How to design a pre-launch landing page

This week I launched a new product for ​designing thumbnails​ and learned a lot about how to walk the line between the act of building and the act of selling.

Transitioning from writing about anything with a focus on building something can catch people off guard.

Two lessons that might be helpful:

1) I lost many subscribers, but I knew this would happen. I am focused on being the ​Yoda to your Luke​. You're the hero, and I am here to help your brand or business grow. This might mean more emails when the time comes, but to have built that trust ahead of time.

2) Test before you sell

I wasn't sure how this would go, because it was so niche. Of course, not everyone here has a YouTube channel, so it was bound to be small.

But testing this product out as a free workshop showed me that there was some demand, and forced me to build it in real-time.

I believe this is one of the best (and fastest) ways to go from idea > product when you're not sure and haven't tested the idea. The only cringe-inducing part in my mind is the marketing of the event. However, I want to thank ​Paul Millerd​ for being someone who ​pushed me​ into the uncomfortable and made the whole experience much more enjoyable.

I've already started jamming on live design ideas with ​Khe Hy​ (founder of Rad Reas), so I'd love to hear what you want us to cover related to design and branding!

Give me three minutes to show you:

🎨 How to design a "coming soon" landing page
📣 How HGTV is making your home boring and sad
💻 How to unconventionally end an offer letter

🎨 Make Better Design Decisions

​HGTV is making our homes boring and sad​: "...neutrals reign supreme, and the goal is to create a place that is inoffensive and that could appeal to many." I will die on this hill. Minimalism is the default choice because it's the least offensive choice.

​Japan's design choices are next level​: My favorite is the rotating street bus in the thread.

​Learn how a sketch can set the vision for the entire property in the San Juan Islands​: Simple ideas are the basis for grand experiments.

📸 Make It Yours Moment

Steve Jobs’ “insanely great” job offer—via ​Jon Erlichman​

Thanks for being here this week. It was a big week and I'm glad you stuck around.

We're potty training our 2-year-old daughter this weekend so it's been incredibly eventful!

Special thanks to ​Heidi (Sew Heidi)​ for her encouragement and help in the past week.

On tap for next week will be the third installment of my landing page series and the behind-the-scenes of building out my own ​Design Vault​ landing page.

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Your friend in design,

Nate