Your landing page design is key to your site's success. Here's how to get it right.
There are plenty of rules and principles of great design but when it comes to a website's landing page, it is almost an exact science. It's about 'conversion-centred design', or using the design of the landing page to persuade a user towards a particular action.
The first, and arguably most important, task is to find a clear USP (unique selling point) for the product or service in question, and then use the landing page design to focus everything on one primary call to action (CTA). This might be getting the visitor to register their details, say, or make a purchase there and then. Whatever the goal, it's up to the design of the page to channel the user towards it – whether through use of white space, contrasting colours or more explicit directional cues.
Clear, succinct headers and sub-headers and punchy, easily scanned bullet points are the order of the day. The landing page should be prominently branded, often incorporate a 'hero' image to communicate the product or service at a glance, and cut straight to the point to avoid users' attention drifting. With all of that in mind, we've pulled together eight particularly effective examples of landing page design from across the web to show how this theory has been applied in practice.
Like the company itself, Monotype's landing page is about the power of typography
"We are the company behind type," states Monotype's landing page, and its understated yet smart design goes hand-in-hand with this confident statement. Suitably for a company that works in type, its' main landing page is entirely text-based, but with a clever twist; through a dialogue at the bottom of the page you can change the view the mission statement in an assortment of fonts (and in various weights and styles) to get a taste of what Monotype does.
It's all gloriously restrained, encouraging you to click on the text links that take you to four more detailed landing pages – Fonts, Technology, Expertise and Company – providing much more depth regarding Monotype's business and services, and of course getting you to the all-important fonts.
LS Productions lures you in with cavalcade of gorgeous Scottish locations
LS Productions – a stills and motion service production company based in Scotland – knows what its biggest asset is, and that's what you're presented with when you go to its site. A window-filling looping video showcases a selection of the beautiful Scottish locations that it can offer for your film or print project. Scroll down and you'll learn of its three main services: motion, stills and locations.
By this point the landing page has already done its job; everything below – the gorgeous location of the week, the 'meet the team' section – is just window dressing. If you're looking to hire LS Productions then you'll have already moved on to one of the main service pages, where you'll find a wealth of relevant, well-presented information convincing you of the company's suitability.
O'Neill's photo-heavy page sells the surf and snow dream perfectly
American lifestyle brand O'Neill is largely focused on two things, surf and snow, and its US site makes that perfectly clear with an image-led landing page that sells you its clothing ranges and sports gear through stunning photography of big waves and snow-covered mountains.
A set of drop-down links at the top of the landing page can take you straight to what you want if you know what you're after, but beneath that the landing page sets out to seduce you, first with a hero carousel and then a secondary carousel showcasing recommended products, then follows with a responsive two-column image gallery selling its various departments. With an Instagram gallery at the bottom, it's all quite enough to get you dashing to the beach – or the top of the nearest mountain – but not before stocking up on O'Neill gear first, and if you're in a rush you'll find a handy dealer locator at the bottom of the page.
You can't miss the call to action on the Bear CSS landing page
Bear CSS is a tool to help web designers generate CSS more quickly and easily based on their existing HTML. This simple layout follows all the key rules of landing page design: a clear, simple strap ("helping you build a solid stylesheet foundation based on your markup") and simple, no-nonsense information.
The primary call to action, 'upload HTML', is an unmissably large orange button on a pale grey background, underneath three punchy bullets explaining the process. And just in case you miss it, Bear CSS's mascot is pointing his paw directly at it from the other side of the screen.
Squarespace knows its main customers and has built its landing page accordingly
Immensely popular with creatives, Squarespace provides high quality website templates on a subscription basis. Acknowledging that users will respond to different touchpoints, its website presents several landing pages showcasing different aspects of a Squarespace site (including landing pages), as well as pages targeted at photographers, bloggers, artists, musicians, restaurants and weddings.
Each features a full-screen 'hero' image, a large header in the centre, and the call to action, 'Get started', placed directly underneath. Each landing page also includes a gallery of inspiring sites and a tour of the benefits of going with Squarespace. But all ultimately lead to the same place: pick one of the templates, and start a free trial.
The eye-catching gold of GiftRocket's call to action draws instant attention
Another best practice example of how to use exploit a simple 'header plus bullet-points plus call-to-action' formula, GiftRocket's beautifully designed landing page features an illustrated 'hero' image, which is surrounded by icons of all the different products and services that are available for purchase.
But it's that single, prominent 'Send a GiftRocket' button, in eye-catching gold out of a pale beige background, that draws the attention as a single-purpose entry point, provided the bullet points convince you to do so, of course. If not, you can always scroll down the page for more information, testimonials and more.
Hipstamatic's landing page shows what the app has to offer
For retro analogue photography app Hipstamatic, it's all about demonstrating the cool features, as well as the look, feel and intuitive navigation of the app, in as engaging a fashion as possible to draw users in.
At the top of the page, a scrolling gallery strip showcases the 'Hipstamatic aesthetic' in practice, while an enormous iPhone showcases the latest version of the app, with its old-skool ClassicMode and new ProMode, with more up-to-date features.
Beneath that a new strapline sums up what Hipstamatic is now all about: "Make beautiful photography", with a big yellow button inviting you to install the app on your iPhone.
No need for trinkets - now Square leads with its POS software
Square's landing page used to lure users in with a free card reader in return for signing up for its POS software; now it's confident enough in Square Register, its flagship package, that it doesn't feel the need to dangle trinkets in front of you. The result is a focused single landing page that gets straight to the point with the headline: "The POS software that’s simple, powerful, and free.”
Beneath the headline and hero image (plus a link to a video rather than distracting embedded media) the page is split into three no-nonsense sections: Overview, Features and Testimonials, all designed to steer you towards 'Download the app' link floating at the top of the screen. Should you manage to reach the bottom without clicking, you'll find an equally eye-catching Get Started link at the bottom; if you can resist that then you probably don't even need Square's products.
Apple's landing page centres around beautifully shot product photography
It's no surprise that the undisputed masters of industrial designcan knock together a decent website, and the effortless simplicity of Apple.com helped scoop it a D&AD Black Pencil in 2010.
Depending on the hot product(s) of the moment, the homepage slices through the company's extensive product range and zeroes in on just one. Besides the simple navigation bar across the top, it's just beautifully shot product photography, a line of clean type and two links: 'Learn more' goes deeper into features and functionality, while a video link showcases it in true Apple keynote style. It's a true masterclass in landing page design.
Pinterest is so well known, its landing page doesn't need to work hard to sell itself
Pinterest knows what it wants, and is in no mood to beat about the bush getting it: it's sign up, or nothing. The popular online scrapbook is confident enough in its brand and burgeoning reputation not to worry too hard about selling itself, or giving users an opportunity to browse around some pinboards and risk getting sidetracked.
Interestingly, there are different browser-specific straplines: Firefox tells of "a few (million) of your favorite things", Chrome has the more perfunctory line "plan projects, start collections and more", while Safari implores you to "collect and organize the things you love". But the only place to click on any of them is that all-important 'sign up' button.
This is an updated version of an article that previously appeared on Creative Bloq. Let us know what we should add in a future update in the comments below!
#Animators and top #toons from around the world will head south this week, as the fifth Cape Town International #Animation Festival (CTIAF) kicks off on Thursday in South Africa.
Formerly known as Kunjanimation, the fest is the country’s biggest animation showcase, with this year’s expanded focus underscoring director Dianne Makings’ hopes that the festival will become a regular fixture on the global animation circuit, and ultimately “act as the gateway to the continent.”
The four-day fest will bring together award-winning toons from a host of countries, including France, Brazil, Australia, Ireland and the host nation. Among the programming highlights will be the African premiere of “Stick Man,” which was produced by the U.K.’s Oscar-nominated Magic Light Pictures and animated by South Africa’s Triggerfish Studios. Local bizzers will also get a chance to rub shoulders with animation veterans from around the globe, with a series of workshops led by industry leaders.
For South Africa, the festival reflects the growing stakes for an industry that has put itself on the global animation map in recent years. Triggerfish — the country’s largest studio — has broken domestic box office records with its two feature films, “The Adventures of Zambezia” and “Khumba,” which combined have been distributed in more than 150 territories. Other success stories include Sunrise Productions, which has inked a deal for the fifth and sixth seasons of “Jungle Beat,” an animated series that’s being distributed in more than 120 countries.
“The landscape is shifting from only service work (still a valuable bread and butter component to the industry) to the development of individual IP, and that’s really encouraging for all our members,” says Makings.
Triggerfish is leading the pack. Building on their successful partnership for “Stick Man,” the studio is currently in production with Magic Light Pictures Berlin on two 25-minute holiday specials for the BBC, based on Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s classic children’s book “Revolting Rhymes.”
The studio is also working on its next feature film, “Seal Team,” and has four features and four TV series in development, following on the heels of their ambitious Story Lab project, an Africa-wide toon talent search backed by South Africa’s Dept. of Trade and Industry and the Walt Disney Co.
According to animator Daniel Snaddon, the company’s full slate highlights its efforts to develop “a new robust studio pipeline … that will be able to accommodate more large-scale collaborative projects.”
That effort only underscores the broader challenges vexing the industry, according to Wendy Spinks, of Zeropoint Studios.
“One of our core weaknesses is [building the] capacity to engage and produce on an international level and be competitive in pricing, while not losing jobs or talent at the end of every production,” says Spinks, whose studio is currently developing three TV series through co-productions with partners in Canada and Ireland, as well as a short film in development with a French studio.
Spinks is part of an industry-wide effort to create an animation, audiovisual and digital arts cluster geared toward maintaining a “base of three developed and viable series in co-production for global export,” she says.
The goal is to ensure a steady pipeline of projects that allow South African animation to “thrive commercially on an international stage,” by tapping into opportunities with various co-production partners, and across multiple platforms.
In the mean time, industry stakeholders are lobbying for government to do its part, pushing for changes to South Africa’s current incentive scheme that would “make it more applicable, accessible and effectual for animation projects,” according to Nick Cloete, chairperson of industry body Animation SA.
The group is also engaging with private and public broadcasters to devote more of their budgets to locally produced animated content, and lobbying for the government to introduce local-content quotas for animation.
For their part, CTIAF organizers have forged ties with their counterparts at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and at the London International Animation Festival, while a new partnership will be launched next year with Cartoons on the Bay, the Italian toon fest sponsored by RAI.
Those pairings, alongside the growing number of international co-productions inked through South Africa’s nine co-production treaties, only emphasize “the changing landscape of the industry, and how we are no longer an inward-facing industry, but rather a global exporter,” according to Makings.
Fine art photographer Flora Borsi teams with Adobe on a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a #3D-animated GIF using Fuse CC (Preview) and #Photoshop CC for Valentine’s Day. On the heels of yesterday’s announcement about the new release of #Animate CC, the #Web animation tool formerly known as #Flash Professional, Adobe has unveiled a new Valentine’s Day-themed tutorial from renowned fine art photographer Flora Borsi. Borsi partnered with Adobe on a step-by-step tutorial to users create a #3D-animated GIF for Valentine’s Day. With a few easy steps in Fuse CC (Preview) and Photoshop CC, you can customize characters, personalize the background and add motion to create your own special keepsake.
Check out the tutorial below, and send us your Valentine’s Day-themed GIFs to show off on the AWN Facebook and Twitter feeds! GIF files under 2MB can be sent to editor@awn.com (link sends e-mail) with the subject heading “Adobe CC/Valentine’s Day GIF.”
I started out by creating a character in Adobe Fuse CC. I already had a woman and a man in mind and I chose the body types and facial features that come in the application to get the look I imagined.
I dressed my characters up for Valentine’s Day using the clothing library in Fuse. Using the Texture workspace I was able to customize the color of the dress and the shoes so that she is ready for her Valentine’s date.
Next, I saved my character to my Creative Cloud Library. This step makes it possible for me to open up Photoshop CC and see my character in my Library for any future projects.
Before bringing my characters onto the canvas, I first started out by combining two images that I found on Adobe Stock. I really like the ethereal look of seeing the clouds combined with the stars.
Here is the end result. So dreamy!
OK, now I’m ready to bring my characters onto the canvas. I did this by dragging and dropping the Fuse character from my Library on top of the cloud background layer. Then it is a matter of using the 3D controls to position the character.
I used the CC 3D Animations library to find a motion. I had to make sure that the 3D character is selected, and then use the Properties panel to search for motions until one feels right.
It's helpful to be able to reposition the character again once I found this swimming motion that I really like. Using the 3D navigation controls, it is easy to move the character at any time.
I used the timeline feature to line up the two character animations, and then did some masking so that the characters look like they are hovering in the clouds, just so.
Then I gave the whole piece some beautiful hue changes to give it that overall rosy quality.
London-headquartered VFX house Cinesite officially launched its #animation division on Monday with the announcement of a new 54,000 square-foot animation studio in downtown Montréal. With plans to come online over the next 18 months, the new facility -- able to scale up to a total of 750 staff and crew -- will allow the Cinesite visual effects team to effectively double in size, with the entire sixth floor to be made available in 2017 to meet the demand of the company’s steadily increasing feature animation work.
The new digs were made possible with a loan of $2.4 million from Investissement Quebec on behalf of the Government of Quebec to support the creation of infrastructure to allow feature animation production. An additional loan guarantee of $19.6 million towards an overall budget of at least $90 million is also being advanced to the production company to help with the financing of each of the first three animated films on the studio’s slate. Six more films are planned to follow the initial three features, which will see the facility at full capacity with more than 500 new permanent jobs by 2020.
The co-creator of Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me franchise, Pablos’ career includes credits as supervising animator for #Disney titles including Tarzan, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules and Treasure Planet, just to name a few. Pablos’ work has led him to be nominated twice to the Annie Awards for his character design work on Blue Sky’s Rio and for his character animation on Disney’s Treasure Planet.
Playmates Toys and #DreamWorks #Animation announce they are collaborating on a new toy line based on DWA’s upcoming series Voltron: Legendary Defender, a reimagining of the classic animation property. The show will bow as a Netflix Original Series this year, and as master toy licensee Playmates is planning to launch the new line in spring 2017.
“We are excited to work with DreamWorks Animation on the resurgence of such a beloved brand, and are looking forward to providing nostalgic fans and new audiences with a heroic space adventure toy line,” said Thomas Chan, CEO of Playmates Toys. “We are dedicated to developing an innovative line of toys that will bring the series to life, allowing fans to be immersed in the epic adventures of Voltron, as the team liberates the universe.”
#Voltron: Legendary Defender follows five unsuspecting teenagers as they are transported from Earth into the middle of a sprawling, intergalactic war and become pilots of five mystical robotic lions in a battle to protect the universe from evil. Harnessing the power of teamwork, their machines are able to unite to form Voltron: a towering robotic warrior that represents the last, best hope for the triumph of good.
Animation is the process of creating the illusion of motion and shape change by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other. There are 2 kinds of animation – 2D animation & 3D animation.
2D animation means creating movements using characters & backgrounds in a two-dimensional artistic space. 3D animation means the creation of moving pictures in a three-dimensional digital environment, which is done by sequencing consecutive images, or "frames", that simulate motion by each image showing the next in a steady progression of steps, filmed by a virtual "camera" and then output to video by a rendering engine.
The animation industry in India has been growing at a robust 22% every year, with many animation studios & production houses packed with work, be it outsourced from foreign studios or in-house projects for Indian market. Animation films, TV commercials, Computer games & Elearning industry are all in the booming phase in India & hence the demand for animation professionals are huge today.
Our animation courses has been segmented into 3 parts – Fundamentals of animation, 2D animation & 3D animation. The program has been designed with a lot of inputs from the industry experts & it covers all 3 stages of Animation project lifecycle such as Pre-production, Production & Post production in a comprehensive manner.
Android has the monopoly in the mobile platform market & its soaring popularity has paved way to millions of new jobs across the globe. Mobile application industry is the fastest growing industry in the world today & India ranks as the third fastest growing market for Android application development.
We, at Web D School, hire professionals from the industry to teach ‘Android app development’ course to our students, which would be highly beneficial for them in terms of getting to learn the latest trends followed by the production companies today. We help our students with a final project in developing an android app, which would help them in showcasing their skills to the prospective employers.
