The brief
Protecht was adding a new reporting feature to their suite of risk management software, enabling users to create and analyse point-in-time dashboards. To promote this feature and raise awareness, they engaged me to design a whitepaper, a landing page and display ads in various sizes for Google Adwords and LinkedIn.
One of the main requirements outlined in the specification document is that all designs are professional, clean and aligned with Protecht branding.
Designing the whitepaper
During the scoping phase, the marketing manager provided several landing pages from competitors to serve as reference but gave me a lot of freedom to come up with a new style that was also fresh and engaging.
To guide my design, I set myself the following goals:
- Make the content easy to scan and digest
- Provide visual interest using typography and non-literal high-quality images
- Follow the brief - create a design that's professional, clean and on-brand
Keeping it on-brand
While designing the whitepaper, I referred to the company's brand guide to make sure that the typefaces and colours used were on-brand. I also created reusable Paragraph Styles in Adobe InDesign based on the guide to streamline my workflow.
By setting distinct styles in the editable document (which I also handed over to the client along with the final files), the business can make sweeping design changes in the future in case of a rebrand.
Letting the content breathe
I used consistent typography throughout the whitepaper, with clear section titles and headings to make it easy for users to browse. To keep each spread from looking crowded, I took a page from bookmakers (see what I did there?) and harmonious page design by creating a 2:3 margin layout in Adobe InDesign.
I then made sure that all important and focal elements on the page appear within the content area.
You can read more about the canons of page design at The Secret Law of Page Harmony.
To keep the user experience consistent, images used in the display ads and the landing page are visually similar to other images used in the whitepaper.
Adding visual interest
Content blocks were broken up using pull-quotes, system screenshots provided by the business and photos sourced specifically to provide interest on the page.
I also added full-page chapter titles set against a background overlaid with one of the business' colours to signal topic shifts.
To maximise conversions, I created the landing page template in Hubspot to have sections that were focused and purposeful.
I kept the header simple and distraction-free by removing navigation links to other parts of the website. It displays the title of the whitepaper as well as a button, which takes users directly to the form at the bottom of the page.
In the main body, I added a stylised photo and a quote pulled from the whitepaper to show users what they are getting. With approval from the Marketing Manager, I rewrote the subheading so that it conveys a benefit and big content blocks were broken up into smaller chunks, with bullet lists used for key points.
While developing the landing page template, I noticed that the form the client wanted to use had more than five fields. So I encouraged them to simplify the form to make it appear less daunting to users.
I also made sure that the red Call to Action is clear and stands out from the blue and whites on the page.
Finally, at the bottom of the screen is a section about the writer so users can make a personal connection and know that the whitepaper is from an authoritative source.
Creating the display ads and banners
The business also asked that I design several display ads so they can promote the whitepaper through Google Adwords and LinkedIn ads.
I created a total of 14 banners, based on the dimensions provided, including three banners which will be used in email marketing.
To address the brief, each banner includes the following elements:
- The Protecht logo
- The title of the whitepaper
- A standout Call to Action
The Marketing Manager welcomed suggestions in terms of design and copy, so I proposed changing the CTA text from "Download Today" to "Get the Whitepaper" to make it more specific.
For consistent visual messaging, I also used the same image that appears in the landing page banner (with the same style as other images in the whitepaper).
Based on LinkedIn's A/B testing results, where possible, I positioned the person in the image so she is looking directly at the Call to Action to increase clickthroughs.
Wrapping up
Once all assets were reviewed, tested and approved, I then provided the business with all raw images, editable files and all final PDF and image outputs. I also included some documentation so their internal design team can reuse the new templates for future campaigns.
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