Explore the Design Styles of 120 E-commerce Sites

This article is a full chapter from the E-commerce Collection, which contains 21 additional topics and 1,800+ design samples all focused on web applications.

To kick off this collection, I first want to group the sites into various visual styles. Below you will find a variety of styles that we find at work in this particular collection of sites. Please understand that the purpose of an e-commerce site is not to stick to a particular design style. The most obvious example of this is the minimal design section. There was but a single sample that might be close to a pure version of minimalism. The rest resemble it, dabble in it, and generally use it to a degree. Keep this in mind as you browse this section–these are real life samples and the end product bends to the true needs of the client and the product, not some need to stick religiously to a design style.

Color-Based Designs

One of the more popular styles on e-commerce sites is what i refer to as color based. In these designs, the layout structure and supporting elements are largely based on use of color. There is no fancy theme or design style that leaps out at you. It is almost like the supporting design elements are kept in the background via a simplistic approach. Don’t take that to mean it is easy. On the contrary, it is hard to master this type of design.

Fabric Motifs

In stark contrast to a color based approach, these sites make use of various fabric textures. Most often this is done to connect literally to a clothing or fabric related product. In my opinion, the style does a great job of connecting with the product and giving the sites a tangible feel. I really like the connection it creates to the actual product.

Flyer Style

I struggled to name this particular style, and what I eventually settled in on was flyers. The collection of sites here look and feel very much like flyers that come in the mail. Many of the designs here are, essentially, extremely minimal. The focus, especially on the home page, is primarily focused on the current season’s items, hot sales, or other specials.

Illustrated Designs

A popular web design style is to rely heavily on illustration. But I find that this approach seldom finds its way into e-commerce sites. I imagine this is largely due to the amount of maintenance it involves. Consider the Everyday Minerals site below. Every time an update happens to the home page, a designer has to step in and create new assets. This is no problem if you have the resources, but definitely an important consideration if you want to use this style.

Minimal Design

Many of the sites loosely fit into what I would consider minimal design. Don’t get in an uproar over how not minimal these sites are. I totally agree, I would only use but a few of these in a true round up of minimal style web sites. However, when it comes to e-commerce, these sites are most certainly in the minimal region.

One thing I find particularly interesting about this style is that it seems to be used on lots of sites for stylish products. If your product is beautiful as an object, then this style is likely to be a great option.

Smooth and Clean

I started this category as I considered how to describe the Cuba Gallery web site. It’s kind of minimal, kind of stylistic, but overall it is insanely clean and feels super smooth. So I call this style smooth and clean.

The fundamental idea is to create a clean and elegant solution that has a minimal slant to it. Each element has it’s place. This makes it clean. Designs like this get the smooth badge by adding just enough style to make them feel polished and slick. Frankly, this is one of my favorite styles.

Texturized

To my surprise, a very common approach is to make use of texture to some degree. Most of these samples feature backgrounds that are richly texturized. But many of the samples go beyond this. Some of the sites here push this style to the extreme, while others rely on it in very subtle ways. There should be some good ideas here if your considering this approach.

Thematic

Thematic designs are just that, designs based on some theme or concept that drives the overall visual style and imagery. You will find among these things: an airplane motif, a garden theme, an oceanic theme, and a retro style theme. All are based on the same approach. A theme is selected and from this, every design element is inspired or motivated by the theme. Sites like this can be really fun to work on and potentially difficult to expand and maintain. But the results can be well worth it, as it tends to result in a unique experience that connects well with the audience.

Visually Rich

What I have dubbed visually rich was another style that I found hard to pin down. Ultimately, I describe it in this way. Visually rich sites are based on a visual style that puts tons of refinement on every last element. You can identify this style if nothing has even the remotest feel like it just happened by accident. Another indicator is that you often have to create or design something before adding something new to the site’s structure. For example, some navigation that has descriptive icons on each element. You can’t simply add a new link, you have to plan it, design it, and then build it.

But wait, there’s more!

If you enjoyed this set of inspiration, you will love the full collection it comes from. Explore 21 more topics and 1,800 design samples to inspire your web application design work. Check out the full E-commerce Collection for more details.