Design Templates

Whether or not you realize it, you judge every website by its visual appeal. And it only takes about 0.05 seconds to form an opinion. That means the hero image (the first photo, graphic, or video people see) has to be eye-catching enough to keep people scrolling the site. High-quality hero images are the key to a great first impression. If done well, they represent the essence of your brand identity and the overall theme of your web page. Yes, it’s a lot of weight for one piece of visual content. That’s why it’s the most heroic of all. This…

Ever click on a website, take one look and say “Hm, that’s going to be a no” while you look for the exit button? For me, it’s usually because of three reasons: the site looks outdated, crowded, or hard to navigate. Bad design can keep your target audience from gaining any interest in your brand. That’s why it’s important to understand the key design principles that will help you draw your audience in, keep them on the page, and generate conversions. Here’s an easy guide on a specific design principle: visual hierarchy. We’ll cover all the elements that contribute to…

To understand the “rule of thirds” as it relates to web design, let’s start with an example. Consider this image of a bull in a field: Not too interesting, right? As the center of the image, the bull image feels a little bland and predictable. I’m willing to bet if you saw this image on a website, you wouldn’t dwell on it too long. Now, consider what changes when we use the rule of thirds to place the bull away from the center: A little more interesting, right? The rule of thirds can help make your designs feel less predictable…

During my career, I have freelanced on and off. The biggest lesson I’ve learned in working with clients was the importance of setting expectations from the very beginning. It helps both parties get on the same page and can prevent miscommunication down the line. That’s why you often have initial discovery calls, set meetings, and draft contracts. Another way to set expectations is by creating a design brief. It’s essential in the early stages of your design project, whether you’re working with someone in-house or outsourcing it to an agency or independent contractor. Here’s everything you need to know about…

An annual report offers a comprehensive overview of your business’s yearly operations. As the content in these reports is heavy-hitting, it’s essential to present it in a way that helps your audience understand and visualize your successes. These reports also incorporate various design elements that support your metrics and create a unique, creative, and visually appealing story of your business activities. In this post, we’ll outline annual report design best-practices, provide a template you can use to create your own, and go over examples of annual reports from other businesses that you can use for inspiration. What is an annual…

At least once a month, I discover a new brand and take a quick peek at their profile. Within a few seconds, I decide if I’ll hit that “follow” button or exit the page. In those few seconds that I’m assessing the brand’s profile, I’m asking myself two questions: Is their content visually appealing and am I interested in the type of content they will be posting? I’d bet many social media users take a similar approach. This is why social media design is an instrumental part of your social strategy. So much of social media is about perception and…

If someone asked you to create an infographic, where would you start? Surely not with a blank Google Doc or sheet of paper. No, you’d likely search for an infographic design template to use as a starting point — or at least draw ideas from. Design templates are incredibly helpful tools for today’s marketers. They provide guidance and inspiration for almost all types of content and save precious time and energy. We created this guide to help you make the most of design templates for your business. Keep reading to get started or use the chapter links below to jump…

Does any aspect of your job intimidate you? For content creators, sometimes the most stressful part of the role can be opening a completely blank document to start a new project. Whether it’s writing a blog post, designing an infographic, or creating an ebook, it’s challenging to start creating a new piece of content from scratch, especially if you’ve never done it before. Here in the HubSpot content shop, we want to take the work out of it for you. Instead of trying to master how to create every type of content in existence, cut down on the stress and…

Did you know that landing pages have the highest conversion rate at 23% than other types of signup forms? But landing pages don’t convert visitors to leads all by themselves — without attractive and compelling offers behind them, they won’t generate the tons of leads for your sales team that you want them to. That’s why it’s so important to create valuable content people want to download, and then package it in a way that’s visually appealing to your readers. A big part of the ebook creation process is making it look both professional and attractive so people want to read it and…

At age 11, I dreamed of being an editor at a major magazine. I even put together my first publication, Teen Scene Magazine, using colored construction paper, yarn, and in-depth feature interviews with … my dad. Flash forward to today. I’ve swapped my colored construction paper and yarn for PowerPoint and InDesign. I’ve replaced my dad with marketing experts and influencers (in the office, that is). And week after week, I have the satisfaction of being an ebook creator. What Is an Ebook? Ebook is short for “electronic book,” and uses either a computer, mobile device, or ebook reader to…