A New Era for Entrepreneurs: Squarespace Refresh with Chief Product Officer Paul Gubbay
Squarespace’s Circle Day marked the third annual gathering of the Circle community, bringing together thousands of creative professionals in person in New York City and online. Centered around the theme, “Power Up,” the event was designed to inspire, educate, and connect Circle members through educational sessions, hands-on workshops, and exclusive product previews.
To kick off the day, Chief Product Officer Paul Gubbay took the stage for an engaging keynote session that unveiled the most innovative and exciting tools and features coming to Squarespace in 2024. He gave Circle members an early preview of Squarespace Refresh, Squarespace’s annual product announcement.
Paul introduced two main themes that will have the biggest impact on those building sites for clients throughout the coming year: Design Intelligence and Business Guidance. Both have the power to help you deliver even more value to your clients in less time.
Design Intelligence explained
Design Intelligence is Squarespace’s newest approach to web design, combining cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, with industry-leading design experience. It aims to support you as you produce quality work, faster.
The new features that can help you build a unique online presence for clients include:
Layout Switcher
An adaptive layout menu means faster website design experimentation. Our Layout Switcher analyzes and recommends a variety of layout options based on content, helping you plan and ideate on the most impactful design for your client’s goals.
Site Themes
One-click styling combinations that make it easier to preview and apply a new website aesthetic—via handpicked font pairings, color palettes, button styles, and more, with recommendations aligned to a customer's brand personality.
Squarespace Blueprint AI
Squarespace’s guided website builder is enhanced with AI integrations that automatically create a website populated with curated imagery and copy tailored to your client’s goals and brand personality. You can use this website as a jumping-off point with clients and to source feedback before the official build.
Empowering human creativity
Design Intelligence is founded on the belief that AI should unlock human creativity, not replace it. Paul emphasized this throughout his Circle Day session, highlighting the Circle community, which continues to inspire and motivate Squarespace’s product innovation.
Business Guidance in action
Similarly, Business Guidance helps you and your clients manage and grow your businesses more effectively. Key features that make site builds more efficient include:
Dynamic dashboards
Selling dashboards scale with your clients’ businesses, offering personalized views of key business metrics. This data and guidance can help you improve designs to better meet client goals.
Setup guides
Step-by-step guides offer instructions for various business models such as service-based businesses and online stores can help you and your clients get up and running faster.
Customizable navigation
The navigation refresh gives you access to the features that are most relevant to your client’s business.
Migration tools for seamless upgrades
If you’re helping clients migrate their 7.0 sites to 7.1, Paul shared more great news. While the migration tool previously only supported templates in the Brine and Bedford families, it’s now possible for Circle members to seamlessly and efficiently migrate all 7.0 templates currently available in the template store to 7.1 by the end of the year. This means clients can also take advantage of Squarespace’s recent improvements without losing existing content.
“Squarespace really is for any type of seller.”
A platform for every entrepreneur
Paul concluded his keynote by emphasizing Squarespace’s ongoing commitment to supporting a variety of businesses—an ethos that runs through the Circle community. Whether you’re setting up a fitness trainer with membership features, a tax professional with an invoicing tool, or a nonprofit with collecting donations online, Squarespace will adapt with you. Learn more about how to use Squarespace to design websites for any business.
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional designers. 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.
