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Bookstores evoke the visuals of an cozy and comfortable places. Whether Shakespeare And Company or Livraria Lello (of Harry Potter) - there’s an old-world charm that draws people right in.
Here are a few bookstore websites that stole our heart while researching for one or another project, or sometimes during our daily inspiration hour. These sites sport audacious designs that made us go “hmmmm” - now that’s an immediate win in our books.
Ciao Press
Ciao Press allows one to browse through their catalogue easily with scroll interaction. I particularly loved the design-bit where I could swipe left and right to take a peek at the contents of a book. For an independent publication with relatively small catalogue size, this results in a breezy browsing experience, which on mobile is even more charm.
And the opening easter 🥚 egg is such a playful surprise.
ciao press website treats books like a lifestyle product
Stripe Press
When Stripe Press was released, it made people gasp. The innovative layout, the 3D interactive books, the whole webGL experience has been a thing to aspire for.
Poor Charlie’s Almanac
You should totally see Stripe Press’ Poor Charlie’s Almanack, an immersive experience built around Charles Munger’s eleven talks.
a fun charles munger hovers over the almanac making sure you read
Reparation Club
A rebellious bookstore in LA, Reparation Club sports a bright, bold, and brave design. Rep Club definitely knows how to take a standard e-commerce experience and brand the heck out of it.
The Manual
Manual by Compound is a library of wealth management books and guides. As all the resources are available to read online, Manual has a well-designed reading experience tailored for long-form reading: complete with table of content, nice feedback animations, a comfortable type palette, and a dark 🌓 mode.
Shift Happens
Shift Happens is a book store microsite for a book about keyboards, not a bookstore website.
The website is full of stories, interactive games, but the real shit happens inside the 3D tour.
epilogue
Books are a tactile experience - the cover design, the feeling of holding it in your hands, the smell of books old and new - is what booklovers cherish the most beyond the content inside the two covers. Bookstore websites enhance this feeling by creating digital versions of this experience - some times literally mimicking the physical interactions, while often reinterpreting it in the context of digital interfaces.
Which are the bookstore websites that you really love for how they use design to tell a story? Tell us in Twitter or Instagram comments.
colophon
cover design: avinash
