Squarespace
Expanding Squarespace’s CMS platform with new template frameworks.
Squarespace—Product Designer
I was with Squarespace for nearly three years where I created new product features and modular template frameworks as part of a CMS platform with over one million users, allowing 17 diverse templates to be released in the template store.
- Product concept
- UX & UI design
- Development strategy
- Framework design
Created frameworks to power multiple templates
A framework is a collection of modular system components that can be configured with the platform's interface by both users and internal teams. A large part of my role was to design and build frameworks that could be staged in various ways to appeal to different end users.
Translated concepts into user-configurable features
Collaborating with a team of designers, product managers, content producers, and front-end engineers, feature consideration varied based on gaps in our product line and development time. I conceived new concepts and functionality, aligned them with the dynamic nature of the platform, and created user options within the platform's interface.
Added value to the template store
While the initial releases below focused on art & design, restaurants, and blogs, new frameworks made available to the larger creative team allowed new content directions tailored for a variety of contexts spanning professional services, health & beauty, and more.
1Immersive views with connected page sets
Its primary feature is a visually-driven index menu—a navigational hub that is also revealed at the bottom of each of its child pages—designed to highlight content, or an introduction.
Page layout and module configurations
Part of the framework design and development process includes determining how to provide user-controlled options in the template interface.
Seamless navigation pattern
The index menu connects pages together as part of a set and provides site visitors the ability to jump into more content.
2Structured storytelling with a "Project" page
I was listening to a lot of Don Caballero 2 throughout the conception of this framework (mostly looping the circular saw/industrial calamity passage in Please Tokio, Please THIS IS TOKIO). Eschewing the crime boss angle, an early concept variant was of a fictional Donald Caballero, and the framework was internally referred to as “Don Cab”.
Enabling users to provide context to their work
I utilized the system gallery’s image and caption data supplied by the user, as a vehicle for building features that would comprise a new “Project” page. The initial template releases were staged to highlight the new image, aspect ratio, and caption configurations.
Storytelling moments
The ‘Offset’ mode was created for emphasizing facts or anecdotes as part of a narrative.
Descriptive relationships
The ‘Alternate’ mode was created for commentary uniquely associated with a specific image.
Navigating a body of work
A configurable navigation component can be enabled at the end of each Project page for visitors to traverse content.
Presenting story pages in an index
Landing pages summarize the work with a stacked list of items which can be displayed in various configurations, and an optional introduction or headline mode.
3Multi-author editorial content
Built for topic discovery and publications with multiple authors, flexible article pages and a configurable grid added more blogging features to the Squarespace platform. To surface authors and topics, I created a global navigation and information panel that dynamically updates based on published content; flexible for individuals or larger publications with multiple contributors.
Shaping articles by purpose
Built for publishing and sharing, we included a range of metadata features, an optional sidebar, configurable author profiles, and a related content block for further discovery.
Outcome17 templates released across multiple segment categories
Following collaboration with our internal CS team for testing and technical documentation, the three frameworks were utilized by the larger creative group to release a total of 17 diverse templates to the template store.
Squarespace
Expanding Squarespace’s CMS platform with new template frameworks.
Squarespace—Product Designer
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