Selene Squarespace Template Review
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Selene is a Squarespace template designed for interior designers, architects, and creative professionals who are looking for a sophisticated, luxury-focused portfolio.
It's built around large, high-quality images, elegant white space, and a refined aesthetic that positions your work as high-end. If you're an interior designer, architect, or creative agency targeting upscale clients, Selene probably caught your eye for good reason.
This review breaks down what Selene includes, pros and cons, FAQs, where it shines, and where you may bump into limitations.
The goal: help you figure out if this gorgeous template fits your business, or if you should keep browsing.
Who the Selene Template Works Best For
Selene works best if you're in a visually-driven luxury field where presentation is everything. The demo shows a high-end interior design agency with elevated language and a portfolio structure focused on showcasing gorgeous projects.
Interior designers with luxury clients
If you design high-end residential or commercial spaces and need a website that matches the sophistication of your work, Selene's elegant aesthetic fits naturally.
Architects showcasing residential projects
The large image sections and clean project pages work well for presenting architectural work with before-and-after photos or completed spaces.
Creative agencies in design fields
Whether you're doing brand design, spatial design, or creative direction, Selene's refined layout positions your agency as established and professional.
Home staging professionals
The template's focus on beautiful spaces and elegant presentation works perfectly for showcasing staged homes or transformation projects.
High-end residential design firms
If you have a firm that specializes in luxury homes, estates, or upscale renovations, Selene provides an upscale, polished presence that your clients will appreciate.
What the Selene Template Is Not Best For
The Selene template probably isn't your best bet if you:
Need extensive e-commerce functionality for selling products
Run a blog-focused business where content is the main offering
Want a warm, approachable, or casual brand presence
Serve budget-conscious or mid-market clients
Prefer bright colors or decorative design elements
Now, you can add e-commerce functionality to this template: Squarespace lets you add a shop to any site. But because Selene is built for high-end portfolio presentation, not product catalogs, it's not the smartest starting point if selling furniture or decor items is your main business model. The structure just doesn't support that kind of browsing experience.
What You Get With the Selene Template
Home Page
Large hero section with your business name and tagline, followed by your mission or positioning statement. The demo features elevated, sophisticated copy about "spatial design" and "aesthetic grandeur." Multiple project preview sections with large images and project titles.
Project Pages
Individual separate pages for each project (the demo shows Project 01, Project 02, Project 03) with room for multiple large images and detailed project descriptions. The layout emphasizes photography with supporting text.
About Page
A dedicated section for your bio, background, design philosophy, and credentials. The demo includes information about the designer's education, approach, and expertise.
Contact/Booking
Contact information and the ability to integrate booking functionality for client consultations or appointments.
Extras
Great big image sections throughout, testimonial slider integration, newsletter signup in footer, mobile-responsive design, clean navigation, and generous white space for a luxury feel.
Pros and Cons of the Selene Template
What works well:
Luxury positioning is automatic. The elegant design, white space, and refined typography instantly communicate high-end without you needing to add custom styling or expensive design tweaks.
Large image sections showcase work beautifully. Interior design and architecture need great photography, and Selene gives images the space they deserve without cramming multiple photos into tiny thumbnails.
Clean, consistent project structure. Each project page follows the same layout, making it easy to add new work without redesigning every time or second-guessing your formatting choices.
Minimal maintenance once set up. The structure is simple enough that updating projects or adding new work doesn't require ongoing design decisions or a developer on retainer.
What’s not so great:
Limited homepage information architecture. If you need to explain multiple services, packages, or design processes, Selene's minimal homepage doesn't provide that structure without some creative problem-solving.
May feel too formal or editorial for some brands. The elegant, refined aesthetic doesn't work for designers with a casual, quirky, or bohemian brand personality. If your vibe is "eclectic maximalist," Selene's minimalism will feel off.
Needs substantial portfolio content. If you only have 2-3 projects, the template will feel empty and a little sad. It’s fine in the beginning, but you’ll need more strong projects to fill out the structure and make your portfolio feel substantial.
Getting Started with the Selene Squarespace Template is Easy:
Once you pick Selene in the Squarespace 7.1 template library, here's what to do:
1. Replace demo content with your business information. Update the homepage with your business name, tagline, and positioning statement. Keep the tone aligned with your brand – if you're not actually using words like "aesthetic grandeur" in real life, don't use them here.
2. Upload your best project photography. Create project pages for your 6-10 strongest completed projects. Use high-quality, professional photos that showcase your work. This isn't the place for iPhone snapshots taken during construction.
3. Write project descriptions and details. For each project, include the project name, location, scope, your role, and any relevant details like square footage or design style. Give potential clients enough context to understand what you did and why it matters.
4. Customize your About page. Replace the demo bio with your background, education, design philosophy, and what makes your approach different from every other designer in your market.
5. Update Site Styles for colors and fonts. Go to Design > Site Styles and adjust colors and typography to match your brand. Selene's elegant feel works with subtle color palettes – this isn't the template for hot pink and lime green.
6. Set up booking or contact options. Integrate appointment scheduling if you offer consultations, or make sure your contact form and email are working properly. Test this yourself by submitting a form.
7. Check your heading hierarchy. Make sure your main headline is an H1 and subheadings follow logical order (H2, H3) for better SEO. Squarespace doesn't always get this right by default.
8. Double check everything and go live. Review all pages on desktop and mobile, test links and forms, and make sure images load properly before launching. Pay attention to image file sizes – huge files will slow everything down.
Selene Squarespace Template FAQs
Can I sell products on the Selene website template?
You CAN add a shop since all Squarespace 7.1 templates support e-commerce. But Selene’s designed for portfolio presentation, not product sales. If you want to sell a few items like art prints or design books, it could work. For furniture sales or a full product catalog, choose a template built for e-commerce instead of trying to force Selene into a role it wasn't designed for.
Is the Selene template good for SEO?
Selene has the same SEO capabilities as all Squarespace templates. You can customize page titles, meta descriptions, URLs, and image alt text. The minimal text on the homepage means less SEO content than text-heavy templates, so consider adding a blog or more written content if organic traffic is important to your lead generation strategy.
Can I use the Selene template on mobile?
Absolutely. Selene is fully mobile-responsive and maintains its elegant aesthetic on phones and tablets. Large images scale appropriately for smaller screens without getting weirdly cropped or distorted.
Can I change fonts and colors on the Selene template?
Yes, you can customize fonts and colors through Site Styles. Since Selene's luxury feel comes partly from its refined palette, choose colors and fonts that maintain sophistication – swapping in Comic Sans would completely undermine the high-end positioning.
Does Selene work for commercial interior design?
Yes. Whether you design residential or commercial spaces, Selene works well. The portfolio structure accommodates any interior design niche as long as you have strong project photography to showcase.
Can I add a blog to Selene?
You can add a blog page, but Selene's design isn't optimized for blog-heavy content. If writing articles or sharing design tips is a major part of your content marketing strategy, other templates put the blog more prominently in the design and make it easier to feature your writing.
How many projects should I include?
Selene works best with about half a dozen strong projects. The structure is designed to showcase curated portfolio work, so quality matters more than quantity. If you only have 2-3 projects, your site might feel sparse and won't give potential clients enough context about your range or capabilities.
Does Selene work for budget-conscious designers?
The template's luxury aesthetic naturally attracts higher-end clients. If you serve budget-conscious clients or work in affordable design, Selene's refined presentation might create a mismatch with your target market; they'll expect pricing that matches the upscale vibe.
Can I integrate appointment scheduling?
Yes. Selene includes booking functionality that integrates with Squarespace Scheduling (formerly Acuity). Clients can book consultations directly through your website without the back-and-forth email dance.
Is Selene too minimal for my brand?
If your brand is warm, colorful, eclectic, or casual, Selene's refined minimalism might feel too formal or cold for your ideal clients. The template works best for brands that want to communicate sophistication and luxury – think Architectural Digest, not Apartment Therapy.
Can I use Selene without professional photography?
Not really. Selene's large image sections require high-quality photography to work effectively. If your photos are iPhone snapshots or poorly lit, the template won't present your work in a way that attracts high-end clients. Invest in professional photography before launching, check out a modern stock photo membership like Editorial Stock Images or Vault Stock, or wait until you have better images.
Does Selene work for architects?
Yes. The portfolio structure, large image sections, and project pages work just as well for architectural work as they do for interior design. The only difference is the type of photography you'll be showcasing.
View Selene Demo
Check out the full Selene demo to see all the features in action and get a feel for how the luxury aesthetic and portfolio structure work together.
