Honest design feedback before resubmitting to Theme Store

Online Store and Theme Development
1

Short description of issue

Rejected once for “insufficient design sophistication” (pass 1234)

Link to Shopify Store

Reproduction steps

  1. Visit the demo store: sidebar-atelier.myshopify.com
  2. Browse the homepage top to bottom, noting the hero, marquee,
    featured product with bundle upsell, editorial feature, brand
    statement, and horizontal scroll collection sections
  3. Compare against current Theme Store leaders and Awwwards-tier
    ecommerce sites (e.g. Surroundings, Object & Archive)
  4. Note anything that reads as generic, dated, or “safe” compared
    to that bar

Additional info

Hey everyone,

I submitted my theme “Side Atelier” to the Theme Store and got rejected
with this feedback: the theme didn’t meet the sophistication/intentionality
bar they’re looking for compared to current catalog themes.

Since then I’ve done a significant redesign: added GSAP-powered scroll
choreography (SplitText reveals, pinned sections, horizontal scroll rail),
a command palette search, editorial list view for collections, and
differentiated the 3 presets more clearly.

Before I resubmit and risk a second rejection, I’d really appreciate
honest, critical feedback from other theme developers who know what
the review team is looking for.

Demo store: https://sidebar-atelier.myshopify.com

Specifically interested in:

  • Does this feel like it competes with current Theme Store leaders,
    or does it still read as “safe”?
  • Any UX patterns that feel dated or generic?
  • Anything that would make you close the tab in the first 3 seconds?

Not looking for compliments, looking for wh

What type of topic is this

Feature request
General discussion

2

When I land on the homepage does not feel we can scroll, just feels like a minimal landing page with not much content. If I’m lazy to read, I’ll move away under 3 seconds.

  • The mouse override feels uncomfortable for browsing.

  • Additionally sometimes the thing jumps in places. Also it remains visible in the window when the mouse goes out of the window, which in terms of UX is very disturbing.

  • Lack of feedbacks on mouse hover an interactive item (underlines, color change) on some links like the main logo link, or the variants selector. And because the mouse is replaced with something unusual it does not feel like we can click.

  • Left menu items move weirdly when hovered.

  • The fonts, and their sizes dont look nice to my eyes

  • This overflows and gets cut off:

image
image1429×1131 182 KB

  • Add to cart button animation on hover looks weird, it gives some uncomfort

Overall that’s a good start and I wont deny you’ve put hours of work in it, but it’s using uncommon practices that are making the UX feel clumsy and not mastered. It definitely still requires lot just to be usable comfortably.
All the animations look more experimental than practical.

My honest review after browsing it quickly. Take it for what it’s worth :slight_smile:

3

Hey @Soufiane_Ghzal, really appreciate the specific feedback, it was exactly
what I needed!

Since your review I’ve fixed:

  • Cursor now hides when it leaves the window, and moves smoothly
    instead of jumping/teleporting
  • Removed the magnetic pull from the nav links, they felt unpredictable
    to click
  • Added visible hover states everywhere it was missing (logo, variant
    selectors, etc)
  • Simplified the Add to Cart button hover, no more weird stretch
  • Added a scroll cue on the hero so it’s clear there’s more content
    below
  • Found and fixed a real overflow bug on mobile (cart drawer element)

Would genuinely appreciate another quick look if you have a minute

4

Without going too much into specifics:

  1. A different name is required to distinguish against Shopify’s flagship Horizon theme
    Atelier - Ecommerce website template
  2. Revisit mobile floating header buttons Position + Contrast against page content
    image
    image435×150 44.2 KB
  3. Minimize small font scaling and small buttons for key areas

Keep at it, it’s coming together nicely.

5

Well done, it seems you removed the cursor override, which I believe is much better.

Just couple of things as I browsed:

A details, but the button “choose options” is moving on mouse hover and it overflows the boundary but it’s hidden.

image
image476×395 27 KB

You can also see it when it transitions back to regular state

image
image354×165 38.4 KB

After pressing add to cart, there is a color glitch, we can no longer read it

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image774×170 42.5 KB

The plus buttons to add to cart: it’s not obvious what they happens when we click. Will it add to cart? Display more details? Add it to a list?

image
image796×249 21.5 KB

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image552×355 39.2 KB

the font in the text boxes looks weird

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image406×268 56.5 KB

overall the side bar would benefit from a bit more work

image
image477×768 43.9 KB

The back to top button conflicts a bit with the add to cart button. I’d consider embedding it in the bar rather than having it floating

image
image381×219 26 KB

Cheer :raising_hands:

6

Appreciate you taking another look, this level of detail is genuinely
useful. One thing I’d love more detail on, what specifically feels like it
needs work on the sidebar? Layout, spacing, hierarchy, something else?
Happy to take another pass once I know what to target!

7

I think that for the sidebar, working on the spacing / fonts sizing to feel more intentional. Also the font in the text field and select menu is much larger than the rest. Which draws unnecessary attention.

On smaller screens it moves at the top, which pushes products lower in the page and forces scrolling to reach them.

I don’t have a definitive answer for you but I think it would benefit from a bit more thinking.

I noticed you added a background picture on the home page, looks good!