Which Squarespace Template Makes Is Best For Your Interior Design Firm?

How To Choose A Squarespace Template

Squarespace is a versatile website design platform that enables the creation of simple, elegant websites for displaying photographs, 3D Illustrations and drawings in big, full-screen portfolios. It is the ideal website builder for showcasing the craft of interior designers, architects, landscape designers and builders because it places the emphasis on the work you do, not the website design we build. It is a flexible system with a variety of options designed to highlight bold imagery and keep a visitor engaged with your brand.

Squarespace has created 35 templates in three categories. Each template category has a particular business purpose. The following is a breakdown of the three template types.

Commerce Templates

Used for selling products, commercial templates enable interior designers to set up an e-commerce presence. They allow for sophisticated displays of interior design accessories such as rugs, lamps and artwork. The platform is easy to use, stylish and secure. With an e-commerce platform, you can increase your revenue while reducing the possibility of clients shopping for your concepts at third party retailers and eliminating a sale.

Cover Page Templates

Ideal as landing pages, cover page templates have large images, a form option and no website navigation. They are also useful as a coming soon splash page when building a new website. A cover page is a one-page website with a screen width image copy and a link to a form. They are available as stand-alone one-page websites or can be used in conjunction with every template on the Squarespace platform. Cover page templates use the same refined aesthetic design options that are the hallmark of Squarespace. Cover Page Templates are no longer available as a stand alone website. Choose the "personal plan" to create a stand alone cover page website.

Website Templates

This is the most commonly used template type provided by Squarespace. The "website" set of templates are flexible, aesthetically engaging, easy to maintain and come with search engine optimization capabilities. Each website template has a unique homepage and design options allowing you to create a custom look and distinguishes your brand from your competitors. 

“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.””

— Leo Burnett - Advertising Excecutive

Infinitely Customizable - Unlike Wordpress and other website building systems, Squarespace templates do not force design decisions to be made to fit a particular layout. Every page can be quickly customized by creating any size image or copy any height or width on a grid system. This may not seem to be much but after having built hundreds of websites, I have found this level of "on-the-fly" customization to be an important reason I use Squarespace. It is a superior tool when creating on page call-to-actions embedded within content, pull quotes, navigation links and custom image galleries.

Responsive Design - Built on the Bootstrap responsive design system, every Squarespace website looks good on every device whether held vertically or horizontally. You will never need to worry about the Google penalty for a non-responsive website and unlike other systems you do not need to maintain two websites - mobile and desktop versions.

Galleries - All Squarespace website templates come with four gallery options, and each is customizable. They include a grid, stacked, carousel and slide show. Galleries can be any size on a page, open into a full-screen viewer and multiple gallery types can be used within a single website. They even work well on a blog page.

How to Choose a Squarespace Template Design

Start by looking at the homepage of each template. Homepages offer the least amount of customization so, be critical, choose a style that is appealing and expect to live with it for some time. Templates can be changed within Squarespace but depending on the template you're moving from and the style of template you're moving to, a fair amount of on page content restructuring may need to take place.  

What Squarespace template is right for you?

Squarespace templates have narrowed design choices based on business type. Built environment firms should start with the portfolio and business classifications and begin by asking yourself which aesthetic is most appealing for you and your customer. Do you want a single big image on the home page with a call to action or are you looking for a block of written content to be highlighted? Want a montage of images on your homepage? "Flatiron" and "Wexley" are excellent choices. Need a tremendous amount of customization? Try "Five", “Bedford" or "Brine". (These are the templates we use most for architects and interior designers) Do you want a left to right scrolling gallery with nothing below it on the page? Then "Ishimoto" is for you. "Hayden" is a great choice for an index website with a parallax home page. If you like the idea of featuring a gallery grid as your homepage, then look at "Avenue".

Not all templates come with the same customization options. Carefully examine the options of each template before making a decision and committing to placing all of your content on the website. Some websites have one or more sidebar options, and some have more than one footer. (a pre-footer is a great place for a newsletter sign-up) Some vary the gallery types and some templates are designed for a very specific purpose. (Restaurant templates with on page menus and Opentable integration as an example).

With all of the template options available and the level of customization on each, you may need some help determining which template will fit your business goals. Schedule a call and we will help you find a template that best fits your business goals.

Additional Articles on Interior Designer Websites On Squarespace

• How To Reduce Bounce Rate on Interior Designer Websites

• The Best Interior Design Websites Are Built On Squarespace

• Luxury Marketing and Lead Generation For Interior Design Firms

• How Long Does It Take To Build An Interior Designer Website?

• How To Write A Blog: 8 Components That Improve Blogging Results

• View Our Portfolio Of Squarespace Websites

About Michael Conway and Means-of-Production

I'm the owner and strategist at Means-of-Production. My firm builds Squarespace websites, Houzz profiles, and content marketing and advertising solutions for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Our all-in-one marketing tactics attract the right clients with exceptional architectural photography and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition.