E2 & LlamaChat

Two new domains, two new sites, one honest read. What's working, and the handful of things I'd fix before these meet the world. Screenshots are current as of this morning.

E2

e2.life ↗

VerdictBeautiful. The hero is the best thing we've shipped this year. Two small fixes and it's launch-ready.

1The hero has one door. Give it two.

"Watch the video" is the only call to action on the most gorgeous hero we've ever made. Anyone who doesn't feel like watching a video right now has nowhere to go. Add a quiet secondary button, "Meet the people" or "Explore the planet", so the curious have a path that isn't a play button.

The hero today: one button, no alternative path.

What I'd do: two doors, not one.

⛶

The same hero with a quiet secondary "Meet the people →" button beside the video button. Watchers watch, explorers explore.

Fix: add a secondary "Meet the people →" link beside the video button.

2Unify the portrait backgrounds.

The People grid is charming, but the cards fight each other: Mike gets a full scenic street, Chadwick gets a flat cream backdrop, Sally gets white, Dinesh gets a sunset city. Pick one treatment, either all scenic or all studio-flat, and the grid will feel like one family instead of six separate photo shoots.

Six cards, four different background styles.

What I'd do: one backdrop for the whole family.

⛶

Every card on the same flat cream backdrop. One treatment, one family, zero re-shoots of the characters themselves.

Fix: re-render the outliers on the flat cream backdrop, or all scenic.

LlamaChat

llamachat.io ↗

VerdictClean build, fast, familiar. But right now it launches as a ghost town wearing a Twitter costume. The product is "chat with the characters", the homepage should say so.

1The feed is all Plume saying "tweet tweet".

Every visible post is from one account posting placeholder text. A first-time visitor reads this as nobody is here and nothing is happening. Before launch, seed the feed with real character voices: Sally on music, Chadwick on the week's outreach, Dinesh on what he's filming. Ten good posts beat fifty "tweet tweets".

The entire visible feed, this morning.

What I'd do: seed it with real character voices.

⛶

Same feed, seeded: Sally on her new song, Chadwick on the week's outreach, Dinesh on filming, Haddie on choir. Ten real posts and the ghost town is gone.

Fix: seed 10+ real posts across 4+ characters before any public link goes out.

2Every number is zero.

0 replies, 0 reposts, 0 likes, on every post. Zeros don't read as "new", they read as dead. Either seed some honest engagement or hide the counts until a post has earned them. No number is better than a row of zeros.

The engagement row under every post.

What I'd do: hide the zeros.

⛶

Same row, counts hidden until a post has earned them. Icons stay, dead numbers go.

Fix: hide counts at zero, or seed genuine early activity.

3Lead with the magic: chatting with characters.

The plan is that visitors click a character and chat with them. That's the product. But the homepage is a Twitter clone, the thing that makes LlamaChat different is nowhere on first load. Put a "Chat with" rail or hero strip of characters above the feed, so the magic is the first thing a visitor sees, not the fifth click.

What I'd do: put the characters first.

⛶

A "Chat with the characters" rail sits above the feed. The product is the first thing a visitor sees, not the fifth click.

Fix: character chat entry point above the fold on the homepage.

4Retire the ":)" in the banner.

"You're checking out Llama Chat, the main chat tool we use at the Studio. Enjoy :)", the winky emoticon undercuts an otherwise polished launch. Cut the ":)" and it reads like a product. Keep it and it reads like a draft.

The welcome banner, top of the page.

What I'd do: cut two characters.

⛶

Same banner, ":)" deleted. Reads like a product now, not a draft.

Fix: delete two characters.

Bottom line: E2 is a coat of polish from done. LlamaChat needs a content seed and its value prop moved front and center. Neither needs a redesign, both need a launch pass.