The fashion industry is unpredictable, influential and fascinating. To represent such a dynamic industry, you need an equally eye-catching website. Fashion related media is highly popular, with many fashion fans getting their information solely from fashion blogs or an online magazine. With this in mind, here’s a look at how to layout your fashion website:
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Firstly, you’ll need to consider who exactly you’re targeting in order to establish what kind of site you should have. Are you an emerging brand who wants to showcase their new products to the 18-30 demographic? Or perhaps you’re a mom fashion blog looking to share your thoughts with a fellow mom’s audience. Each target audience brings with it a different way to set out your website. A fashion blog may need more sections for articles and forums, with lots of text and interaction. On the other hand, a fashion brand may wish to keep text to a minimum and focus solely on imagery.
Striking The Perfect Balance
Topshop are an example of as site that have been able to strike a perfect balance. Their use of a white background, bold typography and animation have created a platform perfect for their target demographic of millennials. In a bid to seem more chic and editorial as well as a retailer, they’ve used less text and more intriguing images. On the other hand, they also have a ‘style’ section that informs their readers of the very latest fashion trends from designer lingerie must-haves to essential accessories this season.
Focus On Visuals
Fashion is all about the visual experience, portrayed in a highly creative way. Every fashion website should start with striking images that draw the reader in, with less emphasis on the models or captions and maximum attention on the clothes. Zara is an example of a company that does this well, with large scale images and very little text, their website looks like more of a fashion lookbook than a place to buy clothes.
User-Friendly
A good website keeps the users attention for extended periods of a time. Due to the visual nature of a fashion website, there are countless opportunities to capture the reader’s attention. Whether it’s making the process straightforward to buy items from the website or recommending related articles that you think the reader may enjoy. A user-friendly experience is the foundation of a great fashion website.
