Eclipse Template — Complete Guide

Eclipse is an invitation set like the website of a launch at an observatory. The cover is a black field of stars with a faint violet nebula, and at its centre a solar eclipse: a black disc ringed by a glowing corona in the colour you pick. Your cover photo sits inside the disc — or across the whole cover, dimmed behind the ring — and your event name glows underneath in a dot-matrix display face, like the lettering of a launch board.

Eclipse is one of Fotify's simpler designs: its look comes from one colour you choose (any colour at all) and where your cover photo goes.

This guide covers how Eclipse looks, the options unique to it, how to apply it to your event, and how it lays out each section of your invitation.

Eclipse is available on every plan, Free included.

For an overview of the template gallery and the picker, see How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation.

What makes Eclipse different

Standard templates change colours and fonts over the same shared layout. Eclipse replaces the layout itself: its own cover, ticker and closing, its own section heads, and its own treatment of the message, countdown, gallery, story, programme and reply.

Signature design elements

• The eclipse — a black disc with a corona of light around it: soft streamers that turn very slowly, a bright rim, and the "diamond ring" bead of light on its edge
• Your photo in the disc, or behind the ring — inside the disc, your cover photo is cropped to a circle where you set the crop; behind the ring, it fills the cover, dimmed so the eclipse and the text stand out
• Dot-matrix lettering — the event name, the section titles, the countdown and the ticker are set in Doto, a dot-matrix face; everything you read is set in Geist Mono, a monospace
• Headings that decode — the first time a guest scrolls to a title, it resolves from flickering characters into its words, from the start of the line to the end
• The ticker band — a band in your colour under the cover, with a line of your words, the date and the place running across it between little eight-ray sunbursts
• Night and cream — sections alternate between the black field and cream bands, and the cream sections carry small pixel icons drawn for Eclipse (a gift, a pin, a calendar, a glass, a ticket, a camera, a clock)
• One colour — pick it from the suggested colours or from the colour picker. Eclipse uses it for the corona, the event name, the ticker, the buttons, the countdown numbers, the programme times and the small labels
• Always readable — whatever colour you pick, even a pale yellow or a near-black, the text and the buttons are adjusted until they read clearly, on the black and on the cream

When to choose Eclipse

Eclipse suits events that want to feel like a launch:

• Product launches and launch parties — the corona and the ticker in your brand colour, and the programme as a log of the evening
• Conferences and meetups — a multi-day programme as a monospace log with the times in your colour, and the details guests need on cream cards
• Big-number birthdays — a glowing name, a countdown to lift-off, and a cream reply card with a black edge

Whatever the occasion, the photos your guests take matter as much as the invitation. Guests can scan the event QR code and add their photos to the shared gallery. See how Fotify works for conferences, corporate events and birthdays.

For a summit with an illustrated sunset, try Dusk. For a stage with a speaker's spotlight, try Keynote.

Applying Eclipse to your event

1. Open your event, click Invitation in the sidebar, then the Invitation tab
2. In Design Template, click Change template if the gallery is collapsed, and find Eclipse under Designs (it is listed under the Corporate filter, and under Party and Birthday too)
3. Optional: press Try it on to see Eclipse with your own invitation details in the live preview — nothing is saved until you press Use this design
4. Or click the Eclipse card to apply it straight away
5. Open Eclipse options below the gallery to pick your colour, where your photo goes and the other options described below. Changes save automatically

Eclipse works on every plan. On free events a small "Made with Fotify" badge appears in the bottom corner of the invitation; any paid plan or an active subscription removes it.

Switching to another template later is non-destructive: your event content stays exactly as you entered it, and your Eclipse options are kept in case you switch back.

Eclipse options

Eclipse has six options of its own. They take the place of the standard colour and font controls, which Eclipse doesn't use.

1. Corona

The colour of the light. Pick it two ways:

• A suggested swatch — Signal orange (default), Amber, Cyan, Magenta or Lime
• Pick any color — the last chip opens your device's colour picker, so you can match a brand colour exactly. The colour's code is shown beside the chips

Eclipse uses it for the corona around the eclipse, the glowing event name, the ticker band, the buttons, the countdown numbers, the programme times and the small labels. Any colour works: where it carries text it is shaded until it reads clearly — on the cream bands it becomes a deeper shade of the same colour.

2. Cover photo

Where your cover photo goes:

• Photo in the disc (default) — inside the black disc of the eclipse, cropped to a circle. The edge of the photo darkens a little, the way the moon's edge does; the middle stays clear
• Photo behind the ring — across the whole cover, dimmed, with a solid black disc and its corona in front

Without a cover photo the disc is simply black.

3. Ticker band

On by default: the band in your colour under the cover. Turn it off to go straight from the cover to your first section.

4. Ticker line

The words that run across the ticker band before the date and the place (up to 60 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("You are invited").

5. Cover line

The small line at the top of the cover, beside the reply button (up to 80 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("Launch sequence").

6. Closing line

The big line over the rising eclipse at the end of the page (up to 80 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("See you under the ring").

Every piece of text Eclipse prints on the invitation — the cover line, the ticker line, the Reply buttons, the section labels and titles, the countdown units, the word "Day" on the programme, the closing line — can also be rewritten directly on the page: switch the live preview into edit mode and double-click the text. Section titles you have already set in their own settings (story, countdown, gifts, where to stay, getting there, FAQs) are edited in place the same way.

How each section is treated

Cover

The space field replaces the standard header:

• The cover line (option 5) in small monospace capitals beside a pixel tile, and Reply on the other side — a button that scrolls to the RSVP form. It only appears when your RSVP section is visible, and never on a save-the-date page
• The eclipse at the centre, with your cover photo inside the disc or behind the ring (option 2)
• The place and the date under it, the place on one side and the date (with the time) on the other — the time follows the Show time setting of your invitation's cover, the date and the place follow Show date and Show location, and every guest sees the date you picked, whatever their time zone
• Your event name in glowing dot-matrix capitals, decoding into place when the page opens. On a wide screen a short name runs across the cover on one line; long names step down a size so they never break mid-word

Ticker band

Your ticker line (option 4), the date and the place, each followed by a little sunburst, running across a band of your colour. It runs toward the start of the line, so it follows the reading direction. It stands still for guests whose device asks for reduced motion, and while you edit text in the preview, so you can double-click the line.

Section heads

Each section opens with a small square tile holding a pixel icon for the section and the section's label in monospace capitals, then its title in dot-matrix capitals and, for the story, your subtitle. Titles decode the first time a guest scrolls to them.

Message — the statement

On the first cream band. A short message (up to about 260 characters) is set large in the monospace face, the way a launch page states what it is about; a longer message reads as a letter at reading size.

Countdown — the launch clock

On the black: one dark panel per unit, framed by four corner ticks like a viewfinder, the number in glowing dot-matrix numerals in your colour and the unit under it. It counts down to your event's date and time in the venue's time zone, and shows your completed message once the moment arrives.

Gallery (Carousel)

On the black: your photos as a row of frames that guests swipe through, each with its place in the row (01, 02…) in the corner. Your photos keep their own colours.

Story — mission cards

On a cream band: every milestone as a white card with its photo, its place in the row (01, 02…) in your colour, the date (in your invitation's date format), the title and the text. A milestone without a photo shows a pixel camera instead, so the cards stay even. Three to a row on wide screens, two on tablets, one on a phone.

Itinerary — the mission log

On the black: your programme as a log, one line per entry — the time in your colour, a long dash, then the moment in capitals, with the place and any note on a softer line under it. A faint line number runs down the side, and a block cursor blinks after the last line (it stays still for reduced motion). When your programme runs over several days, each day opens with "Day 01", "Day 02"… (the day's place in the programme) and the day's date or label; a day heading appears only when the day has a date or a label. Entry icons are not shown.

RSVP — the boarding card

On the last cream band: "Will you join us?" with your RSVP deadline under it, and the reply form on a cream card with a black edge. A black bar across its top carries a pixel ticket and the phases of an eclipse sliding to totality — decoration only, the card never shows a seat, a code or a number. The buttons take your colour with a black edge. On a save-the-date page the card holds the save-the-date note instead of the form.

Location, Gifts, Event Details and Save the Date

These four sections share their structure with Fotify's other picker-coloured designs (Meridian, Thread, Prism and Duotone). Location, Gifts and Event Details sit on cream bands with square white cards, small pixel icons and buttons in your colour with a black edge; Save the Date sits on the black.

• Location — a map card beside an address card (with a pixel pin) holding your address, your directions and an Open in Maps button. When a map can't be shown, the map card draws a pin with the venue's coordinates; without coordinates the address card spans the row
• Gifts — every registry, payment option, charity and wishlist item is its own card in a grid, with a pixel gift, card or heart, grouped under small labels (with a count) when you offer more than one kind. Payment details sit in an inset box with a Copy button, and long account numbers wrap inside the card. Pay links, scan-to-pay QR codes and wishlist reservations appear as buttons on each card
• Event Details — a card per topic: dress code with your suggested and avoided colours as swatches, where to stay with each hotel as a mini-card (distance, price range, promo code, notes and a Book button), getting there with an icon for each kind of transport, and a full-width FAQ card where each question opens on tap
• Save the Date (Calendar) — one dark card with a pixel calendar, the title and the event date on one side, and Google, Apple (downloads the calendar file) and Outlook buttons on the other

Closing

The space field again: your closing line (option 6) in large dot-matrix capitals, decoding into place, the place and the date under it, and a Reply button, over an eclipse rising from the bottom edge of the page.

Sections that use the shared layout

These sections keep Fotify's shared layout and are dressed in Eclipse's style:

• Photo upload, QR code, Table assignment, Playlist, Sub-events, Special treatments and custom sections

Each sits on the black in the same column as the rest of the page, on a square dark card, with titles in dot-matrix capitals and buttons in your colour. Photos in custom sections are capped in height so a tall portrait never takes over the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I use my brand colour? A: Yes. Set the Corona to your brand colour with Pick any color. It colours the corona, the event name, the ticker, the buttons and the labels; on the cream bands it is shown as a deeper shade of the same colour so it stays readable.

Q: Should my photo go in the disc or behind the ring? A: In the disc suits a portrait or a photo with one clear subject in the middle — set the crop so it sits in the circle. Behind the ring suits a wide photo of a venue or a crowd, which reads as a dim backdrop.

Q: Why does the programme say "Day 01" and "Day 02"? A: When your programme runs over several days, each day shows its place in the programme, in the order of the days. A one-day programme shows no number. You can change the word "Day" in the live preview's edit mode.

Q: Do the titles always decode? A: Only once, the first time a guest scrolls to each one. Guests whose device asks for reduced motion see the titles still, and so do titles in a script other than Latin (Hebrew, Arabic, Cyrillic, Japanese and others), which simply stand. Screen readers always read the final words.

Q: Does Eclipse work in right-to-left languages? A: Yes. In Hebrew and Arabic the layout mirrors: the place and the date swap sides, the ticker runs the other way, and the bead of light moves to the other side of the ring. Your cover photo's crop stays as you set it.

Q: Does the page move? A: Gently: the corona turns very slowly, a few stars twinkle, the ticker runs, titles decode once and the cursor blinks. Guests whose device asks for reduced motion see a still page.

Next steps

• See How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation for the template gallery and how to try a design on before applying it
• Compare the other event designs: Dusk, a summit at sundown, or Keynote, a stage with a spotlight for talks and launches
• Let guests share their photos with a QR code: read about Fotify for conferences and digital invitations with RSVP

Need help? Get in touch through the in-dashboard help widget.