Login screens often get overlooked. It’s easy to do, they’re mostly boilerplate after all, and typically seen as a small barrier between the user and what they really want to do. However, I say to embrace login screens, they’re a great place to have a little fun. Vimeo does a wonderful job of this, and so does Apple’s MobileMe.

Golf Trac is a product of my love and passion for the game of golf. And just recently I completely revamped the design of the login screen. I fell victim of the boring login myself. Here’s what it used to look like:

It got the job done, but it was about as drab as it could be. Leaving it like this makes it feel like an extra step or a barrier, blocking the user from getting to his/her account (even though that’s really what it is, we should try and make the experience better). Here’s the updated version:

Needless to say, it’s much improved. Now when a user comes to this screen to access their account, the experience is a little more pleasant. And hopefully this attention to detail reinforces the reasons they signed up in the first place. You can see this live at the Golf Trac login screen.

The moral of the story is this: take a look at the places in your application where you think the experience and/or page itself is boring, and give it a little life. Login screens are a great place to start!