apparently people are so hypnotised by current reigning trends that everything that falls off this category is considered brutalism. this is not brutalism. This website just tries to get a head start on upcoming trends. (not referring to specific people in this comment thread, but other places of discussion)

Brutalist websites work because current trends are taking over designers (and users) like parasites and it acts as a sharp, unpleasant contrast to this. Something is deemed beautiful also by how it closely implements current trends. It does that by brutally bending or just breaking rules of aesthetics, providing either too much or too little contrast in repetition, color, whitespace, texture and lines. This website does not. It follows rules of aesthetics very logically. There is bending going on, but it is all in the realm of "beauty".

Brutalist websites are ugly, that's how they work. This website is not, it is taking the next logical step in design trends. But because we are so enslaved by trends, we tend to classify this as brutalist, just because it doesn't fit those current trends.

There are other examples of brutalistwebsites. Just because there is a monospace font and a very hard shadow on a button doesn't classify it as brutalism!

I like the illustration style. It was inevitable to see texture and visible lines emerging again, after we have had a plethora of soft, Niki de Saint Phalle - esque illustrations for a pretty long time. It is a logical iteration, pretty soon this might be the new normal, as we have seen texturesonmeepleseverywherelately.