My brain functions naturally in extremes, lol….  the thought process of the complete design is to captivate, familiarize and personalize the presentation…. I believe the more a person can familiarize themselves with things, the more they get involved and interested in what is being presented to them  (ie. The local state or country flowers, the state or country colors, the product qualities, and then models to make it come “alive”).

While I CAN create a much more calm minimalist design, I don’t normally prefer it myself… it’s sooo less personal. (heh)  no offense towards those that do like minimalist approaches.. I do have a lot of clients who prefer that…. and I do in some situations, but I have to question what the goal of the design is… and in many cases, I think personalizing is much more powerful than minimalism.

Other things to consider when deciding whether to opt-in for a minimalist store design vs. a more “fuller” store design…

Minimalists are usually drawn towards minimalist designs and away from the fuller design that provides more pictures (for obvious reasons)   ?  however those who are not minimalist are likely to be drawn towards a more full design where words are spelled out in pictures (ie. Category pictures and advertisements).  While a minimalist might think a full design devalues the products, a person on the opposite side might feel the same thinking that the minimalist website or store design couldn’t afford to have more done to their site.  I mean that in the kindest of ways.  People will have differing views whether minimalist or not.

I think it’s good to consider and observe what the larger companies who have LOTS of money in which to spend on marketing gurus who’ve studied what works best in marketing strategies (website advertising tactics, layouts and appealing verbiage).  Are their designs, minimalist, full of design, or a mixture of both… OR… does each one have a different taste of their own (some minimalist and some full in design.  It’s good to consider the colors they use… are they dark, light, or changes with the seasons?  If they change with the seasons then you really might not know unless you’re very familiar with the company, or if they put graphics that are clearly seasonal or holiday related.

Here’s a look at some top makeup companies on the web… just to have a gander what type of design they prefer:

 

The shorter body designs seems to be a consistent layout.  And while I prefer this shorter layout myself it does have its disadvantages to those starting out.  For instance these companies don’t need to push nor pursue SEO much within their page because the higher more established companies typically pay for the top space on the search engines so they don’t really have to add as much SEO tactics such as a good amount of information, meta tags and keywords on the homepage.

I also believe having some products below the main design should help spark curiosity for the visitor (into digging deeper) as well as help with SEO by means of information and important keywords within the titles and page description.   For the sake of design it looks nice shorter, but I do believe having the products below will be more productive and make you more money.