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404 pages, or "something is missing" errors, are easy to do. You just put "Sorry, link not found", or something to that effect.
But some companies go out of their way to make interesting, sharable, playable or clever 404 pages, that can help retain users, and maximise word of mouth.
They're great ways to promote your product, and retain users from just hitting the error and churning.
Here are the 10 best 404 pages, as found on Built for Mars:
10 best 404 error pages in 2023:
- Figma — an interactive drawing.
- Codecademy — playable game.
- Carwow — driving mini game.
- Dribbble — interactive colour slider.
- Medium — selection of articles about being lost.
- Wendy's — burger flipping game.
- Ahrefs — tool to find broken links.
- Dashthis — Lord of the Rings meme.
- Kualo — playable Space Invaders.
- IMDB — random modified movie quotes.
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Now let's look into each of those 404 pages, and why they're so effective:
1. Figma
Figma's 404 is a totally interactive render, where you can modify the curves and points, exactly like you would with the real tool.
2. Codecademy
Codecademy's 404 page has a mini game, very similar to the popular Google Chrome one. But they also have a CTA to learn how to build games, via a Codecademy course.
3. Carwow
CarWow's 404 has an interactive racing game. Once you lose (crash your car), it cleverly directs you into finding a new (real) one.
4. Dribbble
Dribbble's 404 page includes an interactive colour slider, which will show a collection of images in that colour.
5. Medium
Medium have featured articles about being lost, on their 404 page.
6. Wendy's
Wendy's 404 page has an interactive game, very similar to Donkey Kong, where you have to stack burgers.
7. Ahrefs
Advertises their own tool to find broken links, on a 404 for a broken link. Linkception.
8. Dashthis
Dashthis is a tool for creating dashboards and reports, and they've used a chart to recreate a Lord of the Rings meme.
9. Kualo
Kualo's 404 includes a playable version of Space Invaders.
10. IMDB
IMDB's 404 page will display random (slightly edited) movie quotes.
And there we go—that's a list of my favourite 404 error screens from across the web.
If you want more UX bits like this, check out UX Bites.
Happy hunting!