Start-up websites: how to make yours the best

Date
21 September 2015

If you’re a start-up, you’re likely to be someone with at least a bit of digital savvy. It’s a rare entrepreneur indeed that manages to make the transition from pipe dream to reality without an online presence, but if your business is currently more Rodney Trotter than hot-to-trot, no need to panic. We’ve scoured the world wide web for the best business site designs out there, and happened upon this stunning platform for design objects vendor Light + Ladder. It was created using Squarespace, who we’ve partnered with for a series of articles where we chat to users about how they’ve made their own sites so ace.

Light + Ladder was founded two years ago by Ksenya Samarskaya of design and branding agency Samarskaya & Partners, and Farrah Sit. Ksenya tells us that it was born of designer Farrah’s “dream to create a business based on quality, function, beauty and community.”

“The company’s hopes represent a return to meaningful consumption by providing quality American-made accessories for the home. The products are inspired by the vivid simplicity of the natural world and the geometric lines of the modern city,” she says.

The founders’ backgrounds in design have clearly made the site what it is: slick, beautiful and effortlessly fit for purpose. So what does great site design mean to Ksenya? “The thought and time put into it. The distinction of the brand that guides the decisions, and the careful attention to all the seams and the edges.”

The layout of the site takes its cues from the parallelogram of the brand’s logo. “A lot of the layouts, like the web homepage that’s always bigger than the browser and lets you float around it to find more elements to explore, use the concept of the exploded box. The flattened geometrical planes, that come apart and then back together seamlessly in multiple configurations.”

She’d advise other people building their business site on Squarespace to bear in mind that “Every platform is a tool, and it’s the job of the designer to figure out how best to make that tool fit the need.” She adds: “Don’t feel stifled by the templates and the pre-tailored packages or assumed way of using a service. For a successful retail site, a lot of additional elements come into play. The ease-of-use, the natural flow for people to be able to buy the product, mobile responsiveness. It’s important that the entire purchasing experience is simple, straightforward, and doesn’t frustrate your customer. 

“An extreme, and wonderful, example of that is the site launched by Modernista! in 2008, designed as a “siteless” site. The entire site was only a small red navigation menu overlaid over existing platforms where the bulk of their portfolio content lived. For the images section, it led you to Flickr, for videos, YouTube, for about, Wikipedia, etc. Everything that exists is capable of being used in a new way, and seen in a new light.”

You too can build a site like this on Squarespace Commerce

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About Squarespace

Squarespace is a creation tool enabling individuals to create a great website by giving them the tools to create an elegant solution and get their voice heard in the world of online publishing. Whether for experienced designers or for someone putting together their first website, it makes forming a beautiful platform simple.

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Squarespace makes it easy to create a unique and beautiful website that looks perfect on any device. Whether it’s for a simple landing page or robust eCommerce, some of the world’s most influential people, brands, and businesses choose Squarespace.

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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