[img]http://upload.vstanced.com/images/2018/02/16/xLE.png[/img]
Each week, a member of works will share one of their projects and explain the thinking behind its design. We hope that this will teach you about the importance of thinking in the design process. We'd also, of course, appreciate any feedback you may have on the work itself (this is RMG, after all, and nobody's perfect)!
Each week, a member of works will share one of their projects and explain the thinking behind its design. We hope that this will teach you about the importance of thinking in the design process. We'd also, of course, appreciate any feedback you may have on the work itself (this is RMG, after all, and nobody's perfect)!
This week, I'll be sharing a thread design I made quite a while ago for a doxing ebook here on HF. I've put the design in the spoiler below.
Spoiler (Click to View)
I don't want this to become a thread design tutorial, so I won't go into loads of detail. Rather, I'll just explain my design decisions as best I can - if you want tutorials or guides, I'd recommend checking out works's Tutorial Tuesday series instead.
I wanted to try something new in the header. This was my first or second thread design I made after a very long break from HF (1-2 years) and the design scene has really moved on. I've always tried to mimic wider design trends in my thread design work; several years ago this meant using images for the header (anyone remember all those thousands of threads with generic pictures of mountains in the hero?), but during my break this practice became increasingly obsolescent. Nowadays, people approach headers in interesting ways: using stock images to create cool scenes/photo manipulations, using icons and illustrations to fill the space, or even just using block colour and shapes to do so. There's much less of a reliance on images. So I thought I'd give it a go and use some icons related to doxing/detracing/ebooks in the header. I think the header block itself is too small for the amount of content I shoved in there, but hey.
Moving down, I tried to get a sense of flow into the design. One thing I like about thread designs is that their dimensions almost force you to think a lot about vertical flow: how do you get the user to keep scrolling down? This is a key concern for me when I'm designing threads. Sometimes I accomplish vertical flow by having the different sections merge into each other (as in this design), but this particular thread doesn't really do that. Instead, I use stuff like the CTA in the header image (it says scroll rather than click here because unlike in a website [where the act of convincing the customer to buy can continue on the linked page], it is the lower part of the thread which does this job of convincing the user to buy, not some external linked site. Imo thread designers on HF should bear this in mind). I also used big focals to flow through the design: the '50+', '30+' and '3+' for example. They convey real information about the ebook whilst also encouraging the user to read on by grabbing their attention before the user can think about closing the tab.
I dislike the alignment of the next bit. It's basically just wrong, lol. I used a weird grid to make this thread and it's very clear here. Oh well. Anyway, the information is clear for consumers and it doesn't take up too much room; I don't like thread designs where the 'features' section stretches on and on. I prefer to keep it compact because too much information to read can kill the flow of the design. The next section does enumerate some features, but keeps explanations brief. Again, the eye is drawn by the huge book icon, which replaces those 3D mockups of books used on older thread designs like this one.
The packages section is the brightest of the whole design, and deliberately so. It's eye-catching and immediately stands out, inviting the user to read it after they're done with the stuff above. The CTA here is to buy; the focus has shifted now from encouraging the user to read down the design to encouraging the user to buy. The contact section which follows is purely functional, and again the alignment bothers me.
Anyway, hopefully that's given you some insight into a few things I think about while designing a thread :) do let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
[img]http://upload.vstanced.com/images/2018/02/16/xLL.gif[/img]
![[Image: HMHpl76.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/HMHpl76.gif)
![[Image: gjTsm61.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/gjTsm61.gif)
![[Image: 57Z5P31.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/57Z5P31.gif)
![[Image: AEMUV3u.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/AEMUV3u.gif)
