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title: Landing hero design (variants and rationale) applies_to: [landing, marketing, hero] version: 1.0.0 last_updated: 2026-05 stability: stable

Landing hero design

The hero is the first thing visitors see. It's the most-iterated section on any product website and the highest-leverage design surface. This file covers variants, rationale, and decision rules.

For the component spec: examples/component-hero-block.md. This file covers strategy — which variant to pick, what to put in the headline, when to use video.

What the hero must do

In 5 seconds, a visitor must understand: 1. What the product does (in their words) 2. Why it matters (problem solved) 3. What to do next (one obvious CTA)

Failure to communicate any of these = bounce.

Six hero archetypes

1. Text-led hero (default)

Headline (large)
Sub-headline
[CTA] [Secondary]

[Hero visual on right or below]

When: most products. Easy to A/B test. Headline carries the message.

Pros: fast to load, accessible, testable. Cons: less "wow factor" for brand-led products.

2. Visual-led hero

[Large product screenshot / mockup]

Caption underneath
[CTA]

When: product is visual (design tool, photo app, dashboard product). User needs to "see" it to understand.

Pros: shows the product immediately. Cons: harder for accessibility (alt text only); larger file → slower load.

3. Video hero

[Background video — autoplay, muted, looped]
Overlay headline + CTA

When: product is dynamic (productivity tool with motion, communication app, anything that "comes alive" in motion).

Pros: high engagement when right. Cons: bandwidth, accessibility, mobile battery drain. Many users hate auto-play.

4. Split-screen / 50-50

[Text / CTA]    |    [Visual]

When: balanced messaging — product is visual but you also have a strong tagline.

5. Single-message brutalist

                  Big headline.
                  That's it.

                  [CTA]

Centered, minimal. Famous for: Stripe, Linear, Vercel.

Pros: confident, brand-led. Cons: doesn't differentiate (lots of products use this now).

6. Storyteller hero

Quote from a customer (large)
"Headline"
— Author

[CTA]

When: testimonial-driven, social-proof central to the brand.

Pros: trust on first impression. Cons: depends on having a great quote. Most don't.

Headline construction

The "what + how" formula

[What the product does], [how it differs].

Examples: - "가계부, 자동으로 채워줘요. 30개 은행 자동 연동." - "Slack, but for designers. Real-time canvas." - "Code reviews in 30 seconds. Powered by AI."

The "outcome" formula

[Outcome the user gets]. [Optional: scale/proof].

Examples: - "더 좋은 코드, 빨리 배포. 1만 개 팀이 사용 중." - "Save 4 hours a week. Trusted by 10,000+ teams."

The "transformation" formula

[Old way] is over. [New way] is here.

Examples: - "은행 앱 30번씩 보지 마세요. 가계부가 알아서 합니다." - "No more spreadsheets. Just answers."

Anti-formulas (don't)

  • "[Company name]. [Generic descriptor]." — "Toss. The future of finance." — content-free.
  • "Welcome to [name]" — wastes the headline.
  • "Revolutionary [thing] for the [industry]" — cliché-free zone.
  • Ironic / clever / poetic without context — confusing.

Korean-specific headlines

Korean consumer apps trend toward declarative + colloquial: - "가계부, 자동으로 채워줘요" (declarative) - "30초 만에 가입" (factual) - "은행 앱은 그만!" (colloquial-imperative)

Avoid direct translation from English ("Welcome to..." → "환영합니다..." reads unnatural).

For B2B Korean: more formal — "팀의 생산성을 높입니다" / "AI로 더 빠르게".

Sub-headline construction

The sub-headline supports the headline. ~20-30 words. One sentence.

Pattern Example
Problem + solution "은행 앱을 30번씩 보지 않아도 가계부가 자동으로 채워집니다."
Differentiation "수동 입력 없이, 첫 달 무료로 시작."
Social proof + result "100만 명이 매달 평균 12만 원을 절약했어요."
Concrete capability "30개 은행 자동 연동 + AI 카테고리 분류."

Cut hedging: - ✗ "가계부를 도와드릴 수 있습니다." (might help) - ✓ "가계부가 자동으로 채워집니다." (does)

CTA choice

Primary CTA: 1 word verb + value proposition

Bad Good
"Click here" "무료 시작"
"Submit" "Pro 시작"
"Sign up" "지금 가입"
"Get started" "30일 무료 체험"

Secondary CTA: lower commitment

Pattern Example
"Learn more" "기능 살펴보기"
"Watch demo" "데모 보기"
"Login" "로그인"
"Pricing" "요금제 보기"

Background choices

Style Conversion impact (typical)
Plain white / off-white Highest perceived trust, fastest load
Subtle brand tint (5–10% saturation) Slight brand boost, no real downside
Solid brand color (full saturation) Strong brand, but limits visual contrast
Gradient Modern feel; risk of poor text contrast
Hero image (full-bleed) Strong emotion; harder accessibility
Hero video Highest engagement; bandwidth + a11y cost

For Korean fintech: subtle tint or plain white dominates. Toss / KakaoBank style.

Video heroes — when to use

Use video hero only if: 1. Product has clear motion benefit (Linear's keyboard demo, Cron's calendar interactions). 2. You have budget for: 4K source, multiple aspect ratios, mobile-optimized export, fallback poster image. 3. You'll respect prefers-reduced-motion.

Don't use video hero for: - Static products (form builder, CMS, etc.) - Mobile-primary audiences (battery drain) - Slow-network audiences (Korean / SEA / EMEA)

If you do use video: - Auto-play muted only (browser policy). - Loop, no audio. - 5–15 second loop. - Fallback poster image for slow connections + reduced-motion. - Total < 5MB optimized.

Mobile considerations

  • Hero stacks vertically (headline + sub-headline + CTA + visual stacked).
  • Visual moves below text or hides on mobile.
  • Headline drops to 32–40px (from 48–60).
  • CTA full-width.
  • Trust signal compresses to one line.

For Korean mobile: most landing traffic is mobile. Design mobile-first; desktop is the variant.

Performance

Hero is above-the-fold. Performance matters disproportionately:

  • LCP target: < 2.5s (the hero visual usually IS the LCP).
  • Image format: WebP / AVIF, with PNG fallback.
  • Image dimensions: serve 2x for retina, 1x for standard. Use srcset.
  • Font loading: subset hero font; preload.
  • No render-blocking JavaScript above the fold.

For Korean CDN: use Naver Cloud / KT CDN for KR-edge serving. AWS CloudFront's KR edge is decent but slower than Korean CDNs.

A/B testing the hero

Most-tested variables: 1. Headline copy (highest impact) 2. Primary CTA copy + color 3. Hero visual (image vs video vs illustration) 4. Layout (text-left vs centered) 5. Background (white vs tinted vs image)

Common testing tools: Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize (deprecated 2023, alternatives: PostHog, Mixpanel).

Test with traffic ≥ 1,000 visitors / variant. Below that, statistical significance is unreliable.

Korean landing-page conventions

  • Big number + benefit: "100만 명이 사용하는 가계부" / "30초 만에 등록 완료"
  • Trust signals dense: stars, user count, awards stacked.
  • Less whitespace than Western Toss/Linear-style minimalism (some Korean B2C apps lean dense).
  • Hangul + English mixed: brand name in English, headline in Korean.
  • Bottom-of-fold scroll cue common — arrow / "더 알아보기 ↓" — Korean users scroll less than expected without the cue.

Anti-patterns

  • Vague headline: "Better way to do X" doesn't say what X is or why better.
  • Multiple primary CTAs: 4 buttons in the hero = nothing chosen.
  • Hero image of people pointing at laptops: stock-photo cliché.
  • Auto-play video with sound: instant unsubscribe.
  • Hero CTA doesn't lead to product: clicks land on a marketing form.
  • Headline in image, not text: bad for SEO + screen readers + responsive.
  • Background video without poster fallback: blank screen on slow networks.
  • CTA below the fold: most users won't scroll.

Cross-reference