constantly on top of the rest thanks to its master dominion of functionality and quality design. The broken glass detail works awesome with the inclined menu that does not lose its functionality, so the entire site conserves its design without losing its navigability.

Abduzeedo

Abduzeedo is always a great source of quality design, from its homepage to the 404 section, there’s always a delightful plate of creativity ready to be tasted on this webpage. The text is a reminder of the old 60’s and 70’s movies, while the space capsule adds a nice touch to the whole concept of being lost in the space of 404.

Brandstack

Nice illustration, from the technical part to the concept, the idea of a guy trying to design his own 404 page is brilliant and works as an example of what you can do with your 404 section. Every detail of this artwork has been carefully planned, from the left message where you can find information about the error to the whole graphic interface that is displayed on the monitor.

404 Invaders

This one is definitely of the most awesome 404 pages of this countdown, not for its design but because of the fact that you can actually play a version of the classic game Space Invaders, we have to admit that we wasted a lot of time playing on this 404 place.

Blue Daniel

An awesome Flash animation of a subway station where all the lost ones concur. Graphically speaking the page looks great and in terms of functionality, the job has been well executed, with all the links fully functioning and a neat animation of a subway that arrives every once in a while to the page.

Webdesignshock

WebDesignShock has one of the few 404 pages made with using the famous  jQuery library and implementing the Parallax effect. The vector graphics are great, with some pretty cool astronauts and an extraterrestrial that seems to have came directly from Tatooine. The page also features a go back link so you won’t get stuck in here.

More great 404 designs

If the top ten were not enough to get you inspired, then we want to show you from this point almost 200 examples of 404 pages, we’re sure that you will find a solution to create the fittest design for your site after scrolling across this countdown, so fasten your seat belt and let’s begin.

Photographs and montages

This category covers every 404 site that incorporates a photograph on their design and this one occupies a significant part on the page, either if it’s an original picture or a processed image (colorization, collage, photomontage), we decided to include them on this part of the showcase. Remember that if you’re planning to use photographs on your site, they must be always optimized (less than 150 dpi and RGB color mode) so it will not take forever to load the page and display it properly.

Tractr

Superb, this is just an astonishing example of a well designed 404 page. The photograph determines the whole diagramming and the typeface works perfectly, it’s recommendable to utilize Sans Serif fonts to enlighten the legibility of a website, even if you’re using larger sizes and high contrasts.

Zivity

Zivity used a picture that says it all, you’re alone and desperate but you can always rely on their love, and that’s why they offer you lifesavers that can rescue you from the oblivion.

Retard Zone

Man that’s got to hurt, but all has been made on the behalf of missing surfers that have ended their journeys on this 404 island.

Pattern Tap

What a geeky design for a 404 page, and it works because the site is precisely made for geeks who enjoy quality contents about web design, programming and things like that. The nerdy guy trying to look annoyed and then sad is just awesome, from the clothing to their faces, the picture is great.

Lightpost Creative

Very coherent picture, the girl with binoculars indicates that she lost something and is trying to find it, which is exactly the same situation that shows when someone arrives to a 404 page.

Center’d

What a lovely kitty, it’s almost impossible to get mad for arriving at this 404 page, besides it gives you the chance to return to a previous page and you even receive apologies for the inconvenience.

Slonky

OK if the idea was to get you down with this image, then we can say that they succeeded with us, because this guy definitely destroyed our mood, that means that they’re highlighting the fact that we stumbled across a wrong page.

JVMedia Design

They say that’s not worth to cry over the spilled milk, because they will be always a “go back home” that will cover the mess and take you back to reality.

Chelmsford Public Library

If the librarian tells you that the page you’re looking for doesn’t exist and you don’t have Yoda to find it for you, then heed this message and go back to the previous window of the website.

Bits of Magic

What a nice idea to utilize a Macintosh monitor in a 404 page, and the coolest thing about it is that the Retry and Abort buttons actually work, so if you were thinking that this was just an ordinary image, then think again.

Stick with me Baby!

Oh no, you made the baby cry, all because you were careless and took your navigation to a dead end, so please be more careful the next time, we don’t want our little friend to get all weepy again.

501st Legion

The Empire forces had discovered you doing forbidden things on their site such as visiting the 404 section, so please don’t make us call Darth Vader to kick you out of this place dear Jedi Knight.

Matt Northam

What the heck is a hen doing here?, what else could you expect for young designer like Matt Northman?, a young British designer that has his portfolio on this website. The hen’s picture is very creative and amusing to chill out a little bit the visitors when they arrive to this 404 page.

Forefront Internet

It’s incredible but the 404 page is nicer than the homepage. The photograph is amazing with a clean use of typography in black and white that provides information regarding the error.

Just Creative Design

Jacob Cass managed to make a really simple and catchy design; a simple snapped pencil’s photograph that evidences that something went wrong during the navigation.

Take Lessons

The King is upset, you took him to the 404 page without a reason, so present your excuses and make use of one of the lifesaving links at the right of the king’s picture.

FixelPix

Simple, clean and straightforward message, all accomplished with a single grayscale photograph.

Agro Media

Great photo manipulation, the tone of the message is just too friendly to get mad with it, besides it gives you the chance to go back to a page that actually exists, so chill out Dude and enjoy the view.

iFolderLinks

Oh no, the baby is crying, he does not like to stay in desolate places and obviously 404 pages are part of them, so enjoy the picture and then go back to make our baby happy.

Factor D

Oh no, it’s the 404, everybody take cover because this is a dangerous situation, fortunately you have the chance to go back and forget about ever seeing this message, which by the way has a great grunge design, with a nice old school picture along with some colors and a Sans Serif typeface.

The North Face

Another case where the idea is great but the ending was not as perfect as it may have come out, in any case it’s a fun idea to utilize goats’ pictures within the whole page along with a funny message.

Heinz

Seems that the site you’re looking for have just run out of sauce; the picture is cleaver as it provides a clue regarding the content of the page while the company’s product is being promoted.

Kochatelier

The site is obviously about cuisine, specifically courses and lessons, so the idea of using a toast’s picture to place the 404 message is just great and works in many levels.

Swissmiss

Very smart idea, a casual photograph with a customization probably made in Photoshop that makes people think that she’s the person underneath the surface of the website, and is ready to help you when landing to 404 with a homepage link and even a search bar.

Chimp

Instead of leaving the site blank, they put some big text along with a picture just to have some fun with the design of this 404 page.

Bioneural

What a funny photo comic, at least the arrival to the 404 page will end up in an amusing reading before you want to forget completely about this page.

Snapdox

Lovely picture and a beautiful use of dashed lines are a great combination to deliver a functional and lovely 404 error page.

Maestros del web

What a brilliant photograph, it’s like a little treasure waiting to be found by every geek around, I’ll bet they’re more pictures next to this sign that hanging out at Hollywood’s walk of Fame.

Northern

Consistent design, the picture of a hard working man using a industrial cutter goes perfectly with the bold typographic and the clean areas that were left throughout the whole site.

eVisibility

So there was Jesus!, he has been hanging out with these guys all this time, and is waiting to be found by those lost sheep that during their research typed a non-existent page.

JibJab

Very funny photo manipulation, if the picture was actually a gif, then it will be just amazing and many people will like to lost their way on purpose.

BMI

The site is about music, so what happens when you land to a missing page?, of course you will find no guitar or bass to play with, and that’s exactly what the photograph displays.

Tattoo Manufacturing

It’s important to be consistent with your image and the contents that are being covered on your site, for example this place, whose focus target is tattoo artists decided to put the 404 message within a man’s picture, a very smart idea.

Spread Shirt

Funny picture and relevant information explaining the current situation to the surfer, one way to integrate vector objects and stuff with photographs is through color, as they did on this case.

Xtraboy

One way to explain a 404 page is that you have empty pockets; when a burglar tries to steal from you and you have no money then you can say “Man, error 404, the site you’re looking for is not here”.

Gowa TV

If Doctor House cannot solve your problem, then the reason is that probably the illness is nothing more than a 404 error, so please go back and stop disturbing the doc.

TVICS

If your site talks about the Vancouver Indie Coffee Scene, probably the best idea for the 404 page will be a spilled coffee, which indicates that there’s nothing to look for in that specific page.

Apartment Home Living

Brilliant 404 design, from the language utilized on the balloons to the Queen’s picture behind the frame, this is simply a great example of a thoughtful 404 design.

Trotes do Chupim

How can we stop ourselves from showing you this picture?, a kitty inside a CPU is extremely funny, I bet the person behind the idea of using this picture for a 404 page was thinking about make people laugh so they forget about the fact that they were actually landing into a dead space.

Digital Illustrations

We talk about digital illustrations because everything that goes for web is inevitably digital, even if you make a charcoal and pen artwork, once you scan it using your D-SLR camera or your scanner, on the moment it appears on your monitor, it becomes a digital illustration. The point is that on this category we reunited every 404  page whose image is determined by artworks (vectorial, photomontage, airbrushing, etc.) and delivers a lovely view for the surfer.

AOL News

Using vector characters is a nice way to transmit a message with a lightweight image, though sometimes the illustrations are made out for pure decoration.

Sick Designer

Nice Kraken illustration, you can notice on this case how a good scanner can help you take your artworks to the digital world with great sharpness.

Cuoma

Just a few lines, a simple color palette and you’ll have all the ingredients to generate a lovely and attractive 404 design.

Tinsanity

Sorry man, you just got 404’d, the page that you were expecting to find here is no longer residing at this location or you mistyped the name, so double-check and if after that this little guy keeps appearing and screaming then try a different option.

Turbomilk.ru

We’re not sure about the meaning of this graphic but what we can affirm is that it looks great, with all its gradients and details, this is definitely one of the most well-designed Russian 404 pages.

Wufoo

Beautiful 404 design, from the yellow background to the tiny dinosaur on the left, everything about this page is just great, the font has been also carefully planed and it helps to integrate everything else.

TK Designs

Let’s skip the fact that they utilized ComicSans and let’s focus on the character, a nice Megaman-like cartoon that in certain level plays along with that unpronounceable typeface.

Twingly

Watch out for that flying shuriken, this nice character takes the leading role on this 404 page, which couldn’t be any simpler, with Arial all over a white background.

Github

Cute little character occupying the major zone of the 404 page, while the rest remains exactly the same as if you where at the homepage.

Brightkite

The kite’s vector is simple and elegant, with the same color palette that’s present along the entire website, so this is a well designed and functional 404 design.

Sprawsm

Hilarious vector character that mocks out of males; you can also find the homepage link to drive yourself out of this madness.

A List Apart

Illustrations that resemblance the classic hand drawn style are awesome and usually look great on internet when properly treated.

Kidmondo

As simple as it gets, anybody can draw this sad character, the thing is to make it work within the context and complement it with substantial information.

Bargain Jack

Cute vector illustration that tries to be gentle with the visitor by informing him about the error and offering the proper excuses for the inconvenience.

MailChimp

MailChimp is one of those companies that not only offers a quality delivery service but also worries about its image, with a gorgeous mascot and a very well designed website, which obviously covers also the 404 error page, where you can find the site’s chimp smiling like if nothing happened and at the same time providing information regarding the issue.

Agens

Such a funny character that tough doesn’t provide any relevant information by itself, entertains the visitor while he clicks on an actual link from the top menu.

Chykalophia

Halftone images are a nice resource for internet, because they keep all the major details of any image whilst consuming a lesser amount of bandwidth.

Gadies

Beautiful image that mixes manual and digital techniques into a lovely piece of artwork.

Robo.to

The use of textures has recently become a favorite among many graphic designers, because the times where solid coat palettes ruled are over, it’s time for the textures to come back.

n.Design Studio

A plaster texture applied to the 404 was everything these guys did on their page, along with a little message informing about the error, the page looks neat.

Warhammer

The site is about a videogame, and so is its 404 page, which features a nice illustration and some basic information about the issue.

Flossed Today

There’s practically no illustrations present on this page except for the death tooth on the background, but for the background design and custom typeface, we considered that the right place for this 404 was the illustrations section.

Copimaj

Artworks such as these clouds are usually functional in certain kind of websites, such as this one, but remember that this is not a style to be applied in everything.

Ferdaze

This guy is not happy at all, because you dismantled his website and actually arrived to the single place where everything seems to be inexistent, so say hello and return asap.

Gwip Design

Such an awesome idea to leave the background like a clean Photoshop file, just for that we give it an A+, besides that the design is great and amusing.

Blippy

The Unicorn Boy says that you’re in the wrong spot, so please double think what you were looking for and give it another try.

Koodoz

Zero gradients or effects, just hand drawn characters and a lot of creativity to make fun with 404.

Carry The Duck

Something great about this duck character is that conserves the same look that’s present throughout the whole site, it’s important to point that they give information about the error and the chance to return to the previous page.

Expansion Broadcast

Well there’s not such thing as a character on this 404, but the logo and the background are obviously vector work, that’s the reason why we included on this category.

Error Horde

It seems like this site was exclusively made for showing 404 examples, and this one is definitely an example of great graphic design, from the patterns used on the font to the fish character, everything works perfectly fine.

Fuelly

OK there’s definitely some Twitter’s reminiscence in here, but despite of that the design actually works, graphically speaking.

Sgec

You don’t have to be all explicit with your designs, some random shapes and textures can easily do the same job as long as they look well.

CSS Ninjas

The combination between the vector ninja and the textured background is gorgeous, also the typeface which is not pure white but a very soft bone color, another great thing is that the link that takes you to the previous window is made out in a different color so you can find it with ease.

TweetMeme

Very simple design, it says the important thing which is that the page couldn’t be found leaving an area for the go back link.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt has a lovely mascot that appears every time something is going wrong, like when you mess up things and end up in a page that simply doesn’t exist.

South Park

We couldn’t expect anything different from South Park than hilarious comments and funny characters, which is exactly what you find on their 404 error page.

The Web Motel

Danger, you are currently in a dead end road, so if you don’t want to end up being a pile of bones hurry up and click to go back home.

Wakoopa

Seems like our little link buddy was not able to find what you’re looking for, so we suggest you to retype your search or try a different address.

Cartoon Network

Yeah sure, Cartoon Network will hardly run out of characters, but they knew that with only cartoons a 404 page will not look good enough, so they thought about the audience and post the same message in 3 different languages.

Amorphia Apparel

Oh no, you’re on the land of pterodactyls, an unknown place where the internet had not been created and the only result when searching was 404 error pages.

Mozilla

If you trigger the 404 page in Mozilla there’s definitely something wrong with your search terms, though the good thing is that you will find a lovely page instead of a blank space.

Rocket Theme

This lovely character went out of his rocket to let you know that you have landed in a desolated planet and your only hope is to click in one of the links to be able to return to homeland.

Jamie Huskisson

Nice illustration, very 90’s like; the rest of the page works as a standard 404 site where you will find information concerning the error and links to go back to a previous page.

Milrayas

Sorry man, but it seems that you’re in a sea of stripes and it will be difficult to find any real content, so your best choice is to go back and continue your research following distinct parameters.

Springload

Gorgeous illustrations that captivate you with its simplicity and flavor, and the best thing is that it’s just not a decorative series of artworks but actually communicates the 404 message.

Bellaminettes

The only thing you need is inspiration and color to keep your 404 page from becoming one of the rest.

HootSuite

What a great idea to use a milk package and the picture of HootSuite’s owl as a missing person; the design is very clean and maintains the same aesthetic of the page while providing the important information about the error along with the go back link.

Eternal Moon

Seems that this page is no longer existing and Plankton seems to be the one behind this mystery; in the meantime we suggest you to go back and continue your research.

Anassin

It seems that there’s nothing Leonard can do to save you from 404 but prevent you of the situation and ask you to leave the facilities immediately.

Porcupine Colors

The entire site is very simplistic, and its 404 does not get behind with a clean and very minimal illustration that also works as a lifesaving link.

Storenvy

Very simple 404 page, with a funny character and a explicatory message about the issue.

Vuu

They reunited all the important information in a very small area, which is a demonstration of diagramming skills, complemented with a lovely character design and a nice background.

Homestarrunner

You may think at first sight that the page simply didn’t loaded, but then you will see these three little guys talking about the error and you will understand the greatness about this 404 design.

Aula Divertida

Aula Divertida is a website made for children that teach them through amusing games the main subjects such as math and history. The 404 page features a lovely illustration and tons of color with links to return to the main page.

Catalyst Studios

It seems like the author behind this illustration has a little fixation with manga, and that can be easily noticed on the design of these 3 little characters.

CSS Remix

Many great illustrations are considered as such not because of its complexity but for the emotions that are able to generate in the viewer, and this is a good example of that.

Chris Jennings

The bubbles are even harder to make than the death character, and despite of that it looks great and very eye-catching for the visitors.

MICA

We have already distinguished MICA on a previous article where we judged the best designed websites and they have returned on this case with the 404 page that though is much simpler than the homepage is still a lovely piece of design.

Woo Themes

The global aesthetic of the site is beautiful, and of course that the 404 page makes the grade with a cute ninja character and a nice typographic design.

Mixx

When you enter a wrong search parameter in Mixx, you will find this 404 error page, where the magician is willing to show you his rabbit as long as you leave the place.

383 Project

Man this guy had definitely watched Monsters Inc, because these monsters look exactly like the ones every kid is afraid of, as engineers are afraid of people who find 404’s

AppleGeeks

Classic combination of geek elements: Comics, graphic design and a power icon. It’s funny the fact that many people don’t realize that they’re actually at a 404 page until they finish reading the comic.

Red Tag

Everything is flipped backwards, which can only mean one thing: You’re in 404 land and your only salvation is to click on the left cloud and return home right away.

Frye / Wiles

These crows look very suspicious, maybe they’re behind the disappearance of this page and on replace they left a 404 page to avoid any suspicions.

iStockphoto

iStockphoto cares a lot about its image, which can be noticed by staring at this 404 page or the 503 page that features a mad octopus. The typographic management is accurate as well as the kitty illustration.

Escuela de Derechos

Escuela de Derechos created a custom mascot to support the customers throughout their entire visit, giving tips and advice about the page. The 404 page has also the character doing a funny face.

Nice Cube Design

If the site has the word “cube” on its URL, you will expect to find that figure somehow in the page, and on this case the 404 shows a cute little ice cube.

Wulffmorgenthaler

It’s very hard to pronounce this site’s name, but with a brilliant 404 page they could be named In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and it will still rock enough to be featured on this showcase.

Habrahabr

Beautiful 3D characters, they make very hard to get mad with the page for taking you to a 404 link.

Spore

This is nice, an actual 3D creature with the shape of 404, a way to expose the 404 error and illustrate it at the same time, a very creative idea.

Huwshimi

Beautiful 404 page, the idea of masking the whole illustration is brilliant and the illustration itself is really great, definitely one of the best 404 pages of this roundup.

Surfing On Static

Very unique illustration, quite dense to be honest but still rocks as a 404 page design.

Funny & Conceptual

Probably the most amusing category of this countdown, here you will find all those 404 pages that regardless of the technique utilized for their making, throw a great concept richness, always directed towards fun and irony, like they were saying “well you’re definitely not in Hollywood but hey, Brad Pitt’s stunt is on town”. Bottom line, this section will deliver you a lot of inspiration to create original concepts full of content.

Free Tube TV

Like TV when the tuned channel was not transmitting, this site will show you the same colorful background with a small text telling you that the page you’re looking for is gone.

Above Top Secret

A very nice infographic where you will find all the information about the problem in a very amusing and interesting way, this is one of the smartest 404 designs of the list.

Merge

Make sure to have your loudspeakers turned on, because the big surprise is about to happen, then you can enjoy the view with this funny illustration.

Reverse Orbit

What a heavy and yet funny image, it was risky to use an x-ray portrait but in our opinion these guys nailed it very well.

K10K

Damn this guy was killed by a huge 404 sign, we told him not to click on that URL, it looked too suspicious to be real, but anyway, thanks to that we found this funny 404 page.

Plinko

Well the crow could be done better, but the quote is just too laughable to be skipped from our countdown.

Live Journal

What does this goat think of herself by staring with mocking eyes because you made the naive error of mistyping an address?.

Suspended Animations

Such a funny cartoon, he’s probably showing empathy towards your feelings and is feeling sorry for you to have landed into the 404 page.

CSS Tricks

Very cleaver idea, it’s like you’re watching underneath this website’s skin when there’s nothing more to see than a 404 message.

Red Bilby

One of the funniest 404 designs because it’s not a static but an animated gif; it seems like this guy’s head is about to explode for being resting at a 404 page.

Astuteo

This would be Andy Warhol’s favorite for sure, because an amazing typeface, perfect color palette and a Campbell’s can cannot be beat. These bold typefaces are often used in graphic design but only in counted occasions the designer are able to make them look great, as they do on this beautiful 404 page.

Openendedadventure

Is this an ordinary story?, not in a thousand years, there’s definitely the need to place a rated label on this because of its ridiculously funny content.

Ministere de la Culture

High conceptualized page, you can notice immediately the European touch due to the colors, subtle animations and typefaces.

Project Fedena

Some people may say that this is just a lack of respect with the audience but we consider it genius simplicity and that’s why we placed it on the showcase.

Psonisma

In an attempt to sabotage themselves, these guys created a pretty cool 404 page with a brush that emulates a chalk texture written on a board.

31Three

There’s no butterfly on the 404 section, so please direct yourself further ahead to another area to find more beautiful butterfly’s specimens.

Klap

Unless you understand the language utilized on the comic, the only thing that you will comprehend is that a crazy lunatic is yelling to a little buddy about something related to a document.

F23

Well we don’t know if there’s something hiding behind these pixels, but even if there’s no such thing, the background looks great thanks to the palette color and typeface implementation.

Space Ninja

Another site that utilized the no signal idea, it’s still pretty funny and that’s we allowed the same design twice.

Mark Dijkstra

They say is lousy, we say is great. Why do you have to use a software when you can simply rip out a piece of paper, write a sentence and then scan it to upload it to your server?.

Kitty-yo

Our estimated horseman, we want to let you know that our database has not been able to find what you’re looking for, please try again and refine your search.

Screenquiz

Another site that decided to play with Doctor House, and on this case they’ve arrested him for sending his patients to a 404 page.

Rawilson

The funniest thing about this 404 page is the message displayed, so please read it and see if it can make you laugh as it did with us.

Look its time

This is where Flash can show its potential, nice animations like this Mister Toad that is kicking us out of his house are examples of how you can make fancy animations for non-content places like 404 pages.

The New Yorker

Because the whole site manages a very clean and elegant aesthetic, the image utilized for its 404 page is equally simple and intelligent, just for the New Yorker.

Mundo Fox

Oh our dear Homer, he couldn’t fit any better than inside a 404 page, it’s just too classic and yet funny to be obviated on this count.

Absolute

Such an extremely kitsch design, though you know that it was intentionally planned to make everybody laugh, so in that order, we give it our seal of approval.

Orange Coat

So you have landed in a 404 page, what may have caused that?, probably this diagram will clarify a little bit the situation and the koalas will let you go.

Planet Geek

Would you imagine a t-shirt with this screenshot stamped?, it will be probably one of the geekiest and funniest designs around and will make more than one laugh as it does on this 404 page.

Mark Fenell

Great 404 page that does not only report the error to the visitor but also tries to compensate it by offering a fun and fully functional puzzle game.

Project Euh

Very clever idea, utilize file icons with hilarious names to create a big 404, you will not want to spend more than seconds in here, otherwise you will leave feeling down.

Hasbro

Mr Potato Head has lost his face, maybe if you return home or reconsider your search terms so our little buddy can retrieve his eyes and moustache.

Punto.exe

How did this beaver finished on this page?, you must help him immediately before your screen will end completely invaded by all the friends that are looking for our little wood eater.

Alexandre Gamela

This happens when you don’t follow the right search parameters and just enter random URL addresses to see what pops up, let’s see if the switch can help you change the sequence on this case.

Instant Shift

Beautiful 404 design, every person who has touched an iPhone or iPod Touch will laugh out loud after watching this clever custom design.

Pukkadown

A very minimal design with a nice retro look, fortunately the only thing you need to exit this black hole is pick a pixel orange.

Gabri

Try to decipher these hieroglyphics and you’ll get a surprise message, probably Tutankhamen thought about 404 pages many centuries ago and this is his gift for you.

GOG

Be careful my friend, you’ve just opened a vortex on the time-space and the Dark Bear will catch you if you don’t go home or report the error immediately.

8 Bit Peoples

Amazing 404 design, these guys planted a 800 x 600 canvas to only utilize an area of 180 x 180 pixels where a brilliant pixel art came to life.

Hopper Magic

Seems like our little rabbit ate the wires, so that’s probably the reason behind the fact that the current page cannot be displayed on this moment.

Jolie Poupee

Cute illustration that demonstrates the personal style of this author, which has obviously taken some inspiration from Tim Burton’s movies.

D20 SRD

Great image and great message, together they create one of the funniest 404 pages of this countdown, specially for those who are fans of videogames.

Dawdle

This one just kicked the ball out of the stadium, not only Peach is missing but also the page that you’re looking for, so use the time you have left to go back home and continue your quest.

Lilileks

Vintage images rocks, they give a special touch to every design where they’re utilized, more if the image actually connects with the message that’s been trying to be communicated.

Duoh!

Simple but lovely design, tons of color over a neutral background and a nice appropriation of the grid.

Clean & Typographic

Cleanliness is the path of the laziest and the brightest designers, which means that it’s a risky solution. On this examples you will find many well executed designs with lots of empty spaces and proper use of hierarchies along with reduced color palettes and elegant typefaces capable to generate beautiful designs that can easily make people forget that they have reached a 404 zone.

Bryan Culver

An nice example of minimalism in graphic design, from the colors (black and white) to the basic composition, this one good example of a great 404 page.

The Ideal Candidate

Stunning typographic job, the typeface selection is flawless, as well as the texture application and the little robot inside the O letter.

Wpbeginner

Can you fix this equation?, if you did then you will know that wrong search parameters plus graphic design will probably end in a lovely 404 page for all to see.

Damian Herrington

Simplistic and yet attractive, sometimes the only thing you need is a good typeface and a nice color palette to create a superb design.

Product Planner

A blackboard texture with a chalk brush were the two main ingredients that the designer resorted for with the purpose of make this nice 404 page.

Askia

If the blackboard texture works great, a creased paper is also a nice option. You just have to do it right and you will end up with something like this.

Craiglist

Can you believe it?, it’s made with pure text symbols, not a single vector shape or bitmap object was utilized and it’s still a very nice design.

Wutske

Poor little web server, he’s offering excuses for you to have ended on his 404 page, just forget that you saw this and return home.

Acme

What could be hidden behind these color codes?, you should ask your geek brother and see what’s his opinion regarding this particular 404 page.

Studio7

Some fancy icons to save your life and the site’s mascot saying what you already know, that you messed things up and now you’re at the 404 zone.

Oroza

Oroza nailed pretty well the designing of its 404 page, some colors, a Sans Serif typeface and all the rest in a grayscale, the result can be easily appreciated by anyone.

Deaxon

What more do you need?, a nice text design on the background, a message that apologizes for this awkward incident and the link that fixes everything.

Suredev

Black and white always works in graphic design, but if you want to be a little bit riskier then use an extra color (on this case red) and utilize it in small proportions to prettify your design.

Bloqhead

Nice color palette, very accurate for the site which uses a lot of acid colors and bold typefaces over a subtle dark blue background that heightens everything.

Keremsuer

Is it possible to be more simplistic without stop being good design?, probably the answer is no, unless you have a better idea to mix graphics and simplicity in a single design.

Arbitrary Constant

We don’t know if the formula is right but it looks like it is, maybe we need to ask our high school teacher for assistance and then begin laughing.

We Follow

If you already own a nice logo and a defined font, just use them again but modify the design, like these guys did on their 404 page.

Your Web Job

Do not utilize calligraphic fonts unless you’re absolutely conscious of how to properly use them. Your Web Job is precisely an example of how to make a nice use of a calligraphic typeface.

Minute Dock

Be careful when doing minimal designs, because if its true that on this case the 404 page is functioning, many times it only demonstrates a lazy attitude from the design staff.

Rainfall

One of the preferred styles inside the minimal school is the absence of color, which is compensated by a great design and a thoughtful typeface management.

Trashnet

One of the favorite color palettes of young graphic designers is black, white and cyan, so probably this site was indeed created by a young group of people, we’re not saying that the design is bad but all the opposite, it’s great, simple and attractive.

Blue Sky

This design works because fits with all the rest of the page thanks to the fact that retains the same color palette and typeface; besides the thumbs down icon that looks sweet next to the text.

Falala.la

It’s not the amount of details what determines the quality of the design, but the composition, color palette, typeface management and effectiveness communicating the message, probably all these items were covered on this 404 page.

Sokolowski Design

Using icons for your designs is something that ensures a certain quality level on your artworks, as it happens on this 404 design.

24/7 Media

The dead fly looks awesome with the beautiful typeface implemented on the design, this 404 design is definitely among the greatest designs around, the typeface that was chosen for this design looks beautiful over a clean background, as for the fly’s photograph, the treatment provided to the image is excellent and the asterisk element works very well.

Clever Twist

You have to be brave to use pink in a non-girly website and make it look good. In A Clever Twist, they did the job right and the pink looks refreshing instead of feminine, so good one for these guys.

Newspond

The bubbles detail on top of this page is intriguing, maybe it’s a way to say that you’re on a very deep well and that’s all you can see.

Tutsaz

Take two typefaces, a cyan background and three white blocks, then blend them and serve cold, the result will be a soft and nice looking 404 page.

Giardinetto

An Italian cuisine restaurant that as you know finds in Bolognese its primary ingredient, and that can be noticed by starting at the page’s colors, which are also utilized on the 404 page.

Future of Web Design

An overwhelming 404 page that leaves all the responsibility to typography and only supports it with a red version of the moon, one of the nicest designs of this countdown.

Amcharts

These guys have their own Pacman characters to operate on the site’s 404 page and devour every compromising information that may jeopardize the security of the webpage.

TLMF

What a beautiful idea to utilize an skirting board to show the 404 number, either if this was digitally created or taken directly from the source, the design is clean, elegant and just great.

Blue Vertigo

Strays are a common resource in graphic design that some people destroy and other glorify, on is case they made a right guess at using three different strays and place the text on them.

The Brand Surgery

Pure magenta and a white text, this design will definitely not lose quality easily when there are only two colors on its scale.

Critical Zero

Nice combination of vector elements, typefaces and a cyan color scale, this design looks great considering that’s barely a 404 page.

And there you have them, 200 of the greatest 404 pages on the internet, from the simplest and more elegant examples to those who feature complex illustrations, games and animations, we hope this countdown provides you a high dose of inspiration, as well as the initial tips on how to make a good 404 page. Please leave us your questions and suggestions to help us improve the quality of our contents, thanks for visiting Webdesignshock and we will see you in our next article.