INC Magazine: Why ‘Busy’ Design Is Suddenly Winning in E-Commerce
There’s a popular design philosophy out there that preaches that audiences need a lot less maximalism built into their experiences. The idea is that if you pack your ecommerce platform with visuals and information, it can overwhelm users and turn them off of purchasing. So, in “quiet design”, online brand touchpoints are built with plenty of white space to give people a chance to rest their eyes and minds. The only problem is: that’s not what people actually want.
The truth is our brains have been rewired to scan and filter as we’ve become accustomed to seeing large amounts of information in small viewports on mobile devices. For example, users spend upwards of four to five hours a day on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where information density is incredibly high. Also, data indicates that if people already have a general understanding of the product they’re purchasing, showing them more options without scrolling generally leads to higher conversion rates. In fact, when it comes to choices about flavor, size, color, material or other product options, the more, the better – adhering to ADA guidelines, of course.
Still, the thought of actually doing this typically makes a lot of visual designers cringe. But, in a DTC brand world that tends to favor clean designs, sparse content and messaging, and minimalist graphics, it’s time for brands to offer shoppers the digital experiences they are familiar with. That means getting a little noisier and busier than usual.
Quiet failures
Designers are often trained in the Apple-style school of minimalism, where “clean” is synonymous with “premium.” To a visual designer, a “busy” screen feels like failure – like clutter.
The resistance stems from a conflict between aesthetic purity and functional utility. Designers want a “zen” experience, but a hungry customer wants to see every flavor of snack you offer without having to work for it. Designers need “white space” to control the eye of the user, but users now use information density to make faster decisions.
There is a deep-seated fear that if you put too much on a screen, you lose the “hero” moment of the brand. However, in ecommerce, the “hero” isn’t the photography; it’s the transaction. High-growth brands like Magic Spoon understand this, which is why their mobile product pages often feature flavor carousels or “bundle builders” immediately below the header. By keeping the “Add to Cart” button and all product options visible without a scroll, they minimize interaction cost.
But make no mistake – just because shoppers are ok with busy ecommerce experiences doesn’t mean they want websites to be hard to navigate. Failed strategies like endless pop-ups and multiple autoplaying videos or high-speed GIFs are still off the table. The same with hidden navigation or cart icons as well as design crimes like small text on top of busy background patterns. Anything that negatively impacts site load, like lots of heavy assets loading at once, is also a death sentence. Afterall, mobile users make up about 80% of retail site visitors, and while these devices are technically capable of running very heavy immersive experiences, it’s important to remember that the quality of internet connections can wildly vary.
Instead, take a more strategic and thoughtful path, making a few simple changes to start embracing busy design in the right way.
Use micro-icons for product specs: Instead of long descriptions, use a grid of icons for things like “Non-GMO,” “Gluten-Free,” or “15g Protein.” This adds visual density but allows for split-second scanning by shoppers. Snack bar brand Mid-Day Squares does this prominently on their site and packaging, using bold, simple iconography to communicate product benefits instantly. Magic Spoon is similarly loud and direct with their “high protein” callouts.
Implement sticky quick-buy triggers: As the user scrolls through a busy page of content, keep any “Flavor Selection” and “Add to Cart” buttons anchored at the bottom of the screen rather than the top. This allows the design to be as expressive or busy as you want without disrupting a shopper’s path to buying. Candy brand SmartSweets tackles this in the mobile version of their “Build Your Box” option, keeping the functionality accessible even amidst their high-energy, colorful design.
Leverage progressive disclosure: Start with a busy overview section that gives the user a high-level understanding of key features, ingredients or flavor notes. But then use interactive elements like drawers, modals, or hover-states to reveal the deep technical data. This keeps the page high-density and scannable, but prevents the user from being buried in a wall of text unless they actively seek it out. Take Ritual, whose product pages are incredibly dense with scientific data, sourcing maps, and ingredient studies, but also allow users to click a section to see even more details—like where their Vitamin D3 was sourced.
Most importantly, brands need to remember that online shoppers no longer need large fields of white space to “breathe”. From social feeds to mobile apps like Instacart and DoorDash, online experiences have become more busy and utilitarian than ever. Today’s consumers just need sites that let them build a cart and check out as quickly as possible. So, brands should get busy giving them what they want.