Clarity first, then effect

A person has opened the website for the first time and knows nothing about you. They need to understand what you offer, who it’s for and why they should read on. The headline can be bold and figurative, but we put an explanation next to it. The visual idea attracts attention, and the text explains the meaning.

We build the page into a sequence

The hero section should present the main offer, establish the brand’s style and hint at what to do next. Below it come the services or products — the main areas, with links to the details.

Then what builds trust: real projects, the work process, reviews if you really have them. After that, answers to doubts: how the work is organised, what will be needed from the client and what the service includes.

The page ends with the next step. That’s a contact, a form or a link to a detailed page.

Every block needs a reason

For every section we ask: what new thing will a person learn? What question will they get an answer to? Will it help them decide? If a block repeats what has been said or just takes up space, we cut it. On expressive websites with large type and animation this is especially noticeable; more on this in the article “Animations on a website: when does the wow help, and when does it get in the way?”.

Design guides the eye

Hierarchy is created by the size of the headline, contrast, the position of the image and the spacing between blocks. A person scans the page, notices the accents and decides where to look next. We build the composition so that it leads from the overall impression to the details, and the elements don’t have to shout over each other.

We design for the phone separately

On a phone, the order of blocks, the length of headlines and the very way of interacting change. You can’t just shrink the desktop version, so we think through the mobile composition separately. What most often gets in the way on a small screen is covered in the article “A beautiful website people want to leave”.

The homepage isn’t the only door

A visitor may come from search straight to a service, project or article page. That’s why we make important pages understandable on their own. The homepage connects the sections and sets the brand’s tone, but it has no reason to be an encyclopedia.

In short

A strong homepage makes you want to look at it, and it’s also easy to find your way around. That’s why we first define the meaning and the user’s path, and then look for a visual form that strengthens the idea rather than hiding it. If your whole offer fits on one page, take a look at the landing page format.

— SOMO STUDIO