1. Contrast

Although the importance of contrast is fairly well known among designers, the addition of extra contrast continues to be overlooked and under-used in many design projects around the world. Thin, high-contrast lines can be an excellent tool to help viewers easily identify the different sections of a page. This technique does not need to standout in the design. A single, lightly-coloured, 1-pixel line can be placed next to a dark, 1-pixel line will do the trick!

Professional designers also use stark contrasts in colour to make certain elements stand out. For example, with a serene blue and grey colour scheme, a link filled with a carefully-selected red tone will draw attention to that link without hindering the overall appeal of the design.

2. Kerning

Kerning refers to the distance between letters in a design. This technique can greatly impact the effectiveness of logos, headlines, paragraphs and any other text-based element. Most designs do not require extravagant text features and techniques. However, many professional designers use alterations in kerning to match the purpose of their designs. For example, less letter spacing can make short statements seem more powerful and concise.

While kerning may not seem like an important step to great design, poor letter spacing can mean the difference between and effective piece and a complete failure. When first learning to make kerning alterations, most designers are surprised by the huge difference it makes.

3. UPPERCASE vs. lowercase

Since the changing of case is such a simple step, many designers overlook the potential advantage of careful case use. The use of all uppercase with an element not only provides an excellent tool for grabbing viewer attention, but it also allows the designer to maintain legibility in very small buttons or other applications. This technique should only be used on the most important elements of the design, since the impact of all uppercase text decreases every time it is used.

4. Gradients

Due to recent advancements in technology, the ability to create gradients is available to almost anyone. However, this technique can cause an array of design problems when used improperly. Moderation, subtlety and focus are all keys to the successful use of gradients. In most cases, complex gradients should only be used on a few select elements that need to grab the attention of the viewer. Any other elements should feature very subtle gradients if any.

While an experienced designer can find adventurous ways to utilise different gradients throughout a design, the resulting lack of consistency often hinders the overall appeal.

Although these four techniques represent just a few of the many simple ways to improve a design, learning how to use them effectively can make a huge difference on the effectiveness of the final project.

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A good landing page is similar to a perfectly-tuned sales pitch. Depending on the site’s primary objective, it can represent almost anything, but the intent of the page always remains the same. Every small detail on it should work together in an effort to convince the target audience to convert. While that may seem like a complicated task, once you break it down into each element, you can see how strategies can be implemented effectively.

Every professional designer has his own process for creating an effective design, but there are a few simple steps that anyone designing a landing page should follow. This quick checklist offers some ideas and tactics that benefit almost any landing page.

The Perfect Headline

The headline of your landing page may be the most important element of the design. For a headline to be perfect, it must combine the “Four U’s” : Usefulness, Uniqueness, Urgency and Ultra-Specificity. It is almost impossible to meet all four of these requirements completely, professional designers always shoot for at least two of the four.

For example, take a look at MailChimp’s headline: “Easy Email Newsletters.” While this headline may not be urgent or particularly unique, it is both specific and useful. Urgency and uniqueness are less important to the specific target audience of this landing page. MailChimp isn’t trying to hard sell concert tickets to its customers, its promoting a service to make life simpler. A great headline doesn’t have to offer all of the “Four U’s.” By meeting two or three of these characteristics, it can still be effective at promoting your products or services.

Highlighting Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy is another extremely important piece to an effective landing page design. If you want to make a solid statement, all of your visual elements must be as coherent as your text content. Your landing page should be arranged so that the viewer’s eye moves from selling points to you call-to-action without distraction. Professional designers often turn to variations in type sizes and colours as tools for designing a compelling visual hierarchy.

Keep Your Copy Concise and Engaging

It may seem obvious that any copy on a landing page must be as appealing, clear and simple as possible. However, most don’t know how bad it can be when a landing page’s text content simply explains how great a company and its products are. All landing page content should be more engaging than these explanations. It should instead focus on describing exactly how the company’s products and services can benefit the target user.

There are many more important steps and elements involved with designing a great landing page, but the goal should always be the same. Bring your target customers in through engaging designs, an effective structure and solid content. Once you have a landing page you think might work, work with your professional designer to start testing and tweaking it until you have the best design possible.

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Product Design

Product designers focus on generating and prioritising functionality. They strive to deliver value to users. This can be done by following the product’s stated purpose or by modifying that stated purpose when no functionality presents enough potential. Product designers must think about how a user experiences their designs and how that user should encounter the intended product in its lifecycle. They also ensure that the user is called up on to act and has the ability to act after encountering the product.

Product designs involve very little illustration compared to the other design types; however, some diagrams, flow charts and rough interfaces can often help drive the product’s functionality home. Product design typically consists of an abundance of verbal materials such as essays and outlines that portray how a product’s functionality will meet a user’s needs. Prioritisation is paramount to good product design, because there is never enough time or resources available to work on secondary elements.

Interface Design

Interface design is based on translating the concept conveyed by a product designer and articulating how the user actually experiences an encounter with the product. For example, if the product is a website, interface designers try to arrange and define various design elements to help the user understand the information.

The goal of interface design is to make the product easy to use so that as many users as possible experience the value promised by it. The medium of an interface design is extremely important, as it controls the opportunities available. Interface designers must constantly envision themselves in the role of the user and study how people of many different backgrounds interact with the product.

Visual/Graphic Design

Visual design exists to make sure that the product presents a feeling of quality and evokes the proper emotional response from users. As the most aesthetically based and subjective design type, visual design is the most immediately recognisable type. This is why most people associate the general “design” term with visual design. Visual designers take cues from product and interface designers so that they can deliver the proper emotional reaction with the product. In visual design, interface elements must be attractive and appropriately-toned to reinforce the value and purpose of the product.

Details are also very important in visual design. A simple change in colour saturation or an ineffective design element can completely throw off the aesthetic appeal of a design. Visual design incorporates high-resolution images, animations and other elements into a product’s overall design to make it stand out among the competition.

Different products need different amounts of emphasis in each design type. If your product’s target market doesn’t find value in user-interface or how the product looks and feels, then you probably shouldn’t spend much time or resources on interface and visual design. On the other hand, if your product one that needs to invoke an emotional response in sceptical users, then visual design may be most important. The different types of design make it possible to complete a design project in the most efficient manner possible.

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