How to Use Finish Layer to Design More and Code Less
There's a specific kind of frustration that many web designers know well. If something exists in a website’s CSS, the client might touch it. If a site element exists in injected code, something will eventually break. Months later, you're back in the project, untangling a mess you never should have needed to fix.
Squarespace’s Finish Layer offers elevated, no-code solutions for Squarespace sites. This new suite of professional-grade creative tools are built into the core editor, and include Block Animations, Block Transforms, Mobile Overrides, Font Uploads, and more. These features are now available on all Squarespace 7.1 sites.
Read on to learn what each tool does, how to put them to use in real projects, and why Finish Layer matters when the time comes to hand a site off to a client.
What is Finish Layer?
Finish Layer isn't a separate app or a plugin layer you bolt onto a site. It's built directly into Squarespace—the set of creative controls that bridges the gap between a technically functional site and one that feels intentional, thoughtful, and premium.
For professional web designers, this distinction matters. Clients expect sites that look custom, but they also expect to manage those sites themselves after launch. Finish Layer addresses both needs at the same time. It empowers you with the tools to create sophisticated, expressive designs, and it keeps those design decisions in the editor where clients can see them, without the risk of accidentally breaking your work.
Build motion into the design, not the code
Block Animations bring scroll, hover, click, and other triggered motion to blocks throughout a website, making it feel more dynamic while directing focus to specific content or calls to action (CTAs).
The shift here is meaningful. Now, animation is part of the design surface itself, configured block by block directly in Squarespace.
In practice, Block Animations open up design moves that previously required creative workarounds:
Hero sections that reveal elements as the page loads, drawing the eye before a visitor has scrolled at all
CTAs that respond to hover with a subtle scale or fade, adding interactivity without distraction
Content sections that animate on scroll, creating a sense of pacing and progression as someone moves through the page
When you’re discussing Squarespace with clients, it’s worth mentioning that animations are built into most blocks and won’t require additional code or client interaction to function. Learn more about Block Animations in the Circle Forum.
Shape, morph, and compose without constraints
Block Transforms offer direct control over a block's visual properties: opacity, rotation, scale, skew, offset, and anchor.
The creative applications are broad. Transforms empower you to:
Rotate and scale decorative shape blocks to build asymmetrical, editorial-feeling layouts
Dim background elements to create visual hierarchy without adding more content to the page
Transforms are design properties, not code properties. When a client updates their homepage text or swaps in a new image, the transform values on surrounding blocks stay exactly where you set them. This means there’s nothing to re-explain or re-apply.
Available only for Circle partners: Stacks
One of the most talked-about pro features previewed at Circle Day, Stacks, is now available for Circle partners as a Circle beta. This feature helps you group independent blocks into cohesive sets with explicit spacing and sizing rules that adapt consistently across device views.
With Stacks, you can control:
Order: The sequence of blocks in the stack.
Alignment and distribution: How blocks sit along the main and cross axis.
Spacing (gaps): Consistent or custom spacing between items.
To learn more about Stacks, join Circle for free or visit the Circle Forum.
Build for mobile without redesigning for desktop
With Finish Layer, you're not writing media queries nor maintaining duplicate sections. You can edit a fully responsive site across multiple screen sizes and control how your websites appear on different devices without any custom code.
Finish Layer offers two device-specific editing capabilities:
Block Hiding: Choose content to hide on mobile or desktop view so that your site best fits visitors' screens. Each section will automatically adjust to remove negative space, so there aren't gaps in your layout. Learn more about hiding blocks.
Overrides: Customize block characteristics on individual device views—updating things like button width, forms, products, and more. You can choose to push updates in the mobile editor to desktop, or keep them separate. Learn more about Mobile Overrides on the Circle Forum.
The client safety here is particularly compelling: your clients won't accidentally collapse the mobile layout by making a desktop edit. That's a significant reduction in post-launch support for most projects.
Bring brand fonts into Squarespace
Custom fonts used to mean one thing: code injection. Now, you can upload a font file directly in the Fonts panel and apply it across the site the same way you'd apply any other typography setting.
This matters most for brand consistency. When a client's identity relies on a specific typeface—one that isn't available in Squarespace's built-in library—you no longer need a workaround to make it work. Upload the file, assign it to your headings or body text, and the font becomes part of the site's design system. Learn more about uploading custom fonts to Squarespace.
What Finish Layer means for client projects
Our State of the Web Design Industry 2026 report found that 76% of Circle partners use custom code at least occasionally. And while Finish Layer doesn’t eliminate the need for code on professional web design projects entirely, it does mean you can spend a lot less of your time writing and fixing custom code on clients’ websites. More of your design intent survives intact at handoff, and less of it depends on a client not touching something they shouldn't.
This means higher-quality designs, cleaner post-launch relationships, and less time spent re-explaining or re-doing the work. Learn more about Finish Layer and discuss your favorite features in the Circle Forum.
Start with your next web design project
Block Animations, Block Transforms, Mobile Overrides, and Font Uploads are available on all Squarespace 7.1 sites. Stay tuned for more updates, and start a new project to try out the latest features.
Circle partners are the first to access new releases and betas for features like Finish Layer tools. Join Circle to gain early access, exclusive product updates, and other rewards for building websites on Squarespace.
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional designers and web design agencies. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
