Making your Hearken forms look good helps them stand out on the page and increases the number of submissions your audience makes. They also build a visual brand for specific projects or your engagement work overall.
One common approach to Hearken forms is to simply use your logo or wordmark as your form header and your brand colors to make your form match. These examples from The Baltimore Banner, The Financial Post, and KUNR are nice looking forms that match their overall branding and don't require extra design work:
If you're working on a curiosity series, developing a logo for your audience engagement work will give you visuals to use on your Hearken forms and everywhere else online (and off!) that you promote it. A custom logo is a fun way to celebrate the work you do, too! These examples from The Dallas Morning News, KUT, and WUWM use logos from their series. Bonus points to KUT's ATXplained for using an animated GIF!
If you have the resources, designing specific illustrations for each form—that is, each topic you're soliciting submissions for—helps your audience understand what you're asking them for right away. Using illustrations that repeat all or a portion of your prompt might feel redundant, but it actually makes it easier for your audience to find the form and see that they're being invited to participate just by scanning the page. These examples from KXLY-TV, Marfa Public Radio, and KCPT's curiousKC all use illustrations that were made just for the form you see them on:
When you need a form with some added visual pop, try playing with the background color of your form away from the plain grays and beiges of the examples above. A colorful background might feel a bit loud at first, but with the right palette they'll stand out and catch your readers' eyes. The below examples from WOSU, KCRW, and KQED all make beautiful use of color:
We hope these examples inspire you to get creative with your own form embeds and make something beautiful to share with your audience. If you need help figuring out how to make your next form look great, contact us and we'll help you figure it out!