Template for consulting / web hosting company

[ing]

(Admin code added by Palmer - P107741B)

Hi all! This contest is worth $200.

Company name: iNextGen, Inc.

Company profile: We are a computer consulting company that also offers web hosting as part of our solutions. We offer cutting edge Microsoft Dot Net solutions as well as basic websites.

We are looking for the following from this contest:
• Logo (We will be putting on a business card in the future)
• Template for home page (We will use the logo and menuing for our sub-pages)

We envision the home page containing 2 main sections (probably side by side). One section would focus on our Consulting services and the other focuses on our Web hosting. Within the web hosting, we want an area for a few lines of description and the ability to show two of our web hosting plans. The consulting section would contain an area for a description as well as showcase our premier website www.netGolfLeague.com. Also, we specialize in Microsoft Dot Net consulting, both VB and C#.

We don’t want the site to look like a typical web hosting site, but something a little more professional. Many of our websites are not brochure sites but web applications that we develop and host.

We would like an area for Client login. This might fit nice on the home page or might need to be accessed by a link.

We would like the following navigation links from the home page and sub-page:
• Home
• Consulting Services
• Hosting
• Portfolio
• Support
• About Us

We would prefer not to use frames. We also assume 1024 x 768 as the default size, but would like not to be tied to a certain resolution.

Domain name: www.iNextGen.com

What is the scope of this project?: This is a new site for an existing company founded in 2000.

Who is the intended audience?: Consulting clients and web hosting customers.

Mood or tone?: We want our site to convey a cutting edge professional corporate image. We would like to be able to use our logo not only for business cards, but promotional items.

Color psychology?: Show us some variety


Deadline: 2 weeks.

Good luck,

Mike

[Palmer]

I think you should pare down the list of what you need. The problem I see right off the bat is you are asking for 3 completely different specialties...

Template-Web Designers
Logo-Logo Designers
Business Card-Print Designers

In addition, we typically have contests for those items individually. To ask for those 3 things in one batch would not only limit the number of designers who could offer everything you're asking for to about 2, maybe 3 of our team, it really is way lower than what should be offered.

2 page template - $200-$400
Logo - $75-$150
BusinessCard - $40-$60

Can we change the requirements to a 2 page template with a simple logo? I think the contest would have much better results for you. :)

[ing]

That makes sense, we were getting a little specific and aggressive with our list.

We are basically in need of a template that we can extend the look (menu, logo, etc) into our sub-pages.

We can scratch the Business card layout.

[I changed the original post to reflect this].

thanks for the guidance,

Mike

[Palmer]

Thanks Mike. This will work out much better. I'll tell the designers that you have modified your requirements. Go Buckeye's! :)

[ing]

I was re-reading my last post and it didn't mention that we still want a simple logo, just not a business card layout.

I think we should be on the same page now. :)

Mike

[KelliShaver]

Here's a start. If you like it, I can work up the sub-page template.

I picture some additional text in the header (company slogan, tagline, testimonal?) and perhaps some simple flash animations of either line art, or slow transitions to various business-type thumbnail images.... nothing too distracting, though.

<img src='http://www.kellishaver.com/misc/inextgen.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

[Palmer]

Nice one Kelli :)

[KelliShaver]

Thanks! :)

[Mark]

Here's a more conservative approach.... :)

[Luc]

Hi! Expect an entry from me.

[hairyiguana]

entry:

[ing]

Hi all, I'm meeting with my partners in the next day or two and will be responding with comments probably Sunday or Monday.

thanks for everyones effort!

Mike

[ing]

We all agree that you are off to a good start and are excited to see all of the entries unfold.

Some general things

We liked the direction hairyiguana took with the logo. Kind of an abstract thing to the left of our company name. But, can you change the iNEXTGEN.COM to iNextGen, Inc. Also, We don't want to have prices listed for the web hosting plans.

After seeing the netGolfLeague site screen shot on the homepage, we are not sure that it blends into the overall look. We would be open to removing it or to any other suggestions from the designers. Maybe this would be better as an 'Application Showcase' thing that we could periodically change. Also, maybe a place to list whitepapers or code snippet links would help round out the consulting services. The consulting services description would probably be less of a big long text description and more of a few lines of description and some bullet items of technologies and projects.

Here are a few specific comments.

KelliShaver: We like the clean look. We also liked your menu bar. Could you give another shot at the logo and maybe try some bolder colors? The Apple key on the keyboard in the heading picture is misleading because we do Microsoft development. The client login should be for the whole site. Right now, it looks like it is for consulting clients only.

MarkBeaudry: We liked your design but think the picture is to big and don't like the hand. Probably no picture at all. The hosting packages look great! We would just want the price removed. Could you give another shot at the logo also. We liked the two tabs for Consulting Services and Hosting. What did you have in mind for navigation? Would those be clickable tabs that would take the user to a Hosting page for example? Also, we like the Microsoft.Dot net logo.

hairyiQuana: We liked the way you did the menu and presented the hosting plans. Can you change member login to Client Login and remove the live support. Also, could you try something fresh on the color side.

We are excited to see the entry Luc is going to toss into the contest!

regards,

Mike

[Luc]

Mike,I'm sorry I haven't posted my entry yet. But will do that today.

[hheine]

<!--QuoteBegin-ing+Nov 10 2003, 11:54 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ing @ Nov 10 2003, 11:54 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->

MarkBeaudry: We liked your design but think the picture is to big and don't like the hand. Probably no picture at all. The hosting packages look great! We would just want the price removed. Could you give another shot at the logo also. We liked the two tabs for Consulting Services and Hosting. What did you have in mind for navigation? Would those be clickable tabs that would take the user to a Hosting page for example? Also, we like the Microsoft.Dot net logo.

[/b][/quote]
Mark, <? is a PHP tag :wacko:

Please: <%

Nice JOB.

[Palmer]

Yes, Windows servers run ASP scripts and they start with <%. Come on Mark! What were you thinking! :P

[Mark]

I guess that's one way to look at it....

But my sick twisted head envisioned this....


< (the begining of the html tag therefore representing hosting)


and....


? (questions a client may have to a consultant)


Therefore <?
equals two sides of their business!

So :P right back at you!!! :lol2:

[elements]

Just wanted to let you know I'm working on something and will post it later today.

Thanks :)

[ing]

Sounds good Elements!

Mike

[elements]

Alright, here goes :blink:

<img src='http://www.dilicious.ca/outpost/ing_layout_v1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Let me know what you think :)
Thanks.

[marengo]

Hello,
you wrote:
We don?t want the site to look like a typical web hosting site, but something a little more professional. Many of our websites are not brochure sites but web applications that we develop and host.

May be you can post some links here : your favorite sites. Just to know your taste.
Thanks,
Nat

[Luc]

Looks good Nat :)

[marengo]

<!--QuoteBegin-Luc+Nov 11 2003, 03:53 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Luc @ Nov 11 2003, 03:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Looks good Nat :) [/b][/quote]
:P Are you sure name of Elements is Nathalie too? :lol:

[ing]

Nice work elements!

Also, my partners are trying to come up with a Slogan to use with our logo.

I'll try to list some sites we like later today.


Mike

[Mark]

Here's the alterations you requested. :)

[Mark]

Here's how the nav bar works...

[LalitB]

My entry #1

[elements]

<!--QuoteBegin-marengo+Nov 11 2003, 10:00 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (marengo @ Nov 11 2003, 10:00 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->:P&nbsp; Are you sure name of Elements is Nathalie too?&nbsp; :lol:[/b][/quote]
:lol: (thanks) ;)

[ing]

Very nice submissions! :tup:

Elements: First off, love you template. But, the (I) in the logo reminds me of an Instant Messenger butt symbol. :D Could you try something different without the .com on the end of the logo and without (I). Remove computer consulting company and maybe add a swoosh or something if it looks good.

Everyone: Also, I'm in the process of showing my partners tonight and tomorrow and should have further comments on todays activity.

thanks for doing a great job!

Mike

[KelliShaver]

I've been out of town for the last two days (rather unexpectadly), but I'll post my revisions tomrrow. I apologize for the delay.

[Luc]

<!--QuoteBegin-marengo+Nov 11 2003, 09:00 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (marengo @ Nov 11 2003, 09:00 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> :P Are you sure name of Elements is Nathalie too? :lol: [/b][/quote]
Oh :lol: I thought it was your entry :wacko:

[Luc]

<!--QuoteBegin-marengo+Nov 11 2003, 08:48 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (marengo @ Nov 11 2003, 08:48 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Hello,
you wrote:


May be you can post some links here : your favorite sites. Just to know your taste.
Thanks,
Nat [/b][/quote]
Yes. I kinda need it too. I'm out of idea right now. I'm trying to get you a design. I've spent 7 hours today but I just couldn't get it right. It will help if you can give us an idea of what your type of style is.

Thanks!

[elements]

lol @ IM butt symbol, Mike :lol:

After you said that, that's all I saw myself, heh.
Thanks for the feedback though, I'm glad you like the style.

Here's a revision, with different logo, some more content, and other filler items added.

<img src='http://www.dilicious.ca/outpost/ing_layout_v2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

I look forward to your feedback.
Thanks :)

[Luc]

Here goes my entry. Looking forward to your feedback :)

[ing]

Just got out of a meeting with my partners and here are their comments:

General Comments:

In general, we are amazed at the designs that were produced with the confusing direction that we are probably giving! :tup: You guys do good work. In fact, we plan on using this site in the future. (one person I've shown this site already started contests!)

We like how markbeaudry did the client login. Its small and out of the way.

We are not that excited with having people on the page.

Also, none of us could decide on other websites to use as an example.


markbeaudry:

Your redesign is nice, but we are not aren't sold on the tabs. We like your color scheme also.


prelude785:

We liked your menu and logo. Can you try removing the lady and doing something different with the hosting packages. Maybe just needs different color. The text is kind of hard to read. Also, no prices.

Luc:

We like your menus and header. Anyway to make them not quite so tall? Some of us like your logo and some don't, can you try another one to compare to? We all liked the colors you used in it.


Elements:

Really like your site in general. Can you try adjusting the color of the Consulting header to provide more contrast. We can't seem to tell what the picture is. We liked how you put the services | portfolio links in your first entry. Try removing the home and contact tabs at the top. Can you try something with a lower case I for the iNextGen? Can we put something other than people in the top corner?


Mike :D

[Luc]

Here's more to choose from.

#1
<img src='http://www.ei-corp.net/mockups/inextgen2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

#2
<img src='http://www.ei-corp.net/mockups/inextgen3.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

#3
<img src='http://www.ei-corp.net/mockups/inextgen4.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

I'll work on the logo later. I still have no new idea.

[elements]

Hey Mike,
thanks for the feedback, I'm glad the team was generally feeling it :)

Here's a revision with the requested changes made.
I've also edited a few other elements.
I've placed 2 varieties of server images, and "order" & "more info" buttons.
If chosen, I can use whichever style you'd like.

<img src='http://www.dilicious.ca/outpost/ing_layout_v3.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Let me know what you think.
Thanks :)

[LalitB]

Entry #2

[ing]

All!

My partners are in the middle of voting on our favorite template. There are so many good ones that we are having trouble choosing our favorite! We will be choosing a winner in the next day or two.

thanks,

Mike

:tup:

[Luc]

If there is any revision for my entry, just let me know..

[ing]

First off, we are amazed at all the great entries that were submitted for our contest. We had a hard time choosing the winner. In the end, it came down to a vote by the partners. Each of the 5 partners ranked their favorite three submissions.

Here are the results:

Elements (3 1st place, 1 2nd place)
Luc Rev 1 (2 1st place, 2 2nd place)
Luc Rev 3 (1 2nd place)
Prelude785 Rev 2 (2 3rd place)
MarkBeaudry Rev 2 (1 2nd place, 2 3rd place)

And the winner is.... Elements (latest revision) :tup: We will send you a private message with a couple of tweaks tommorrow.

thanks again for everyones hard work. We will definately use this site again in the future.

Mike

[Mark]

Hey Elements, congrats! Nice job! :tup:

[elements]

:o
Thanks, Guys! :)
As usual all entries were absolutely wonderful.
Hats off to all the other contestants.

Thanks again, I'll be awaiting your PM, ing :)

Adil

[hheine]

Congrats everyone ! :D

Way to go elements. Great job Luc, Prelude and Mark ! :tup:

[ing]

I just want to emphasize that we are very impressed by the quality of work being done on this site. Simply amazing.

Mike

[Palmer]

Well done Adil :clap:

Thanks Mike, tell your friends about us :)

[Luc]

Congrats elements! Well done!