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The growth of Software as a Service (also known as Saas) companies has exponentially climbed over the past few years.
With the millennial generation taking over the workforce, the need to move into a digital workflow will only continue to rise.
With that said, millennials really only dominate a few industries, but the creative industry is certainly one of them. So, in order to market towards people in those creative environments, your software better have a mighty fine user interface.
I tend to think of myself as a decent designer, but my critiques for anyone who isn’t me are pretty fucking harsh – because I am the best at everything.
When it comes to choosing my team’s software, UI is the first thing that I grade.
Given my current lifestyle of remaining in a state of constant chaos, it doesn’t take much to piss me off. I can contribute the stress of trying to find a reliable project management tool to three mental breakdowns and four of my six pending solicitation charges – but that is neither here nor there.
The point is, I try and surround my life with things that make me happy, and a shitty interface definitely does not make me happy. So, if I am browsing for a new software, program, or tool to use, I start by looking at its design.
Now, for whatever reason, some SaaS companies don’t feel a need to show screenshots of their actual product on their website.
They think that by having a graphic with some icons or some artistic sketch, they’ll going to get me to sign up for the free trial.
NEWSFLASH – It’s not.
This is always a red flag for me, but if their website has a clean, modern interface, I may give them a shot.
If website promoting software takes the time to modernize their website, that tells me they care about their product. If they care enough to update their web design, they most likely care about keeping their software up-to-date.
This extends beyond just the website’s design. The UX design has got to be on-point to get you to sign up for a free trial or, more importantly, pay for their product.
As a business owner and product enthusiast, I spend a lot of time researching new startups and exploring their websites. Reviewing and promoting software we like was one of our primary reason for creating CreativesFeed, and over time, we have compiled a pretty decent list of SaaS companies that have awesome web designs, and the CreativesFeed team has recently narrowed down our list to our 18 favorite.
Before we get into the list, we wanted to point out some of the common design elements we have noticed in 2018 – most of which are extremely apparent in the SaaS industry.
Frame.io is a collaboration tool for those who work with video. While I have never used their product, I am definitely impressed with their web design.
Using a primarily dark theme, Frame.io does a great job of breaking using shadows and bright colors to make elements stand out against the dark background. They also have some awesome hover animations.
As mentioned before, I have never used their product, but I have a clear understand as to what is does – which is extremely important!
Pipefy is a project / product management tool aimed at helping teams streamline their tasks and overall workflow.
Pipefy’s website does a fantastic job organizing their targeted markets / solutions using different colors. Utilizing the rounded border radius, Pipefy’s website features a very modern and clean look, and they do an awesome job showcasing their software right away.
Pulse.red is probably the newest SaaS company on this list. Pulse.red is a time tracking tool that appears to be marketed to those in the creative industry.
Since they are just entering their market, their information is a bit thing, so they have opted to go with a single page layout. I am not usually a huge fan of one page web designs, but do love big text / large fonts. Pulse.red’s website used a large sans font to headline each of the page’s sections, and our favorite UX element is the subtle scroll animations.
Out of all the products on this list, Fullstory is definitely the one I am most anxious to try.
Fullstory is a UX tracking tool that offers vital insight into key web design features like heatmaps and visitor recordings. With Fullstory you can see exactly what users did while browsing your website.
Our favorite part of Fullstory’s website is the animations that take place upon scrolling. Things like background shapes and product screenshots resize and tilt during scroll, but not enough to distract a user from gathering the important information about their product.
Slite is a program I use just about every day. Slite is a essential a note-taking tool with a beautiful interface. It is a great tool for things like content planning, team collaboration, tasks lists, and many other really cool features.
Slite is a new (well newish) software, but they killed it with their branding. They did a fantastic job nailing their logo design and making sure their software matched their brand’s identity. Their website does this as well.
Slite’s website uses screenshots that are surrounded by unique geometric patterns to reduce white space. Their homepage is very easy to follow and their feature list does a phenomenal job explaining their software’s key component.
Typeform is an extremely intuitive form building tool that allows you to collect in-depth data from users. With Typeform, you can create insanely detailed forms and integrate them with other popular applications like Google Sheets and Mailchimp, or you can embed them straight onto your website.
Typeform’s web design goes well beyond most similar software’s websites. They have an exceptionally unique color scheme and do a fantastic job marketing to a wide audience.
Rentberry helps people find long-term apartment rentals in cities around the United States. Rentberry also allows landlords to list and manage their properties.
Rentberry’s website uses beautiful gradients for different background sections throughout the site. Their use of box shadows and purple, blue, and pink colors give their site a very modern and clean feel.
Sprout Social is a social media software that offers social media management tools for things like post scheduling and social analytics. With Sprout Social, you can manage your Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Instagram on a single platform.
Sprout Social recently redesigned their website creating an extremely clean layout with great white space, graphics and shadowing.
Most likely the most well-known SaaS company on this list is Mailchimp – one of the world’s leading email marketing platforms. Additionally, Mailchimp just created a Landing Page feature so users can increase their mailing lists.
Mailchimp is one of the many big brands that have recently upgraded their brand to modernize their business. While most already know what they do and offer, Mailchimp’s website still provides a simple user-flow and great illustrations.
Another well known SaaS on this list is IFTTT (If This Than That). IFTTT helps you connect all of your apps and devices “to build a more connected world.”
Something about the simplicity of the IFTTT web design really tickles my fancy. It’s simple enough that a man high on crystal meth could understand it, yet it provides enough information that a developer can see its potential.
I really like their use of a large Avenir font with bold headers and large paragraph text. They also showcase some of their current integrations just below the opening fold to give users an idea of their cool product features.
Collect.io is (or will be) a visual bookmarking manager. From a content writing / marketing standpoint, I am pumped to see it in action given its mentioning of both visual bookmarks and note taking capabilities.
Collect.io is another one page website with a relatively limited amount of information displayed on their website, but I am sure that will change once they launch their product.
Since they are still yet to release even a beta product, I will give them the benefit of the doubt by saying they will probably be adding realistic views or screenshots of their software once they launch. Even without them, Collect.io’s website still offers a great UX design with unique shapes, colors, and fonts.
Productboard is a product management software that helps you develop a roadmap to finishing your project. I recently tested out productboard and, while it isn’t a tool I would use in my daily workflow, it does have an amazing interface and a lot of features that I’m sure are perfect for product designers and teams.
Productboard’s website also showcases a fantastic interface. Their use of white space, shadowing, skewed backgrounds, and great colors provide a user with an easy-to-follow UI that simplifies the learning process.
Bench is “America’s largest bookkeeping service for small businesses”. In a nutshell, they handle your bookkeeping, while you monitor it within your dashboard.
Bench’s website has a gorgeous color pallet that definitely portrays their brand as a prestigious / professional company, but their use of Sans Serif fonts still give the website a modern, small-business feel.
Avocode is an awesome tool that helps designers and teams collaborate and streamline their workflow. Using Avocode, designers can import their PSD or Sketch files (or several other file types) and inspect its elements to generate code for websites and apps.
Marketing to the design community, it is extremely important Avocode’s web design is on point – and it definitely is. After recently making some brand adjustments and switching from a dark-themed site to a lighter one, Avocode’s new website is undoubtedly more aesthetically pleasing. Their use of screenshots and illustrations provide a truly unique user experience.
Teamweek is a task management software that mixes a gantt chart and calendar into your daily workflow. Teamweek is still a relatively new software, but I have had the chance to test out their product. Of all the software listed in this article, Teamweek’s software definitely wins the prize for best UI.
Teamweek is two or three features away from being my favorite project management tool.
Teamweek does a remarkable job matching their software with their website and overall brand. They use a very appealing Serif font for headlines, and their color pallet is one of my favorites. Its hard to make a ton of white space work for a SaaS company’s website, but Teamweek definitely killed it.
Checkout.com is a “one-stop payment solution”. With Checkout.com, you can integrate a secure payment gateway – and for just about every currency imaginable – into your growing business’ workflow.
I love Checkout.com’s website. They did a terrific job mixing a modern-feel with the professionalism that comes with financial services. My favorite element is the creative approach they used for the hero sections of each page. They used a unique prospective approach to photographing different images that really helps blend the colors, fonts, and brand.
Coming in at number one on our list of the best SaaS web designs is RealtimeBoard.
RealtimeBoard is a collaboration tool for designers, developers, marketers, and creative teams. RealtimeBoard is essential is digital whiteboard with an endless amount of features.
RealtimeBoard’s website is one you will likely love or hate. I love it. Its chaotic structure of art, illustrations, and shapes is beautifully constructed to match the lifelike strokes drawn onto a whiteboard. At first glance, it appears to be a bunch of random shit jumbled onto a page, but it doesn’t take long to notice the truly unique elements that make its so great.
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