Branding 101: Visual Hierarchy In Landing Page Designs

Published on:
May 23, 2022

Say you come across an advertisement. It illustrates how the marketing agency can help you generate more leads. You click on the link attached to the content and land on a page. We call it the landing page, and it commonly has a headline, a subheading that creates urgency, and a CTA.

Now imagine a cluttered landing page with tons of content and no specific goal. You would leave, right? So, to fulfill its purpose, the landing page needs to be well-designed with enough white space and visual hierarchy. The visual hierarchy guides you through the page, finally helping you get to the page's purpose. 

In this blog, MarsDevs focuses on visual hierarchy and how you can use it to make your landing pages better. As we conclude, we would be introducing the key to a great website, UIs, and development services with MarsDevs.

Why are designs an important part of the landing page ?

Landing Page Design

Landing pages help you generate leads. Marketing teams primarily use them to collect contact information from visitors and interact with them in detail. A landing page is a tool that enables you to increase conversions, and you want your page to be impactful. How would you know if a landing page is impactful?

Great designs help your page stand out. It makes people aware of your product or services, signifies what you offer, eliminates distraction, and drives conversions. The design is a critical element, and your creative team needs to be strategic when working on its effectiveness. 

UI/UX in design
UI/UX in design

MarsDevs Tips on creating a landing page that converts:

  1. Include negative space to decrease clutter and distraction.
  2. Highlight your logo and work on consistent branding to make the patterns familiar.
  3. Direct your customers' attention to the CTA.
  4. Make it mobile-friendly.
  5. Decide on a clear headline/subheadings.
  6. Simplicity is the key to success.
  7. Use compelling videos and visuals that draw attention.

Worried about creating the perfect design for your landing page? MarsDevs takes care of the website’s UI along with its development. With animations that help your users in navigating the site, MarsDevs can change how you perceive a development team.

What is visual hierarchy?

Visual hierarchy in landing page
Visual hierarchy in landing page

When you look at a design, do you grasp all the information at just a glance? You take some time to get there. What catches your attention first? Is it the headline in bold or the CTA in orange? 

There is a specific order in which humans process information on your page. And that is visual hierarchy. The visual hierarchy is the method of prioritizing certain elements that need instant attention. The users get overwhelmed and distracted without a proper structure and will fail to take any action at all.

Why is Visual Hierarchy so important?

Visual hierarchy in designs
Visual hierarchy in designs

Did you know the way we read a line depends on the language too at times? People read Urdu script from right to left and Devanagari from left to right. And for this article, we can make a safe bet that you would not be reading from the bottom to the top. There are several exceptions to a concept, but it has a structure.

Similarly, when you go through a visual structure, you have a way to navigate through it. It is slightly different, but eye-tracking helps us study and understand better. We can categorize this structure into two different ways: Z Patterns and F Patterns. 

We commonly use F patterns when the designs have heavy text, like this article. The structure follows the shape of the alphabet F. It starts from the left top and moves across the page horizontally. Your viewers can quickly get a scan through the headings and subheadings to move on faster. 

We follow the Z shape structure when working with a less dense design. It follows the shape of the alphabet Z. Your elements and their placement decide the format you should follow. But before you do that, it is essential to know why designs take up such a vital part of your landing page.

The intentional designs guide your audience. It plays an important role in how your audience would experience your page. You can make sure they pay attention to the important aspects of the design or the page. When you know how to create that visual hierarchy, you have the remote control with you.

MarsDevs Tips: 

  1. The easiest way to break down your visual hierarchy is by emphasizing the elements you know are more important. 
  1. Do not highlight all the elements. When you want everything to stand out, nothing stands out in the end.
  1. You can squint at your design to test its effectiveness unless all the elements and details blur out. Now, you can see the general shapes. Notice what stands out. The design is good to go if you want your viewers to look at that first. Otherwise, you might need to rework.

How can you use visual hierarchy in your landing page designs?

Landing page designs
Landing page designs
  • The white space is the core component of your design.
White space in design
White space in design

You might think that the negative space is just an empty area between your design elements. However, it is also an essential component of your visual composition. White space is the tool that guides your audience's eyes and creates a clear layout. You can use white space to highlight particular elements that you want the viewers to focus on.

White space adds value, and you need to consider using it on your landing page to create a compelling visual hierarchy. 

MarsDevs Tips: Get the key to good designs.

  1. Use white space to help your visitors navigate through the landing page. It gives the page a clear structure, so they know what to do next. 
  1. When you use images, use them to direct your viewers' attention in a particular direction. For example, if you are a handbag company and have an image of a woman with a bag, make it look at the headline. It directs the ¸' eyes from her image to the copy or the headline. 
  1. People read bigger things first. According to the guidelines of designing, the header to body text size should be in a 3:1 ratio.  Consider that as an important principle. 
  • Remember the golden ratio
Golden ratio in landing page
Golden ratio in landing page

Did you hear about the golden ratio designers apply to a design? Let us understand what a golden ratio is. We all want harmony and balance, even mother nature. People are more excited about things that have some kind of natural touch.

Thus, designers try to aim and implement these patterns in their designs to make them naturally pleasing to the human eye. The golden ratio equals 1:1.618, making the design aesthetically pleasing to our vision. While it has existed for more than 4000 years, designers still find it relevant. The golden ratio can help you:

  1. Create a clear visual hierarchy.
  2. Design well-balanced content. 
  3. Create a great first impression.
  4. Use white space effectively.
  5. Include various levels of typography in your design.
  • Use contrasting colors 
Contrasting colors in landing page designs
Contrasting colors in landing page designs

Colors and their combinations are essential aspects to consider when designing a landing page. They distinguish their core elements for the visual hierarchy and help your purpose stand out. For instance, say you create a landing page to make a sale. You would use red to highlight the CTA "buy" so it catches the attention faster.

However, colors have a hierarchy of their own. The power of its influences decides the order. For instance, red attracts faster, and white or cream is soft, thus weak in creating an impact. Designs use bold colors to set contrast and make a point.

  • Be clear about the end goal.
CTA in landing page designs
CTA in landing page designs

The goals stand behind your product. Every marketing campaign you work on focuses on achieving that end goal. But in order to get the audience to become your customer or subscribe to your service, your creative teams must prioritize the UI elements according to their roles. 

For instance, if you are a digital marketing agency, you would add a heading that makes people aware of what you do and include a clear CTA button that says "subscribe." 

MarsDevs tips:

  1. When you consider your business goals and keep them clear in your mind, it is easier to achieve them. 
  2. The item images need to catch your audience's eyes. Your team can prioritize the visual content and help them stand out. 
  3. Highlight the CTA, so people know where to click next.
  • The Elements' sizes determine their visibility.
Visibility of elements in landing page designs
Visibility of elements in landing page designs

When you look at this design, what do you see? The first letters that would catch your eyes would either be "Pass it on" or "Harder." Why do you think that is? Because these are the most prominent elements on the page. 

So, when you enlarge the size of an object and its dimensions in contrast with the other elements, you give it visual importance. On the other hand, you can decrease its size if you want to de-emphasize. This way, you can make them less visible. Although you can experiment with your structure, balance and moderation remain the key.

Some examples of great visual hierarchy

Taking inspiration from other designs help you understand better and execute it practically. So, MarsDevs presents you with some examples of great visual hierarchy in designs.

  • Netflix:
Netflix landing page designs
Netflix landing page designs

Netflix uses contrasting sizes as one of the critical elements in a design. First, you will read "Unlimited movies, TV shows, and more" first. Then you will move on to the following line. Also, the red CTA "getting started" catches your attention instantly.

  • Apple:
Apple landing page design
Apple landing page design

We often have a desire to fill the space with exciting elements, thinking it would make the design more eye-catching. But, if we make everything essential or interesting, the elements fail to stand out. White space makes sure you emphasize the important details more. Apple makes excellent use of blank space.

  • Predominantly Black
Predominantly black landing page designs
Predominantly black landing page designs

The first element that catches the eye as you look at the design is the "2022 is here". And it guides us through. The design uses white space to highlight the message and serve its purpose well.

  • Shopify
Shopify landing page designs
Shopify landing page designs

Spotify's Landing page is simple with a very clean interface. It is not text-heavy, just highlighting the essential points and the key features. The CTA is concise too and the button stands out. Shopify's landing page simply tells you what it is about and guides you to convert.

  • DoorDash
DoorDash landing page designs
DoorDash landing page designs

When you look at the landing page of DoorDash, the headline catches your eye. The use of orange in the background and white in the text as a contrast guides you from the headline to the CTA, making you take action, achieving the final purpose. The page is simple and works great for the brand.

  • Airbnb
Airbnb landing page designs
Airbnb landing page designs

Airbnb makes use of personalization to convert its visitors into hosts. The interface is simple with a positive vibe. The texts capture your attention and the red CTA guides you to take further action.

Create excellent websites and landing pages with your favorite development team at MarsDevs.

Getting a developer that also takes care of your site’s UI is tricky. You can hire the best and then find out they do not fit with your team. Hiring is a long, tedious, and costly process. And now think about the number of times you need to hire and fire before you land with the perfect fit. Well, as a friend in need is a friend indeed, MarsDevs can chip in anytime you want.

Apart from being an excellent development team, MarsDevs takes care of the overall development process, including the look and feel of what we are working on with you. Did you know where Edison’s genius lies? It is not the invention of the bulb but the ability of creating a fully developed system of electric power generation and transmission. Developing functional systems is the key to revolution. MarsDevs streamlines your operational systems and saves you time, money, and resources. So, let us connect and discuss possibilities next. 


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