Apple Website Design — What Makes It Stand Out?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost count of how many times my clients asked me to make a “website like Apple.” For some reason, Apple website design is often treated like it’s absolutely perfect. But today, we aren’t going to dissect the site itself and poke needles into it — today, we’ll try to understand what your clients mean when they say “like Apple.” What separates it from the rest?

Apple website design

Let’s open Apple.com, and what do we see? It does look pretty typical. A navigation bar above, a list of new products below. Everything is quite big, made to look neat on every device, from a laptop to a tablet. There’s a separate eCommerce section where they desperately want you to go. The section itself is quite usual; nothing to write home about.

So what do those clients mean?

When people say “Apple website design,” they most certainly mean their product pages. The neat thing about them is that they don’t really ask you to buy them — they are just for show. Like a very fancy brochure, those pages try to win you over with the modern web design magic. Extremely well-made animations, seamless transitions (I can’t overstate how important this word, “seamless,” is in this context), and top-notch product photography result in a sleek, smooth web page.

How do they do it? First of all, let’s say the obvious first: it’s not a product of a lone freelancer. You’ve got to have a whole team of specialists to end up with this result. 3D designers, photographers, animators… it takes a bunch of people to make something as coherent. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t take inspiration from it.

When going through the site, we notice things that set it apart. Seamlessness — we mention it. Smoothness — that’s for sure. But also how the eCommerce section is separate from the rest. It’s okay if you want to look at it without ever going to buy it. It’s this confidence in the design, this self-important philosophy, that works wonders for Apple.

But still, what can we take from it? Well, for one, the clean look. There’s not one element that feels out of place, and the navigation is as obvious as it can be.

Second, the graphics. Quality photography is one aspect that designers (and their clients) often neglect. Stock photography is good and all, but nothing about Apple is “stock.” And if your client wants to present their products to the world, they need to hire a professional photographer. One unique photo is better than five stock ones.

And the last thing is consistency. Use a brand book religiously, and never mess up colors or styles. And don’t use the icons you found elsewhere — everything must feel custom-made. Good luck!