To further create a digital experience for our project, we have been tracked with creating a landing page reflective of our brand or sub brand.

Content and Hierarchy

I want my landing page to provide valuable insight into my brand, so I think it’s important to determine what information I want to include and its hierarchy before I jump into sketching. Without taking this time to carefully think though what I’d like to include, I would risk missing out on vital information.

A draft of my intentions for the structure and content of my landing page is as follows. These are displayed in the order and hierarchy I plan on placing them:

• I intent to place a large slogan at the top of my page. I decided upon ‘Open some Books with Open Books’ as it’s concise and to the point. Having a statement of this length can be quickly interpreted by users, drawing them into the site and providing insight as to the brands missions.
• Below this, I intend to place my mission statement; “Open Books mission is to encourage young people ages 18-25 to discover and enjoy reading books that they love, building their confidence, encouraging reading habits and positive experiences with libraries.”
• Call to Action: This will direct users to download the app. A call to action is a vital aspect of any landing page, as it is how users branch out to reaching different brand touchpoints of which the landing page acts as a hub for discovering. I’d like include a prototype view of the app too, as this gives users a preview of what the apps interface is like.
• About us: A brief overview of the brand. This is placed below the mission statement and CTA as it isn’t essential information to understand the brand, but provides valuable context and interesting background information. This point and below present information of this nature, as all the vital aspects are out of the way, so users who continue scrolling are interested in more than a brief overview.
• Key feature: I’d like to display a key feature of the app on the web-page. This can play into my CTA by showcasing selling points, encouraging users to download the app to explore.
• Justifications: Justifiying why users should start reading with Open Books.
• Another key feature shown through an app prototype view to draw in customers by showcasing what our service can provide.
• Reviews: I feel that showing customer reviews is always something I personally like to see on brand pages, as it shows real feedback rather than just having a list of selling points.
• Finally, I will include some information on visiting physical library locations. Although this isn’t a major feature of my brand, I want to make note of the fact that Open Books will have some features in LibrariesNI locations as they are a sub-brand.

Sketches

I began the process of creating my landing page by sketching out a design. I found it much easier sketching with a rough idea of my content and hierarchy, as I only needed to think about the formatting and presenting it effectively. I found it quite difficult to lay out my information, and I ended up with a few drafts of sketched that I didn’t like. However, these ended ups playing a valuable role in my process of coming up with my final design, as I made notes on the sketches I didn’t like about what I disliked, why and improvements I could make. I felt that this was vey useful for understanding what exactly I disliked about these designs and how I. could make improvements, rather than knowing I disliked them but not identifying what exactly I want to change

An initial sketch draft

It is evident that this was beneficial, as once I began identifying what improvements I could make I was able to move on to creating more successful sketches. Shown below is the sketch I decided to use in my design. I’m very glad that I didn't ‘t rush the sketching process, as I feel like I wouldn’t have fully thought through my design and ended up with something that could've bee easily improved.

Final sketch

Wire Frame

I created a wireframe of what I wanted my design to look like after I had completed my sketches. I always find wireframes a very useful part of the design process, as jumping straight from sketches to hi-fi designs can be quite difficult and result in rushing or missing steps. Although my wireframe is in no way detailed, it provided a way of getting my paper ideas onto a screen, much like a stepping stone to my final outcome.