Baby Websites by Squarespace: Sharp Focus and Design
Baby Websites is a pretty interesting proposition. It’s a sub-section of hosted blogging platform Squarespace that caters specifically to the doting parents who want to show off their babies online.
The praise given by Business Week on the homepage reveals the competition Baby Websites is up against: .Mac. Sure, one can compare it to the rest of the blog software out there, but Baby Websites and .Mac pride themselves in more user-friendly interfaces and easier customization for a price.
But that’s where the similarities end. The design of Baby Websites is Squarespace’s arrow that aims squarely at the target market. For once, the design of an Apple product looks like an afterthought! After you have seen Baby Websites, the .Mac website will look only satisfactory especially since it inherited its look from the rest of Apple.com.
Of course, it’s the inside that counts. And Apple’s consistency with its subsites is no small feat. But you cannot discount the effects of pretty packaging. Apple knows that well. But good design is not just about making beautiful things. It’s also about purpose.
If I am a mother looking for a publishing solution for my baby’s website, which site will I seal the deal with? I would definitely prefer a product that shows exactly what it can do upfront. More moms will go, “I want to make a site that looks like that!” rather than examine all the pretty icons, specs, or videos one by one.
The .Mac page looks a bit too overwhelming for blogging newbies. Sure, it has great graphics and its features are neatly arranged in a grid, but that’s it. It’s just sitting pretty like that. Again, it now looks mediocre because exactly because it’s following a design convention it wasn’t meant to follow if it was supposed to appeal to its audience.
The first time I saw Squarespace I was enamored by it. Since then, I often find myself surprised whenever I discover a blog hosted on Squarespace for the simple reason that it looks different from the themes on the more popular blogging systems. Even the custom-designed ones seemed to carry the same airy, whitespace-filled aesthetic the default templates have. I believe a baby website is the perfect place to transfer that aesthetic, and Squarespace is an expert at it.
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Excellent piece — you’re completely getting it. Baby is just one of a few different areas we’re trying to provide a complete experience for. Our push here really represents a departure from just marketing copy or something like that — we’re explaining how a site can be used for new mothers, and combine that with an initial starting experience and template that applies exactly to those individuals.
We’re also about to release V5 of our product — which represents a re-thinking of the entire system’s front-end, and a step towards the usability that we’ve always desired for the product. Stay tuned for that :)
Thanks again!
(Just a note for completeness: In this situation, the BizWeek quote is something that said about the full software — not specifically the baby vertical.)
By A. Casalena on April 23, 2008 4:13 pm
Just wanted to throw out another baby site that is very similar, My Baby Our Baby http://www.mybabyourbaby.com . Since Baby.squarespace.com is direct competition for us, I’ve gone through their site, but found it to be a bit too techy for the not so techy parents. I think My Baby Our Baby is super simple to use, and would love to hear if you guys agree.
By Ray Hernandez on April 24, 2008 10:31 pm
Ray: That was really classy. Congratulations.
By A. Casalena on April 25, 2008 5:48 pm
Ray – Since your site isn’t good enough to get mentioned I guess whoring yourself out like a failure in the comments is the next best thing, pathetic.
By Mike Lowell on May 10, 2008 4:39 am