diff --git a/src/app/zxdb/page.tsx b/src/app/zxdb/page.tsx
index 0af1e1b..59873a9 100644
--- a/src/app/zxdb/page.tsx
+++ b/src/app/zxdb/page.tsx
@@ -8,85 +8,153 @@ export const revalidate = 3600;
 
 export default async function Page() {
   return (
-    <div>
-      <h1 className="mb-3">ZXDB Explorer</h1>
-      <p className="text-secondary">Choose what you want to explore.</p>
-
-      <form className="row gy-2 gx-2 align-items-center mb-4" method="get" action="/zxdb/entries">
-        <div className="col-sm-8 col-md-6 col-lg-4">
-          <input className="form-control" name="q" placeholder="Search entries..." />
-        </div>
-        <div className="col-auto">
-          <select className="form-select" name="scope" defaultValue="title">
-            <option value="title">Titles</option>
-            <option value="title_aliases">Titles + Aliases</option>
-            <option value="title_aliases_origins">Titles + Aliases + Origins</option>
-          </select>
-        </div>
-        <div className="col-auto">
-          <button className="btn btn-primary">Search</button>
-        </div>
-      </form>
-
-      <div className="row g-3">
-        <div className="col-sm-6 col-lg-4">
-          <Link href="/zxdb/entries" className="text-decoration-none">
-            <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
-              <div className="card-body d-flex align-items-center">
-                <div className="me-3" aria-hidden>
-                  <span className="bi bi-collection" style={{ fontSize: 28 }} />
-                </div>
-                <div>
-                  <h5 className="card-title mb-1">Entries</h5>
-                  <div className="card-text text-secondary">Browse software entries with filters</div>
+      <div className="d-flex flex-column gap-4">
+        <section
+            className="rounded-4 p-4 p-lg-5 shadow-sm"
+            style={{
+              background: "linear-gradient(135deg, rgba(13,110,253,0.08), rgba(25,135,84,0.08))",
+            }}
+        >
+          <div className="row align-items-center g-4">
+            <div className="col-lg-7">
+              <div className="d-flex align-items-center gap-2 mb-3">
+                <span className="badge text-bg-dark">ZXDB</span>
+                <span className="badge text-bg-secondary">Explorer</span>
+              </div>
+              <h1 className="display-6 mb-3">ZXDB Explorer</h1>
+              <p className="lead text-secondary mb-4">
+                Trace Spectrum-era software across entries, releases, magazines, and labels with deep links and fast filters.
+              </p>
+              <div className="d-flex flex-wrap gap-2">
+                <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/entries">Browse entries</Link>
+                <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/releases">Latest releases</Link>
+                <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/magazines">Magazine issues</Link>
+                <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/labels">People & labels</Link>
+              </div>
+            </div>
+            <div className="col-lg-5">
+              <div className="card border-0 shadow-sm">
+                <div className="card-body">
+                  <h5 className="card-title mb-3">Jump straight in</h5>
+                  <form className="d-flex flex-column gap-2" method="get" action="/zxdb/entries">
+                    <div>
+                      <label className="form-label small text-secondary">Search entries</label>
+                      <input className="form-control" name="q" placeholder="Try: manic, doom, renegade..." />
+                    </div>
+                    <div>
+                      <label className="form-label small text-secondary">Scope</label>
+                      <select className="form-select" name="scope" defaultValue="title">
+                        <option value="title">Titles</option>
+                        <option value="title_aliases">Titles + Aliases</option>
+                        <option value="title_aliases_origins">Titles + Aliases + Origins</option>
+                      </select>
+                    </div>
+                    <button className="btn btn-primary">Search</button>
+                  </form>
                 </div>
               </div>
             </div>
-          </Link>
-        </div>
+          </div>
+        </section>
 
-        <div className="col-sm-6 col-lg-4">
-          <Link href="/zxdb/releases" className="text-decoration-none">
-            <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
-              <div className="card-body d-flex align-items-center">
-                <div className="me-3" aria-hidden>
-                  <span className="bi bi-box-arrow-down" style={{ fontSize: 28 }} />
+        <section>
+          <div className="d-flex align-items-center justify-content-between flex-wrap gap-2 mb-3">
+            <h2 className="h4 mb-0">Start exploring</h2>
+            <span className="text-secondary small">Pick a path to dive deeper</span>
+          </div>
+          <div className="row g-3">
+            <div className="col-sm-6 col-lg-3">
+              <Link href="/zxdb/entries" className="text-decoration-none">
+                <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
+                  <div className="card-body">
+                    <div className="d-flex align-items-center gap-3">
+                      <span className="bi bi-collection" style={{ fontSize: 28 }} aria-hidden />
+                      <div>
+                        <h5 className="card-title mb-1">Entries</h5>
+                        <div className="card-text text-secondary">Search + filter titles</div>
+                      </div>
+                    </div>
+                  </div>
                 </div>
-                <div>
-                  <h5 className="card-title mb-1">Releases</h5>
-                  <div className="card-text text-secondary">Drill into releases and downloads</div>
+              </Link>
+            </div>
+            <div className="col-sm-6 col-lg-3">
+              <Link href="/zxdb/releases" className="text-decoration-none">
+                <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
+                  <div className="card-body">
+                    <div className="d-flex align-items-center gap-3">
+                      <span className="bi bi-box-arrow-down" style={{ fontSize: 28 }} aria-hidden />
+                      <div>
+                        <h5 className="card-title mb-1">Releases</h5>
+                        <div className="card-text text-secondary">Downloads + media</div>
+                      </div>
+                    </div>
+                  </div>
+                </div>
+              </Link>
+            </div>
+            <div className="col-sm-6 col-lg-3">
+              <Link href="/zxdb/magazines" className="text-decoration-none">
+                <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
+                  <div className="card-body">
+                    <div className="d-flex align-items-center gap-3">
+                      <span className="bi bi-journal-text" style={{ fontSize: 28 }} aria-hidden />
+                      <div>
+                        <h5 className="card-title mb-1">Magazines</h5>
+                        <div className="card-text text-secondary">Issues + references</div>
+                      </div>
+                    </div>
+                  </div>
+                </div>
+              </Link>
+            </div>
+            <div className="col-sm-6 col-lg-3">
+              <Link href="/zxdb/labels" className="text-decoration-none">
+                <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
+                  <div className="card-body">
+                    <div className="d-flex align-items-center gap-3">
+                      <span className="bi bi-people" style={{ fontSize: 28 }} aria-hidden />
+                      <div>
+                        <h5 className="card-title mb-1">Labels</h5>
+                        <div className="card-text text-secondary">People + publishers</div>
+                      </div>
+                    </div>
+                  </div>
+                </div>
+              </Link>
+            </div>
+          </div>
+        </section>
+
+        <section className="row g-3">
+          <div className="col-lg-7">
+            <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
+              <div className="card-body">
+                <h3 className="h5">Explore by category</h3>
+                <p className="text-secondary mb-3">Jump to curated lists and filter results from there.</p>
+                <div className="d-flex flex-wrap gap-2">
+                  <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/genres">Genres</Link>
+                  <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/languages">Languages</Link>
+                  <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/machinetypes">Machine Types</Link>
+                  <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/labels">Labels</Link>
                 </div>
               </div>
             </div>
-          </Link>
-        </div>
-
-        <div className="col-sm-6 col-lg-4">
-          <Link href="/zxdb/magazines" className="text-decoration-none">
+          </div>
+          <div className="col-lg-5">
             <div className="card h-100 shadow-sm">
-              <div className="card-body d-flex align-items-center">
-                <div className="me-3" aria-hidden>
-                  <span className="bi bi-journal-text" style={{ fontSize: 28 }} />
-                </div>
-                <div>
-                  <h5 className="card-title mb-1">Magazines</h5>
-                  <div className="card-text text-secondary">Browse magazines and their issues</div>
-                </div>
+              <div className="card-body">
+                <h3 className="h5">How to use this</h3>
+                <ol className="mb-0 text-secondary small">
+                  <li>Search by title or aliases in Entries.</li>
+                  <li>Open a release to see downloads, scraps, and places.</li>
+                  <li>Use magazines to find original reviews and references.</li>
+                  <li>Follow labels to discover related work.</li>
+                </ol>
               </div>
             </div>
-          </Link>
-        </div>
+          </div>
+        </section>
       </div>
-
-      <div className="mt-4">
-        <h2 className="h5 mb-2">Categories</h2>
-        <div className="d-flex flex-wrap gap-2">
-          <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/genres">Genres</Link>
-          <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/languages">Languages</Link>
-          <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/machinetypes">Machine Types</Link>
-          <Link className="btn btn-outline-secondary btn-sm" href="/zxdb/labels">Labels</Link>
-        </div>
-      </div>
-    </div>
   );
 }