Playbook is a cinematic dark landing page template built for a sports mechanics magazine. It uses a horizontal scroll layout, a collage-style hero, and creator spotlight cards to build waitlist momentum. The design feels like a coach's game-film notebook: editorial typography, deep blacks, and highlight-tape yellow that earns every click toward "Save My Spot."
by Rocket studio
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Quick summary
Playbook is a coming-soon landing page template for a sports mechanics publication. It combines a scrapbook-style hero, a horizontal creator spotlight, and a sport-selector waitlist form into one cinematic experience. The dark editorial palette and high-interactivity layout make the page feel credible and urgent before a single piece of content ships.
Who this template is for
This template is made for editorial creators and sports content founders who are building an audience before launch. It works especially well when the brand needs to feel authoritative from day one.
Sports media creators and digital magazine founders preparing a pre-launch waitlist
Designers and developers building a premium coming-soon page for a sports how-to blog
What problem this template solves
Most coming-soon pages feel generic and forgettable. For a sports mechanics publication, that is a missed opportunity. Visitors need a reason to believe before they hand over their email address.
A blank countdown timer does not establish editorial credibility or content value
A simple opt-in form gives visitors no sense of who is behind the publication
Without social proof or a defined content vision, early signups stall before momentum builds
What you get with this template
You get a fully structured, single-page waitlist experience designed around one goal: converting curious visitors into committed early subscribers. Every section earns trust before asking for the email.
A parallax collage hero section with torn-edge editorial typography spelling "LAUNCHING SOON"
A horizontal scroll creator spotlight with cinematic portrait cards and looping short clips
A sticky "Save My Spot" call-to-action form with a sport selector and a live waitlist counter
Feature list
This template is built for high interactivity and editorial depth. Here is what each major feature delivers.
Theme
Editorial Magazine
Creative direction
Creator Spotlight
Color system
Cinematic Dark
Style
Horizontal Scroll
Direction
Waitlist/Coming Soon
Page Sections
Parallax Collage Hero Section
Horizontal Scroll Creator Spotlight
Sticky Waitlist Call to Action
Icon-based Sport Selector
Live Waitlist Counter
Asymmetric Bento Content Grid
Related questions
Is this template suitable for a blog that has not launched yet?
Can I change the six sport options in the selector?
Does the horizontal scroll work on mobile devices?
How does the live waitlist counter work?
What makes this different from a standard coming-soon page?
Parallax Collage Hero
The hero section layers action photography, hand-drawn drill diagrams, and torn-edge typography across a bulletin-board layout. A cursor-driven parallax effect gives the collage physical depth, as if the scraps are taped to glass. The result feels like leaning into a coach's locker-room wall.
Horizontal Scroll Creator Spotlight
Swiping right moves through full-viewport cards, each dedicated to one contributor. Every card pairs a cinematic dark-background portrait with a manifesto quote in highlight-tape yellow and a looping two-second clip of their signature breakdown. The progression builds roster credibility card by card.
Sticky Waitlist call to action
The "Save My Spot" button stays anchored to the bottom of the viewport throughout the entire horizontal scroll. Clicking it expands a minimal form: an email field followed by a single-select sport question. It is always reachable and never interrupts the reading flow.
Sport Selector with Icon Options
The waitlist form includes six icon-based sport options: basketball, football, tennis, boxing, track, and soccer. Visitors choose the sport they study most. This single-question approach keeps the form completion rate high while collecting meaningful audience data.
Live Waitlist Counter
A real-time counter displays how many people have already joined the waitlist. No launch date is promised. The counter creates urgency through social proof alone, nudging hesitant visitors to act before the number climbs further.
Asymmetric Bento Content Grid
A "What's Inside" section uses an asymmetric bento grid to show the magazine's content pillars. The layout breaks the vertical rhythm and reinforces the editorial, notebook-style feel before the final call to action.
Page sections overview
Section
Purpose
Hero Collage Wall
Establishes editorial identity and announces the launch
Creator Spotlight Cards
Builds contributor credibility through horizontal scroll
What's Inside Grid
Previews content pillars in an asymmetric bento layout
Waitlist call to action Form
Captures email signups with sport selector and live counter
Minimal Footer
Closes the page with a clean, distraction-free footer
Design & branding system
The visual identity follows an editorial magazine style built on a cinematic dark color system. Every color choice references a real physical environment: the coaches' film room, the gymnasium floor, the printed play sheet.
Color palette: deep locker-room black (#0D0D0D), stadium-floodlight cream (#F5F0E8), worn chalkboard green (#2E4A3E), and highlight-tape yellow (#E8C840) for pull-quotes, creator names, and hover states
Typography: Fraunces condensed serif for headlines, DM Sans for body text, and IBM Plex Mono for labels and data readouts
Visual style: collage panels at slight rotations, some faded and some razor-sharp, overlapping like a locker-room bulletin board pinned at angles
Mobile & speed optimization
The template is built desktop-first, with the horizontal scroll experience as the primary interaction. A mobile fallback is included so the page remains usable on smaller screens.
GPU-accelerated transforms handle all animation and parallax movement to avoid layout repaints
Images are lazy-loaded so above-the-fold content renders without waiting for off-screen assets
The horizontal scroll converts to a vertical stacked layout on mobile, preserving section order and readability
How this template helps you convert
Every design and layout decision in this template points toward one outcome: a completed waitlist signup. The page does not just look good; it is structured to reduce friction and build confidence step by step.
The collage hero and creator cards establish editorial credibility before the form ever appears, so visitors arrive at the call to action already convinced the publication is worth following.
The sticky "Save My Spot" button stays visible throughout the scroll, removing the need to hunt for the sign-up point at any moment during the experience.
The live waitlist counter adds social proof without a launch date, replacing the pressure of a countdown with the quieter urgency of a growing community.
Other information about this template
This template is a strong fit for sports content founders who want a polished pre-launch presence that feels as serious as the publication itself. A few additional details worth knowing:
The footer follows an extreme minimal pattern, keeping the closing of the page clean and undistracted
Intersection observer animations trigger as each section enters the viewport during the horizontal scroll
The template is coded with beam animations and high-interactivity states baked in, so no separate animation library setup is required for the included effects
The sport selector covers six disciplines out of the box: basketball, football, tennis, boxing, track, and soccer
The template is built for English-language, US sports culture content but can be adapted for other markets by updating copy and sport options
