New Squarespace Template – Formed by Glaciers
Why This Matters
If you’ve ever tried to set up a website for your business, you’ll recognise the feeling: choosing a template, plugging in your details, and realising your site looks suspiciously like everyone else’s. For small business owners, this creates a genuine problem rather than only an aesthetic gripe. Your website is often the first impression customers get, and if it fades into the digital wallpaper, you’re burning time and maybe cash on something that barely works for you.
Imagine you’re selling craft gin or locally made jams, but your store looks almost identical to the one flogging yoga mats three doors down the web. It’s frustrating, and it kills your chances of showing what makes your business special. Customers lose interest, you feel boxed in by the same handful of designs, and the idea of a truly stand-out website seems reserved for those willing to sink weeks into custom code or the kind of agency fees that make your accountant’s eye twitch.
Looking good online matters, but so does building credibility, making navigation smooth, and weaving in the story that helps your customers care enough to connect—not simply click.
Common Pitfalls
It’s an easy trap: you pick a default Squarespace template and follow the prompts. Before long, you’re stuck tweaking the same standard layouts, adding and removing sections, maybe fiddling with a few colours. Suddenly, hours are gone and your “brand story” is nowhere to be found.
Here’s what often happens:
- Template Twins: Your website ends up nearly identical to dozens of others. Fine if you’re running a fictitious shop in a design school assignment, less good if you want real-world customers.
- Messy Navigation: When you have heaps of products, customers spend more time hunting than buying. Dead ends and drop-downs lead to drop-outs.
- Dull Storytelling: Text blocks and generic stock photos just don’t do the heavy lifting. Your brand’s personality gets buried.
- Feature Blind Spots: People overlook niche plugins or custom code that would save them hours and add polish.
- DIY Code Panic: You consider hacking in features yourself… until you hit a wall and remember why you don’t have a computer science degree.
If you see yourself in any of the above, you’re definitely not alone. The good news: these headaches are avoidable.
Step-by-Step Fix
Let’s walk through how the Formed by Glaciers Squarespace template from Pixelhaze can help you build an online shop that feels crisp, unique, and genuinely tells your story without needing a design agency.
1. Start with Intentional Design Choices
Before you start dragging and dropping content blocks, take a breath and sketch out what matters. The magic of the Formed by Glaciers template comes from storytelling at the core: minimal lines, a muted palette that puts your products centre stage, and hand-sketched illustrations that invite people in.
Instead of wrestling with generic options, you can position your products against subtle backgrounds, crisp borders, and a colour scheme carefully picked to whisper, “premium,” without shouting your customer’s eyebrows off.
Grab a pencil and a scrap of paper. Doodle the bones of your homepage first. Which features deserve prominence? What images do you want to showcase? The quickest websites to build are the ones that have clarity up front.
2. Plug In the Shop Filter to Boost Navigation
Most people with multiple products end up with menus that look like overstuffed drawers. The Shop Filter plugin bundled with this template changes that. Using clear categories and tags, you can create “paths” that let your shoppers filter right down to what they want. Maybe they want a London Dry gin or maybe they’re feeling Sloe. No endless scrolling, no typing into a box and hoping for the best.
To use it, simply assign tags and categories to each product as you upload them. The plugin will instantly offer filter options on your shop page, making it simple for visitors to whittle down choices in seconds.
Think like a customer. If you had no idea what your bestsellers were called, what would you search for? Use those words as your product tags. That way, filtering becomes intuitive, not an obstacle course.
3. Tell a Real Story with the Timeline Plugin
There’s a world of difference between simply adding an “Our Story” page and actually getting people to read or care about your journey. The Timeline plugin, included with the template, lets you turn your history into a slick visual timeline. You can use date markers, images, product launches, or milestones to show not just what you make, but why you’re in business.
On the Formed by Glaciers demo, this runs from the brand’s 1864 roots to today, giving customers a sense of heritage and expertise. For your own site, you can highlight company milestones, product launches, customer testimonials, or even the odd “glorious failure” to build trust and character.
Don’t just stick to dates. Use the timeline to tell little stories such as “First bottle sold from a garden shed” or “Won regional award with a batch made during a snowstorm.” Whatever quirks you have, include them. Customers love specifics.
4. Add Distinctiveness with Sketched Illustrations and Custom Detailing
No matter how many lovely product photos you upload, digital shops benefit from something extra to visually bind everything. That’s where the hand-drawn illustrations and subtle line borders built into the Formed by Glaciers template make a difference.
Take your own product’s story as inspiration. Perhaps your coffee beans come from high up a misty mountain, or your biscuits are baked from a family recipe scribbled in a diary older than your house. Sketch out these ideas. Even simple pencil doodles can be turned into digital illustrations or converted by a friendly freelancer.
In the template, background sketches and line art quietly build the theme without dominating it. Your website gains depth, warmth, and offers a signature feel. The minimal use of accent colours (think teal, gentle greys, or a strategic dash of gold) ensures your actual products pop.
You don’t need a Fine Arts degree to use illustrations. If in doubt, start with royalty-free sketch packs or keep it simple with bold, single-line icons made in Canva or Figma. Sometimes the less polished the art, the more personality it brings.
5. Custom Code – No Panic Required
A key difference with this template is the inclusion of tasteful custom code. For example, skinny one-pixel borders around sections help navigation feel crisp and content easier to scan.
Pixelhaze wraps these code blocks inside the template so you don’t have to worry about adding CSS or accidentally breaking your layout. For the curious, there are guides on the Pixelhaze Academy site explaining how to adjust these code snippets, should you want to tweak thickness, colour, or spacing.
If you ever want to get more hands-on, such as changing a border colour for a seasonal promo or swapping out illustrations for a rebrand, support is available.
Never edit live code without backing up your current design. Use Squarespace’s cloning feature or take a screenshot of your current setup. Digital mishaps are always easier to recover from with a backup.
6. Launch Time – Replace and Refine Your Content
With the structure in place, it’s time to replace the demo text and product photos with your own. The template’s sections guide you: hero banners, featured products, story modules, and more.
If you’re feeling fancy, integrate video or customer reviews into the template’s media-ready blocks. Always preview your site on mobile and desktop before publishing. What looks neat on your screen might become a scrolling nightmare on someone else’s phone.
Once satisfied, hit publish and start driving traffic. The template’s clean lines and engaging details take care of the rest.
Give yourself a “soft launch” day. Share your new site with a handful of trusted people and ask for honest feedback: Is it easy to browse? Does your story come through? Are your products tempting? This mini test run saves you embarrassing typos or odd navigation quirks when real customers arrive.
What Most People Miss
Nearly everyone obsesses over what their website looks like but overlooks the way it feels to use. The best sites flow naturally. They quietly move visitors from the home page to checkout, explaining why the business exists and building trust along the way.
With the Formed by Glaciers template, the layering of shop filters, stories, background art, and custom accents creates a cohesive experience. Visitors are gently guided through your content with subtle, thoughtful details.
A commonly overlooked detail is that you can have all the plugins available, but if your site’s narrative is jumbled or your navigation is messy, customers will simply leave. Use the features that highlight your personality and your priorities. The template forms the foundation; your contributions give it character.
The Bigger Picture
Getting your website right the first time saves you the headache of constant rethinks. Even more, a template like Formed by Glaciers is built for growth. You might start with five products and a simple story—these features are ready to adapt as you add more items, launch new product lines, or even pivot your business.
You also gain:
- More time: No more reinventing the wheel for each site update or product launch
- More credibility: Premium details and smooth navigation encourage visitors to trust your brand
- Room to grow: The template and plugins work just as well for a small batch of products as they do for a much larger catalogue
- Happier customers: Faster paths to purchase, clearer story, and an experience that feels thoughtfully created, not copied from a template mill
Choosing a premium template is a shortcut that still delivers quality. Instead of spending weekends wrangling generic layouts, you can spend time building your business, developing better products, or simply taking a very well-deserved break.
Wrap-Up
Building a website shouldn’t be a source of dread. With the Formed by Glaciers Squarespace template, you can finally tell your story the way it should be told—with clarity, visual appeal, and a style all your own. The plugins remove barriers, the design makes browsing a pleasure, and the space for custom details gives your visitors a reason to care.
If this approach feels right for your business, have a look at the live demo and see what’s possible.
Want more helpful systems like this? Join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: How do I apply product tags and categories for the Shop Filter plugin?
A: In Squarespace, when adding or editing a product, you’ll see options for “Tags” and “Categories.” Use simple, descriptive labels related to how your customers might search. For gin: “botanical,” “classic,” “flavoured,” and so on. The plugin picks these up automatically.
Q: Can I use the Timeline plugin for things other than history?
A: Absolutely. Use it for product line releases, annual events, customer success milestones, or anything chronologically interesting about your brand.
Q: I’m nervous about messing with custom code—do I need to touch it?
A: No! The template bakes in the visual tweaks you saw in the demo. But if you ever want to adjust spacing, border width, or background illustration placement, Pixelhaze Academy has simple, beginner-friendly guides (no experience required).
Q: Do I need fancy illustrations?
A: Stick figures count. The key is consistency. If your whole site sticks to one illustration style—whether scribbles, icons, or watercolours—it looks intentional.
Q: I already bought a Squarespace template—can I switch to Formed by Glaciers?
A: Yes. You'll need to start a new site with the template, but you can migrate your existing content in stages. Pixelhaze also offers migration support if you need a bit of hand-holding.
Ready to bring your story to life online? Give Formed by Glaciers a try and see why details and better navigation matter.