Retail & Commercial Space Design Pre-Launch Website Template

Quick summary

Forecourt is a single-page waitlist landing page template for architecture and design studios focused on gas station and convenience retail reinvention. It opens with an animated SVG sketch of a station, moves through an editorial manifesto and a cropped masonry project gallery, and closes with a clean email capture form styled in pump-handle red.

Who this template is for

This template is built for design professionals and studio founders who need to generate early interest before a full portfolio goes live. It is especially well-suited for practices operating at the intersection of architecture and commercial retail environments.

• Gas station redesign studios and architectural firms launching a coming-soon presence
• Independent design consultants pitching petroleum brand managers or convenience chain operators
• Architects and retail space designers who want an editorial, monograph-quality first impression

What problem this template solves

Most design studio templates look like agency boilerplate. They announce services with bullet points and stock imagery, leaving potential clients with nothing memorable to hold onto. Forecourt solves the gap between a studio's visual ambition and what a standard template can express.

• It replaces generic hero banners with a hand-drawn animated illustration that builds line by line
• It replaces flat portfolio grids with a masonry gallery that teases projects just enough to earn a signup
• It turns a coming-soon page into a deliberate editorial experience that builds credibility before the portfolio is even public

What you get with this template

You get a fully structured single-page layout that handles every stage of a pre-launch visitor journey. Each section is purpose-built and editable, so you can update copy, swap project images, and adjust the waitlist form to match your studio's voice.

• An animated SVG header illustration, a studio manifesto block, and a three-column client-type card section
• A masonry gallery walk with cropped, captioned project vignettes designed to create anticipation
• A minimal waitlist section with an email input field, a dropdown for visitor self-identification, and a pump-handle red call-to-action button

Feature list

This template ships with a focused set of interactive and editorial features drawn directly from the design brief.

SVG Path-Drawing Header Animation

The hero section opens with a hand-drawn gas station elevation that animates itself into existence line by line. The canopy appears first, then the pumps, then the store interior, and finally small human figures carrying coffee cups. A single serif tagline fades in last, completing the reveal.

Masonry Gallery Walk

The project gallery uses a masonry layout with tiles that vary in scale, aspect ratio, and content type. Photography, architectural line drawings, and material close-ups sit side by side. Each tile is cropped and captioned just enough to intrigue without fully disclosing, driving scroll depth and curiosity.

Editorial Manifesto Section

A full-width text block delivers the studio's positioning statement in large serif type. It reads like a page from an architectural monograph, establishing the studio's point of view before a client ever sees a project image.

Three-Column Client-Type Cards

A dedicated section presents three client profiles side by side: brand operators, station owners, and architects. Each card speaks directly to that reader's situation, making the studio feel attuned rather than generic.

Waitlist Email Capture with Dropdown

The call-to-action section includes a minimal email input with ghost text and a single optional dropdown where visitors identify themselves. The "Get on the List" button is styled in pump-handle red, making it the only high-contrast interactive element on the page.

ScrollTrigger-Driven Interactions

Gallery tiles stagger into view as the user scrolls. Hover states reveal additional caption detail on project tiles. The call-to-action button uses a magnetic pull effect, and a subtle mouse-glow follows cursor movement across the page.

Page sections overview

Design & branding system

The template uses an Ink and Paper color system built around four intentional values. The palette is drawn from printed editorial media, specifically the feeling of a freshly bound architecture journal where paper stock and white space carry as much meaning as the images.

• Deep editorial black (#1A1A1A), warm newsprint cream (#F5F0E8), and pencil-sketch gray (#A3A09C) form the neutral foundation
• Pump-handle red (#D64045) is reserved exclusively for interactive hotspots and call-to-action elements, keeping it visually charged
• Typography pairs Fraunces serif headlines with DM Sans for body copy and user interface elements, reinforcing the monograph-meets-modern-studio tone

Mobile & speed optimization

The template is designed desktop-first, reflecting the primary audience of architecture and design professionals who typically work on larger screens. Mobile adaptation is built in so the layout holds up when clients share the link from their phones.

• GPU-accelerated transforms power all scroll and animation effects, keeping motion smooth without layout jank
• CSS custom properties manage the color and spacing system throughout, making style updates consistent and contained
• The masonry gallery reflows cleanly on smaller viewports so project tiles remain legible and visually balanced

How this template helps you convert

Every section of this template is arranged to move a visitor from curiosity to commitment, even before the studio has published a completed portfolio.

1. The animated header creates an immediate, memorable first impression that signals craft and intentionality, holding attention long enough for the visitor to read the tagline.
2. The cropped and captioned project gallery creates a deliberate information gap. Visitors see enough to want more, which is exactly the psychological condition that makes a waitlist signup feel worthwhile.
3. The minimal waitlist form reduces friction to a single email field and one optional dropdown, removing every possible reason to abandon the page without signing up.

Other information about this template

This template is a strong fit for studios that need to establish credibility in a niche space before they are ready to publish a full project archive. The editorial design language does the positioning work that copy alone cannot.

• The template style is Masonry and Pinterest-grid layout, making it one of the more visually dynamic options available for architecture and design landing pages in this category
• The GSAP ScrollTrigger library powers the stagger animations and scroll-bound reveals throughout the gallery and hero sections
• The header concept is an Animated Illustration, a relatively uncommon choice that immediately separates this template from standard coming-soon pages in the architecture and retail space design category
• The creative direction is Gallery Walk, meaning the scroll experience is curated to feel like moving through an exhibition rather than reading a webpage

Show more