Landing page for research paper library

This is a very usable design. It has good affordances for buttons (and other controls).

Fixes: 1) under the logo - the tagline is difficult to read. 2) some of the font sizes are a bit small. I'm a baby boomer - and not the target audience. You may want to look at adding font size controller one day - so the users can pump up the size of the fonts as needed. 3) I like the call to action "Ready to Start writing your Essay..." You could make it a bit more persuasive by tweaking "4 steps to completing a great Essay" 4) The modules named "Students & Profs" is a great trust marker - leveraging the social norm of social proof (see Robert Cialdini's "Six Weapons of Influence") If you add a way of entering data for a registration (right there) you will start to see more conversions. 5) Consider adding a whitepaper or ebook -- that illustrates success stories. instead of giving it away - leverage Cialdini's persuasive norm "Commitment and Consistency" by requesting the email address (or more info) from people.

I think you have achieved a good visual balance in the modules. Be careful of how deep the page scrolls. It can sometimes make key information invisible to visitors who are scanning for content "superficially" - versus reading for elaborate details (see ELM concept).

Really nice site design. Good luck!

Jens

I think overall, the site is looking good!

I have added a few notes, to your image on where I think it needs some tweaking:

1. It's hard to tell if this is the "current" page, make it more proeminent
2. The guy in the logo, seems a little smaller, make him a bit bigger, and make the tagline a grey the white with the drop shadow is hard to read.
3. Remove the out line stoke on all content boxes, it looks out of place especially as there's no outline on teh above box
4. I like the call to action, just not sure about the arrow under it
5. Alignment - keep this in line with the Search bar - Make the search bar bigger if you have to

Like I said a few tweaks, not much more, great to see the wire frame reflected in the design!

Hello Jens,

Which one is the latest version to review, the screenshot here or the live site?

I'm not sure what to look at first - everything is kind of neutral. Suggestions:

1. Adjust buttons in the "Ready to start writing your essay? Lets go!" panel.

   • Use parallel structure for the wording of the buttons. Currently there are two verb-based and two descriptive.

   • Give the buttons some color (light to medium blue perhaps) and make the text bold.

2. Bump up the headings in the two light blue panels on the left.

3. Make the background white in the main panel with "JFK's Life."

Other issues:

1. Lose the gray arrows behind the green buttons or make them actual arrows. The gray arrows are confusing.

   1. Anchor "worried about plagirism" link to something. It's floating. Maybe put it on a single line above the search tab.

Hi jens

I visited the site, I found it to be really good.

As you have already mentioned,not much changes will be done, still you always need to know what might work or what others feel. So, here are some of my points for your, nice site, which might help you:

1. Logo: Although, it might be too late to do any changes, but I am trying to explain my view. According to me, logo could have been much better with some emphasis on 'Pen' along with the scholar present right now. It's all about Writing for students. Though 'student' part gets communicated through logo, 'writing' doesn't!

2. Popular Essays Position: This box really needs to be on top when someone is reading the essay. Rest may go down, one as testimonial, another says about the institutes. But most popular ones are really important, for which, presently, the user has to scroll down a bit.

Those were couple of points I though might help you in increasing its usability.

Hope this gives you some food for thought :-)

All the best

cheers Prashant

Hi Jens

I don't have a lot more to add to what's been already mentioned. This looks pretty straightforward, easy to understand, well-thought out and fulfills the brief.

The things I think could be improved are:

1. The logo and its positioning. My personal preference would be to delete the cartoon character altogether and replace him with a symbol. For me, he lowers the tone of the business. Makes it look amateurish. The logotype looks very jammed in by the nav tabs underneath. Could the tabs be repositioned to a more usable area?

2. The vertical alignment of the four link buttons is off-putting. They don't line up with anything and seem to float awkwardly in the space. I would make a fifth button and space them evenly across the page.

3. There's an awkward step where the left column meets the main essay panel. Drop the left down to align the two at the top and leave the text only in the space.

4. There are alignment issues in the typography as well. The mix of centred and ranged left subheads is messy. The only one that should remain centred is the Ready to start... Make all the rest range left and reposition all the icons to the right eg. Get ideas and start writing range left in the box, lightbulb icon at right.

5. In the header, make the plagiarism text range left above the search box.

6. In the main panel, move the written pages icon to right, aligned above the Keywords panel. John F. Kennedy's Life range left. In the link line below, move the stars and reviews to align with the Keywords panel.

7. At the bottom of the essay panel, move the stars to the right and range the text column left under the subhead.

8. For the rest of the typography, the serif/sans mix is a little awkward in places. I like the serif – it's a good "educational" look – but I'd like to see it replace the sans subheads in the link panels at top.

9. Delete the grey arrows behind the green buttons. Unnecessary and distracting.

Hope this helps.

When arriving at sites, the "Who are you, what do you do, and what does it mean to me test" is the 1st conversion optimization technique I apply.

This clearly states who you are, and what you do (might want the rethink the inverse white font here). Well done.

Now, when the visitor asks "what does it mean to me?", this lander doesn't give a clear answer (it might be obvious, and it is there if you really look at it, but this might be an area of improvement to look at. What are the key selling benefits someone might want to know when accessing the site's value?

Hope this helped.