25 Effective Homepage Design Examples & Why They Work

A homepage isn’t just the first page your target audience might see. It’s also the oen that probably converts most prospects into customers. 

What makes a good homepage? In most cases, there are a few elements that you can’t go without. THese are:

• Your unique selling proposition (USP)
• Navigation bar
• Call to action button
• Hero image or video
• Features section
• Social proof section

But including all of these elements doesn’t guarantee your homepage will perform as intended. Instead, it’s best to look at some examples of good homepage design and see how to 

We’ve split them into different sections for easier browsing. 

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Corporate or business homepages

Corporate or business homepages are the most common, and probably the most diverse. It’s easy to see how a corporate website will have a totally different look and feel than a small business website.

Here are some of the best homepage design examples to get tips from.

1. Thrive Market

This is truly one of the most effective homepage design examples. Thanks to a killer CTA and engaging hero section video, Thrive Market’s Homepage instantly lures you in. 

The web page’s muted and trendy color palette perfectly complements the company’s commitment to organic, fairtrade products. 

Their homepage also includes a social proof section, which is slightly more common with software as a service pages. However, as this is also a service (product delivery) the section makes perfect sense and helps to inspire a sense of trust. 

2. Acupuncture with Fabi

Whatever kind of business you have, creative website design always does the trick. Acupuncture with Fabi is one of the most creative homepage design examples, with custom illustrations and a modern color scheme. Instead of stock photos and symbols overused in the wellness industry this acupuncturist opted for a totally custom approach. 

The key takeaway from this homepage design example? Dare to be different. If you know your target audience well, 

3. Art Cafe

Not that long ago, local cafes and shops didn’t have much of an online presence. Nowadays you’ll find heaps of creative coffee shop websites that don’t just serveArt Cafe has a simple, but effective homepage, true to their unique selling point. Aside from serving high-quality coffee and snacks this NYC establishment has a rich event calendar, allowing local artists and musicians to showcase their work at the cafe. 

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4. Sweet Dreams

‍Sweet Dreams is a manufacturer of CBD gummies. This great homepage design demonstrates how to make a pretty basic layout work well for your brand.Make sure to feature your logo prominently and use your brand identity colors.

Instead of a products section (if like them you only have one product) you can include a graphic that explains the benefits of using your product.

5. Noomo

If you have a design or marketing agency, creating an effective homepage is a must. After all, even if you’re not a specialized web design company people expect you to understand the value of great web design. Noomo is a digital design agency with a homepage design that’s truly cutting edge.It utilizes parallax scrolling and motion graphics to create a truly immersive user experience on the homepage. 

Something like this is definitely not doable with website builders and templates. But if you think your brand needs a unique website like this, there’s more than one way to hire a website designer. 

Ecommerce homepages

What’s the difference between a landing page and a homepage?

By definition, landing pages have to include a call to action - they are used to convert website visitors into leads or customers. Homepages, on the other hand, are used primarily to provide information and raise brand awareness.

However, ecommerce homepages have to act as both a homepage and a landing page. They should include enough information about your company and brand, and still give visitors the option to buy your products easily. 

Here are some examples of good homepage designs of this kind. 

6. Apple

Although Apple is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, their homepage is essentially a highly effective ecommerce page. 

The homepage features some of their high-quality products, with the most popular (iPhone) in the hero section. Although you can opt to “learn more”, each product section includes a prominent “buy now” button. 

If you’re lucky enough to have a loyal following like Apple, this is a great homepage layout. Don’t waste space or time going into details about your business. Give people a quick and easy overview of your product and a chance to buy them now. 

If done well, a page like this can skyrocket your conversion rates and boost profit.

7. Fenty Beauty

Rhianna’s beauty brand has one of the best ecommerce website homepages out there.

As far as design itself goes, Fenty Beauty nothing particularly spectacular. Still, the minimalist background compliments the trendy packaging well, and it makes good use of motion graphics to add a bit of visual interest.

However, where it really stands out is the layout. The hero section promotes the latest products with a vibrant background and a powerful CTA button.

Moving on from there, you can see featured products, and discounted items. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to helpful tutorials and quizzes for finding the right makeup for yourself.

If you’re wondering how to strike the right balance between being informative and proportional, this is the page to learn from. 

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8. Warby Parker

Looking for a straightforward website homepage design idea? Warby Parker has a terrific ecommerce homepage that’s user friendly, effective and still incredibly simple

If there’s something to learn from this page, it’s the power of a good product shot. You can decide to feature them on its own, or “in action”, as is the case with models showing off glasses.

Keep things dynamic with different types of product shots, but stick to your signature products. It’s also a good idea to add interactive elements, such as a button that changes the color of the product. This will increase engagement and time spent on your page.

9. Target

If your business sells a lot of different products, Target is the best homepage design example to learn from.

With carefully selected featured products the site has a coherent color scheme, making the site more coherent and visually appealing.

They also use the same background for different products, which makes browsing easier. You will also notice that the navigation bar is pretty simple.

 If you have a big selection of products, opt for a dropdown menu on your navigation bar instead of placing all the different products on the navbar itself.

10. Aesop

Aesop has one of my favourite brand identities of all time, and their homepage doesn’t disappoint. 

With a muted color palette, stunning typography, and minimal design elements, it’s really different to to typical ecomerrce pages, which are packed with products and use bold fonts and loud colors.

It’s more similar to a company homepage, as it strives to provide information about the brand’s vision and values. The products section isn’t overbearing and fits into the rest of the page seamlessly.

SaaS homepages

If you took a bit of time to research the most successful software-as-a-service homepage design examples, you’d quickly notice many follow the same structure. This usually entails a hero section, features, social proof, and call to action. Incidentally, this is also the most effective structure for a landing page. 

However, while many have the same structure, there are a few examples that really stand out. Here are some of them. 

11. Dropbox

The best feature of Dropbox’s homepage design is definitely the value proposition section. Besides great, straightforward copy, this is an awesome of example of using graphic design to convey your message.

With different colors and simple animations that appear when you hover over the colorful words, it encourages users to engage with the website and spend more time thinking about and understanding how this software can be useful. 

It’s a simple visual trick, but a highly effective one!

12. Slack

Slack’s homepage is another well-designed web page, perfectly in line with their trendy and recognizable brand design. 

The hero section consists of an animation showing how the platform looks in real life. Also notable are the featured news and blog posts which allow website visitors to understand this software better.

However, the best part about this relatively short homepage is the section corresponding to their target audience’s pain points. The text corresponds to animated images which really help to bring home the message how Slack makes work flexible, communication easy, and helps to automate and speed up certain processes. 

13. Grammarly

Grammarly’s homepage probably isn’t as eye-catching as some of the rest at first glance. Still, it definitely deserves a spot on this list for a couple of reasons.

Its minimalist design and copy encourage you to read everything that’s on the page, which is quite rare nowadays. Moreover, it uses the way their app actually works to bring home certain points (e.g. writing thanks to your team on Slack).

Finally, it has a terrific social proof section, with measurable results from various clients. If you have access to data like this, make sure to feature it prominently, just like Grammarly did. 

14. Asana

Want to make your hero section pop? Videos are still one of the best ways to boost engagement on your site.

Asana uses a pretty simple video, which still helps to make the page more dynamic and interesting. It’s also a good example of how you can use stock videos effectively, by adding design elements and motion graphics that make it look like a professional, branded video. 

15. Headspace

We’ve mentioned that many SaaS homepages follow the same structure. But here’s a homepage design example that does things differently.

Headspace includes pricing in their hero section. It works perfectly, since they also offer a free trial, so the CTA reads “try it for free”.

It’s a great way to convert bottom of the funnel prospects quickly. For those needing a little more convincing the rest of the page offers plenty of information, neatly organized together with their recognizable playful style and cute illustrations.

Blog homepages

Many talented writers forget that blog design is sometimes as important as the content itself. The blog pages need to have legible fonts and generous spacing for easy reading, as well as images that break up the text.

But what about homepages? Here are examples of good homepage designs for blogs!

16. Medium

Medium is definitely the simplest homepage design on this list. What you see below is quite literally it!

A great value proposition and call to action, paired with elegant design immediately signal that this platform is focused on diverse content. 

17. Cup of Jo

This is probably one of the most famous lifestyle blogs out there. As you might expect it doesn’t have the most elegant design. Blogs like this ear money from ads so they’re also bound to pop up and clutter the interface.

Nevertheless, Cup of Jo instantly draws its audience in thanks to its genuineness. 

You’ll immediately notice the blog owner’s profile on the right, complete with social media links to help you connect with her. The blog is packed with real-life photos that provide credibility for her writing.

On the other hand, stock photos are also used very well, to complement the overall look and feel of the website: the cute logo and elegant gray background. 

18. The Great Discontent

This online publication features interviews with artists, authors, producers, and scientists. Instead of creating a simple homepage with equally sized photos of the interviewees.

Instead, The Great Discontent’s homepage design is a dynamic collage of artsy photographs that are really fun to look through. Of course, since this is a blog homepage, as you hover over each image you’ll see a short summary of what the piece is about. 

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19. Wired

If you’re looking for a more traditional, yet effective blog homepage layout, I seriously suggest your check out Wired.

Although it’s packed with content as most online publications are, it’s still very easy to navigate. This is thanks to subsections like “today’s picks”, “most recent” and “the big story”, which help visitors wade through the content. 

Similarly the use of different visuals (photos, illustrations, and collages) give the site a more interesting feel. However, thanks to good use of fonts and spacing everything still looks clean and coherent. 

20. Birchbox

Birchbox is actually a beauty brand that has its own online magazine. And honestly it’s one of my favorite blog homepage designs out there.

Although you won’t see many bells and whistles here, everything is designed with great precision and care. The photos and illustrations all fit the same color scheme and style. There’s generous spacing between the articles, so skimming and browsing is easier. 

The articles are categorized and there’s also a search bar allowing you to find what you want easily. 

Portfolio homepages

Last but not least, we’ll look at some stellar portfolio homepages.

Similarly to blogs, these pages are never about the work alone. If you don’t create a homepage that’s easy to navigate and makes a powerful first impression, no one will bother to look at your work.

Here are some great homepage examples to learn from!

21. Mike Kus

Let’s start with a simple, yet effective homepage design. If you’re a graphic designer, your work should speak for itself. However, as any skilled designer can tell you the way you organize your designs can make a world of difference.

Mike Kus’ online portfolio is characterized by stark color contrasts which allow each individual piece to shine. This simple homepage consists of only designs, and as you click on each graphic, an expanded case study opens up on the side.

This is a terrific idea to reduce bounce rates. Since people stay on the homepage, they will be more likely to keep browsing your portfolio. 

22. Hello Monday

Big design agencies often have a separate portfolio page. Hello Monday dared to be different and included their rich portfolio on the homepage itself.

Of course, since this digital agency does a lot more than design alone,each case study is marked with appropriate tags (e.g. branding, ecommerce, experiences, etc.) 

They also have some of the most creative page transitions I’ve seen lately. 

23. Locke Hughes

When you think about personal homepage design, many immediately think of designers. However, writers can also benefit from having a professional personal website, complete with a killer homepage. 

A writing portfolio might look a bit cluttered on a homepage, but this writer manages to advertise some of her achievements by featuring all the publications she’s worked for.

A CTA button with “see some of my work” is a natural fit here. The homepage is further personalized with a sneak peek of her Instagram feed. You can easily do this too with website builders like Wix or Squarespace. 

24. Zoe Wordaz

Zoe Wordaz is a surface designer, pattern artist and illustrator. So, it’s no surprise that as you land on her homepage the first thing you see is a custom illustrated pattern.

This is yet another reminder to choose your homepage hero image wisely.  Something eye-catching that relates to your work is always the best choice. Avoid stock photos and go with something custom - whether it’s an illustration or a video. 

25. Annie

Designers, writers, and how about a developer’s portfolio website. Annie Liew is a web developer with a fun and playful website that also helps to showcase some of her expertise. 

Aside from her skills and web tools she’s proficient with, the website also has a terrific portfolio section. It allows you to view the projects in GitHub, and there’s a short description for each one. 

How to design a homepage?

We certainly hope this lengthy list of examples of good homepage design has given you some food for thought. If you feel a little bit overwhelmed, here are a few key takeaways to remember.

1. Create the right structure. In most cases it’s going to be the hero section, features, social proof, and call to action. But think about what works for you and your target audience.
2. The simpler the navigation menu the better. Information overload can confuse visitors and cause them to leave your site. Stick to the most essential aspects and add anything else in a dropdown menu.
3. Stay on brand. For many, your homepage is the first impression of your brand. Make sure to use colors, fonts, and styles thar reflect your brand’s visiona dna target audience.
4. Optimize your site for web/mobile. Using the right keywords on your homepage can help it rank high in search engine results. Also, don’t forget to optimize your site for mobile devices - over half of the world’s internet traffic comes from mobile!
5. Embrace motion graphics. Plenty examples of good homepage design show just how impactful even the simplest motion design can be. Add motion to page transitions or on-page designs and illustrations to create a more interactive user experience.

Of course, even if you know all the best practices of homepage design, this is hardly something you can do alone.

Professional web design agencies, even those working with small businesses can charge thousands of dollars to get your site up and running. If this isn’t in your budget, we have a great alternative solution. 

No, I’m not talking about spending hours and days creating a DIY site with a site builder. Sure, it might be the cheapest option, but you’ll waste a huge amount of your precious time. Moreover, the site will hardly be a perfect fit for your brand, so you’ll end up paying for a site redesign very soon.

Why not try on-demand web design services instead? You can get your site professionally designed for well under $1,000. Best of all, the design package includes an unlimited  number of design requests and revisions. 

That means you can get your homepage, entire site, and custom graphics to populate it with, all at a flat monthly rate!‍

There’s a lot more to discover about subscription-based design services. If you’d like to chat about your design needs, we’d love to hear from you. Book a free demo for a sneak peek on how we work, and a consultation about your design needs.