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Having mediocre design skills, I struggled before to create even the simplest landing pages for my mobile apps. Like the article says, I was simply trying to cr

Having mediocre design skills, I struggled before to create even the simplest landing pages for my mobile apps. Like the article says, I was simply trying to create a one-page site that contains a short description of an (upcoming) app, and a way for people to enter their email addresses for future notifications. Although this sounds really simple (I can cook up the bare html in a few minutes), I struggled to make it look half decent. Surely there must be some easy way to create such simple landing pages, but I couldn't find it. I tried wordpress themes, twitter bootstrap, and other platforms, but my designs(or lack thereof) always turn out horribly. My question: is there an easy way to create simple, beautiful landing pages?

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
kerryfalk 15y ago
I don't know if this will be simple for everyone to execute as doing anything well does take time and skill but I can give a couple of pointers that helps me make simple pages that work (Convert users at rates >15% - I don't know what others get but I'm happy with 15-20%). I used to design a lot of print advertisements. When it finally clicked for me that many of the principles are the same things started working. Use AIDA: - Attention - Use a super high quality and very interesting (to your target) picture. You can buy these cheaply from amateur photographers if you don't have any. - Interest: Use a headline that says something to your target - Desire: use a little text to make them want what you're selling. IE. tell them how it solves your biggest problem - Action: Use all the tricks you know to make a good looking button (or read on how to do it, there are lots of sources for this) and place it in the bottom right somewhere. The bottom right is what print designers do because it's the last point your eye reaches when reading, it's the best place for a call to action Here are two recent examples that I have created (can be improved but you get the idea). With quality traffic they convert around 20%: http://styckyd.com/sell_modified_cars http://styckyd.com/sell_modified_cars http://styckyd.com/sell_race_cars http://styckyd.com/sell_race_cars That advice might not be quite what you're looking for as it's not a service that does most of it for you (someone could create that fairly simply) but it's working for me.
- abuzzooz 15y ago
  Excellent advice. Thanks for sharing.
justjimmy 15y ago
Without looking like a template? No. There are alot of tools (like you mentioned wordpress, twitter bootstrap, even launch rock) and sites that helps you make a non ugly looking landing page, but it's hard to make a 'simple, beautiful' page using template (especially more if you want it to have your branding style and personality). (To break it down why it can be difficult to design a page – you need to understand typography, brand/style, colors, grid/layout, ui/ux patterns and copywriting. Great designers make it look easy, just as any other experts in their respective fields.)
- mkr-hn 15y ago
  Learning a little about typography makes a huge difference. It's amazing how good even a simple black and white document can look with the right typography. The other stuff is good, but text is what counts. Get it right, and people will forgive a lot.
  - indiecore 15y ago
    The simplicity of the site is what made me like HN originally. Simplicity in and of itself can be a draw especially in the super-engineered web 2.0 of today.
shalmanese 15y ago
Launchrock?
iamscanner 15y ago
I'm also a terrible designer. In order to get up and running quickly, I buy themes off of http://themeforest.net http://themeforest.net - they barely cost anything, and usually have enough for you to get up and running with in the stage where you just want a landing page (some even come with PHP scripts to run newsletter signups for you).
- abuzzooz 15y ago
  I knew about themeforest.net, but never used them. I'll check them out. Thanks.
rmc 15y ago
My question: is there an easy way to create simple, beautiful landing pages? (1) Go to http://www.woothemes.com/ http://www.woothemes.com/ or http://themeforest.net/ http://themeforest.net/ or http://99designs.com/ http://99designs.com/. (2) Pay money (you can get some for €20, the price of a few beers!) (3) Have theme!
follower 15y ago
> I struggled to make it look half decent. Don't forget you're possibly your worst critic as well. How do other people--or more importantly--your potential paying customers react?

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

kerryfalk 15y ago

I don't know if this will be simple for everyone to execute as doing anything well does take time and skill but I can give a couple of pointers that helps me make simple pages that work (Convert users at rates >15% - I don't know what others get but I'm happy with 15-20%). I used to design a lot of print advertisements. When it finally clicked for me that many of the principles are the same things started working. Use AIDA: - Attention - Use a super high quality and very interesting (to your target) picture. You can buy these cheaply from amateur photographers if you don't have any. - Interest: Use a headline that says something to your target - Desire: use a little text to make them want what you're selling. IE. tell them how it solves your biggest problem - Action: Use all the tricks you know to make a good looking button (or read on how to do it, there are lots of sources for this) and place it in the bottom right somewhere. The bottom right is what print designers do because it's the last point your eye reaches when reading, it's the best place for a call to action Here are two recent examples that I have created (can be improved but you get the idea). With quality traffic they convert around 20%: http://styckyd.com/sell_modified_cars http://styckyd.com/sell_modified_cars http://styckyd.com/sell_race_cars http://styckyd.com/sell_race_cars That advice might not be quite what you're looking for as it's not a service that does most of it for you (someone could create that fairly simply) but it's working for me.

abuzzooz 15y ago
Excellent advice. Thanks for sharing.

justjimmy 15y ago

Without looking like a template? No. There are alot of tools (like you mentioned wordpress, twitter bootstrap, even launch rock) and sites that helps you make a non ugly looking landing page, but it's hard to make a 'simple, beautiful' page using template (especially more if you want it to have your branding style and personality). (To break it down why it can be difficult to design a page – you need to understand typography, brand/style, colors, grid/layout, ui/ux patterns and copywriting. Great designers make it look easy, just as any other experts in their respective fields.)

mkr-hn 15y ago
Learning a little about typography makes a huge difference. It's amazing how good even a simple black and white document can look with the right typography. The other stuff is good, but text is what counts. Get it right, and people will forgive a lot.
- indiecore 15y ago
  The simplicity of the site is what made me like HN originally. Simplicity in and of itself can be a draw especially in the super-engineered web 2.0 of today.

shalmanese 15y ago

Launchrock?

iamscanner 15y ago

I'm also a terrible designer. In order to get up and running quickly, I buy themes off of http://themeforest.net http://themeforest.net - they barely cost anything, and usually have enough for you to get up and running with in the stage where you just want a landing page (some even come with PHP scripts to run newsletter signups for you).

abuzzooz 15y ago
I knew about themeforest.net, but never used them. I'll check them out. Thanks.

rmc 15y ago

My question: is there an easy way to create simple, beautiful landing pages? (1) Go to http://www.woothemes.com/ http://www.woothemes.com/ or http://themeforest.net/ http://themeforest.net/ or http://99designs.com/ http://99designs.com/. (2) Pay money (you can get some for €20, the price of a few beers!) (3) Have theme!

follower 15y ago

> I struggled to make it look half decent. Don't forget you're possibly your worst critic as well. How do other people--or more importantly--your potential paying customers react?