[Project Complete] Financial Marketing Agency $450

[townes]

(Admin code added by Palmer - DR1564252)

Overview:
The site is for a direct marketing and advertising agency, with offices in Chicago and Baltimore. Our core client industry is banking and financial, with an emphasis on mid-size community banks. We’ve spent our past careers doing lots of big corporate banking and lending work (from inside and the agency end) and want to communicate our depth of expertise, brought to a smaller market.

We’re looking for clean, easy to navigate design that stands on its own. Don’t try to visually cover the industry with bank tellers and photos of middle-aged white guys shaking hands. While we may choose to add portfolio samples later on, our selling proposition is return on investment to a dollar-driven audience.

That said, while strategy and planning are what often gets us in the door, a good part of our billings are in print advertising, collateral, and direct mail execution. Thus, we need to look imaginative and contemporary. Even the dollars-and-cents client wants to look sharp and have an agency that reflects that. We don’t need to go over the top with site gimmicks, as some agencies are prone to do.

Specifics:
We have no current site. It will be at www.ledirect.net. Logo prints in PMS 2613 and this purple may be employed elsewhere in the design if you choose. Otherwise, color palette is entirely your call.

The subpage titles are:
About LE Direct
Limitless Expertise
Performance Tools
Case Histories
FAQs
Contact Us

We’re looking for template for primary and one sub-page.

Competitive industry sites:
These have some audience overlap with us, but most are selling McAds. They are not design models.

http://www.financialmarketingservices.com - group that focuses on start-ups with packaged marketing products and brand identity.

http://www.bankadpro.com - Instant ad, drop in a logo.

http://www.leadsource.com - more turnkey bank marketing programs

http://www.allison-mitchell.co.uk - best equivalent to us, serves the UK

Site we like:
http://www.cliffordpr.com - clean, informative, and professional

Deadline:
August 31, 2004. If we find the right thing, we'll declare an end earlier. We'll be monitoring entries from two cities, and will provide feedback as promptly as possible. Any questions, let us know. Who's in?

[Pawel]

Very nice, I'm in.
Do you want the pages to be coded x(html)/ css or you only require PSD files ?

[townes]

Great, glad to have a hand raised already. We would like it html/css coded, please.

[Pawel]

Hello townes,

Do you have any content for the front page ?
Thanks

[townes]

In terms of text? We'll drop some intro/teaser copy--a couple of paragraphs, 100 words or so. For the time being, greeking of that is fine. You are welcome to play with "The power of limitless expertise"--which has been employed as a tagline in some presentation material. Just to expand a little on the brief: we're purposely not putting to-date print material in front of you. First, because it's early enough in our evolution that there isn't an internal brand bible for our agency. But primarily, aside from the logo, we don't want you to feel limited by any of the design choices made up to this point. Visually, you can go with office/environmental/financial ideas. Our main point is that it doesn't look like "bank lite." It's enough that we counsel clients to get away from stacks of dollar bills and smiling families in front of their Brand New House, without falling into too many cliches ourselves.

[Pawel]

Hello townes,
Is this what you had in mind ?

[townes]

That was far faster than I expected for a first entry. Thanks for the quick work. Pawel, I'll be able to comment more specifically on designs beginning Friday, when my counterpart in Chicago returns to the office and will be there through the deadline, so we can avoid holdups. I'll say initially on my own that first impression is that it feels like an investment advisor. It fulfills the functional aspects, but I don't get much sense that this is coming from a creative firm. I'm putting as few creative restrictions as I can, while trying to communicate what we do and what our clients do. If an entry needs to be pulled back from the edge, trust me, I'll say so. But we're not all starched shirts and three-piece suits, so don't feel limited. And again, Pawel, I'll distill decision-makers comments by late morning Friday.

Anyone else in the mix? Any questions I can answer in this early going?

[splunking]

Hello there :D

Expect an entry from me in the next few days, or even as early as today.

Thanks
- Cindy

[townes]

Terrific, Cindy. We'll be on the lookout.

I know it's crunch time on a couple of other threads. Anyone else from whom we should expect something in the coming days?

[Trifolic]

Do you have the PSD for that logo?

[splunking]

Hello townes,

Here is a shot. I really went for a minimalist style. If you want me to kick it up a notch, le tme know. Or I can start over from scratch.

LE DIRECT INDEX PAGE (http://www.flashbrite.com/ledirect.htm)

Thank you for your time,
Cindy

[Pawel]

Hey townes,
Thank you for your comments,
I'll revise my entry, do you by any chance have any pictues that would be suitable ?
Thanks

[townes]

Jason- no photoshop file, but I do have the Illustrator .eps logo file attached below, if that will help.

Cindy- Great, thanks. I'll start getting feedback from the Chicago folks in the late morning on Friday.

Pawel- I don't have a particular image in mind--really I'd like to see what you all, as designers, come up with. As guidance, don't let yourself be limited to those "usual suspect" stock shots of people in suits pretending to talk. It could be office environmental, could be business district street scene (generic or particular to our location cities), could be something else that you think works. Remember that we're an advertising agency first, so consider your vision of what that looks like (you can skip the hangovers and everyone dressed in black.)

[townes]

Some feedback on these first two. First, nice work from both of you.

Pawel- I've already talked a little about this feeling a bit more like a financial institution than a firm that serves them, and my colleagues echoed that. Some other items: along the top, the logo feels a little "stuck in" (another comment: "trapped") in relationship to the navigation buttons. The duplication of home, about, contact at the upper right is probably unnecessary. "Feels a little heavy" on the left half of the page.

Cindy- First question was what happened to the logo. Solid dimensions and type style look different than our standard. Compliments on the cream color in conjuntion with the purple. Like the idea of a scaled-back/ghosted image, but classical statuary seems a little out of context. A little more text room than is needed. Might try navigation and headline in a font that creates a little more contrast with the logotype. Like the idea of dividing navigation between the top and left. No objection to breaking up the solid bar with some kind of knockout, but the "LE" at the bottom left doesn't add a lot.

Uniformally, the reviewers were pleased with the first shot from both of you and encourage you (and other submitters) to be bold and adventurous. "A prospective client may feel a little more conservative about their brand, but doesn't mind the agency cranking things up a notch for its own." We all look forward to more ideas and possibilities. Thanks!

[Anne]

Hi.

Here is an entry from me (http://www.newfacedesign.net/do/ld/)

Another one (http://www.newfacedesign.net/do/ld/index2.html) (only with small variations)

Looking forward to your feedback
Anne

[BrianDove]

And mine :blush:
Do you want changes made ? I'm at your service :)
Brian

[BrianDove]

and something else :yes:
Brian

[splunking]

Hello Townes,

Okay, I had a little fun with this. I tried to produce something creative and unique, while keeping it simple. Here is a second concept. Let me know what you think.

LE DIRECT TEMPLATE REVISION 1 (http://www.flashbrite.com/ledirect.htm)

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your feedback.
- Cindy

[townes]

Good morning, all

I have comments for Anne, collected this morning. Brian and Cindy, I should have feedback for you a little later on today. We continue to be very impressed with everything we're seeing.

Anne: I'm going to primarily address the first version, since we think it's the stronger of the two. Starting at the top, we really liked the way you made the logo feel more integrated with the overall design. It's a somewhat boxy, "defined" logo, and it didn't feel like an afterthought in the design--very nice. Using the curved lines in close proximity added interest.

There's some concern about the balance between text and graphic elements, with the text area being "heavier" and "too horizontal." Remember that on the index page, it's only going to be 100 words or so in paragraph form, and the text should be complementary to the graphic look--simply 'we've intrigued you at first glance, now go deeper to learn more.' In other words, we're not hesitant about being more vertical. This is also the case with the header area--it can take up more room vertically on the page, but it may need to be buffered a bit, so it's not going from text in the navigation directly into text on the page.

Other comments that came up: "beware of having the top (navigation area) be too dark and compact"; "experiment with some contrasting colors"; "nice font choice, but all the headers feel too uniform in terms of size"; "not Le Direct." Also: "Using What's New is a nice idea--could encompass links internal news, client projects, or exernal news sources." "Photo choice feels more 'consultative'--a good thing. But still feels a little more like a salesman making a pitch, than a creative place. Photo does not have to be face shots of people." All in all, Anne, very nice work!

[Anne]

Hi and thank you for the feedback.

Here's another entry from me. (http://www.newfacedesign.net/do/ld/index3.html)

- added some pictures to the header.
- added some contrasting colors.
- replaced the middle picture.
- changed the layout from horizintal to vertical (this can of course be changed back if you prefer the previous layout)

Anne

[townes]

Good afternoon. Comments for Brian and Cindy. Anne, your revision is being reviewed in Chicago now, and I'll post responses as soon as I get them. (From here: some very good changes.)

Brian: You've done some very good things, among them a little bit of psychic designing--I'll get to that. First, your work with objects--the eyeglasses, in particular--is a nice alternative. Also, we appreciate your willingness to play with strong color in the glasses photo. The bullets--for lack of a better word--for the page titles got comments all around; we've used a similar four-square device on presentations, which you had no way of knowing. The challenges here: the orientation, as I've discussed in other responses, is very horizontal--lots of long lines of text, so the overall effect is that the page is--well, shorter and wider. Narrowing the text column would be a good idea.The contact cue really gets lost at the top; we're happy if they read all the pages, but getting the viewer in touch with us is very important. Centering the logo was worth experimenting with, but both it and the framing of the left orientation logo end up feeling even harder edged than it is to begin with. The mixed case headline works much better than the all caps. And don't feel as though you have to use a headline or call-out font that's too similar to the logo. All told, some very good elements here.

Cindy: Some real strengths here, some of which took me a few views to catch on to. Big improvement in working with the logo--though as noted, framing it accentuates its inherent blockiness. (Reviewer comment: "the first impression is all geometric.") We like the fact that you've played with the background more; ghosting back text and using some background elements to soften the lines farther down the page are a nice touch. At least for me, it didn't hit the first time. Maybe that was a little screen glare here or the photo was a little too striking. (Comment: "the young woman in the photo is lovely, but it's rather intense.") You've done a very nice job of making the text box more readable. One thing we've learned: when the company name is one the same line (as opposed to the logo) 'Direct' should either be mixed case or small capped after the D. This avoids the French interpretation of the name. Can we try the headlines and navigation titles in a sans-serif, and give the navigation titles a little more space vertically? (Comment: "Even if the subpage titles end up as two-line or convert to individual button style, they feel kind of bunched up at the moment.") Cindy, we all like the fact that you've gotten more experimental in this revision. Nice work!

[BrianDove]

Thank-you for your marvelous feedback, will make the changes asap :blush:
Regards
Brian Dove

[splunking]

Thank you for your feedback! It's nice to have such thorough ideas! I'll submit the changes shortly.

Thanks again!
Cindy :D

[Lilja]

Here is my atempt to create something original for you.

It's just an fast mock-up. (http://www.viastep.com/do/le/index.htm)

If you like it I will work more on it when I find the creativity i just lost ;) It can't be that far away...must be near my computer somewhere. Maybe under the desk? Lets see.... :confused:
As soon as I find it, I'll be back with an improved version.

Lilja

[splunking]

Here are a few changes. The new image is of the Chicago city scape from a birds eye view. I also removed the frame around the logo, and made the boxes rounded. I'm going to play with one more idea, that is less "boxy". Look for that later.

LE Direct REVISION 2 (http://www.flashbrite.com/ledirect_1.htm)

Thanks :D
- Cindy

[townes]

Good morning! Lilja and Cindy, I'll have comments this afternoon (or earlier, depending on the quirky internet connection at O'Hare airport.)

Anne: Positive feedback on this. This revision moves in the right direction. The greater depth given to the navigation header is a real plus, thank you. What provoked the most discussion were the images incorporated in it. The calculator is something that we generally steer clients away from, so coming from us, it got some attention. However, we've come around to the point that finding an immediate visual shorthand for financial/return-on-investment/banking, etc. is very hard, and the calculator beats the heck out of a pile of cash or (ick) a spreadsheet. So the calculator is okay. The challenge is balancing it with something other than a briefcase. Something that says advertising, creative, collaborative. The right combination could very neatly encompass both what we do and for whom we do it. The chess piece, while it does say strategy, is a little overused (we've been guilty ourselves) and we'd prefer to avoid it. Other comments: "upper portion of the page still feels a little top-heavy. Maybe more vertical white space below the navigation button area, before the left navigation and copy begin." "would like to see Direct in the 'Welcome to' line either mixed case or small-capped. Ideally, L, E, and D should be the only full caps in this line." "We're still LeDirect in the copyright line." Anne, very nice work.

[Trifolic]

Here's my entry.

For the header image, I also have a cityscape of Baltimore, I was thinking a very clean and subtle fading from Chicago to Baltimore with some text if you wanted using flash..

Or you could just have 2 seperate images and have a javascript randomly choose one each time the page was loaded.. I felt it would give the site a more "Dynamic/Active" feeling to it rather than just a static page..

Let me know what you think.

Thanks

[townes]

Good morning, everyone. Jason, we'll have feedback for you this afternoon. We have a dog-and-pony show to put on for a prospective client today, so we should be back to business after lunch.

Lilja-Everyone thought your approach was very interesting. The overall effect is cool and businesslike without being stiff. Reviewers commented that using visual word cues to say what we do was a nice idea. Using the silhouette was another good touch in terms of design. What we're not sure of about that is what that image is communicating: it looks like a tug-of-war. And while that neatly illustrates some past client relationships (not to mention internal ones in previous agencies!) I'm not sure that we want to give viewers that idea! Your treatment of the logo is another positive: I've talked before about it being boxed in, but you've embraced it and given it prominence that lets it stand on its own. Some very nice ideas here--thank you!

Cindy- Some good changes here. Softening the edges helps and the birds-eye Chicago is cool looking. (I'll confess, though, that one of our Chicago reviewers said, "Is that New York?" I guess we've been keeping him at ground-level too long.) We could probably still use more vertical space for the navigation buttons. For your consideration, a common comment seems to be: "I'm not getting much sense, if I found this page, of what the company does. The text would explain, of course, but there aren't any other visual cues that say advertising or creative services." I know you're working on some other elements, so we'll look forward to that.

[townes]

Jason:
Everyone caught up by last night, so I have some feedback for you. The Chicago skyline (and the options you mentioned for getting Baltimore in there too) everyone thought looked good. The design as a whole got good marks. The common difficulty they had was that, as much as the 'people' pictures at the bottom look "professional" and "consultative", there wasn't much visual sense of what the firm does. Obviously, as I've said previously, there will be body copy to say 'We're a marketing and advertising agency'--but we want to ensure that the overall presentation makes this point, and not just the words that will go in there. A couple of other very specific things that were mentioned: "Seems very copy intensive. The main copy, two news teasers and two 'other' teasers (with people pictures) add up to a whole lot of words." "I like that fact that the logo is offset a little, without being boxed in with equal white space on all sides, but my eye doesn't know where to go in the upper left quarter of the page. The logo, navigation buttons, news header, welcome header...feels a little overwhelming." "The name is correct in the 'about' button, but not in the welcome headline or copyright line." Overall, a very interesting and creative take on it.

[Anne]

Here's a new and improved design from me (http://www.newfacedesign.net/do/ld/index3.html)

Anne

[Lilja]

Originally posted by townes
Using the silhouette was another good touch in terms of design. What we're not sure of about that is what that image is communicating: it looks like a tug-of-war. And while that neatly illustrates some past client relationships (not to mention internal ones in previous agencies!) I'm not sure that we want to give viewers that idea!

I understand what you mean :blush: it was meant as a visual symbol for "the power of limitless expertise". I will try to find a better image.

Lilja

[splunking]

Here is another entry from me.

LE DIRECT TEMPLATE #3 (http://www.flashbrite.com/ledirect_1.htm)

It's the same design accept for some changes you asked for. I had begun working on something, maybe too unique... but have abandoned the idea, as it doesn't seem to be coming together how I like. You can take a look if you like anyway.

Abandoned Idea (http://www.flashbrite.com/ledirect_2.htm)

I look forward to your feedback,
Thanks,
Cindy

[Trifolic]

Originally posted by townes
Jason:
Everyone caught up by last night, so I have some feedback for you. The Chicago skyline (and the options you mentioned for getting Baltimore in there too) everyone thought looked good. The design as a whole got good marks. The common difficulty they had was that, as much as the 'people' pictures at the bottom look "professional" and "consultative", there wasn't much visual sense of what the firm does. Obviously, as I've said previously, there will be body copy to say 'We're a marketing and advertising agency'--but we want to ensure that the overall presentation makes this point, and not just the words that will go in there. A couple of other very specific things that were mentioned: "Seems very copy intensive. The main copy, two news teasers and two 'other' teasers (with people pictures) add up to a whole lot of words." "I like that fact that the logo is offset a little, without being boxed in with equal white space on all sides, but my eye doesn't know where to go in the upper left quarter of the page. The logo, navigation buttons, news header, welcome header...feels a little overwhelming." "The name is correct in the 'about' button, but not in the welcome headline or copyright line." Overall, a very interesting and creative take on it.

Let me first start of with saying Thanks for all the feedback! :) Very very descriptive and helpful, makes these contests alot less stressfull..

I re-organized somethings in the template, and implemented the header, I was going to attach an image, but it wouldn't do "What I see" justice, so I went and did a quick chop job.. (Please note this is just for display, images not optimized so it will be slow)

http://www.jpwebtech.com/preview/DO/ledirect/

Thanks

[townes]

When it rains, it pours! (I always get to peek first--some great stuff here.) It's off to the other folks in the review group--with calls to them saying to get on it. I'll have feedback as soon as possible.

[Lilja]

Here is my revision and also a new version that is more colorfull.

V2 (http://www.viastep.com/do/le/v2.htm)
V3 (http://www.viastep.com/do/le/v3.htm)

[BrianDove]

Sorry for my late reply :D
Anyways, Here is the updated version of the 1st template I've posted.
Brian

[customb]

Hello, i would like to participate, i'll work on a proposal over the weekend. George.

later edit: well, here's on what i worked today, i had some free time. is all about simplicity + 120 words of text, without any pictures and stuff; i am thinking that your case studies will do the job on this part. if you don't like it, just let me know, and i'll probably come up with something else.

proposal (http://www.customb.com/devel/do/ledirect/index.html)

[townes]

It's been a good week, everybody. We're really impressed with the way entries have progressed--and we've done two winning presentations out of this office, so things are humming along on all fronts. I'm getting comments back to you as quickly as I can, in the order received.

Anne- Good thinking here. You've broken up the space a bit with room for a couple of samples. We hadn't really thought about that, but it works. Good going. Obviously, the flipped version of the calculator that gives mirror image keys is a problem; I'd like to take a step back from that, and see if we can't find something to substitute for the briefcase in the previous version of the header. Some additional vertical white space between navigation and what's new/welcome areas would be good. At the risk of using one of our company president's favorite expressions, "it needs to breathe."

Cindy- The word "fun" came back from everybody, and it's absolutely a compliment. You've made the page much more dimensional. Perhaps add some of the "softening" that you've done on the lower portion of the page to the upper right, where the home/faq/contact cues are, and try "marketing and advertising for financial clients" on the card. (I didn't count characters but think it's approximately equal).

Jason- This has been a big step forward. It left the theory stage and went right into something tangible--very nice. In practice, the 'Power of Limitless...' line gets lost if viewer isn't in a sufficiently large screen size. But the effect, and the text, are terrific. For the remainder of the page, "busy" and "text heavy" still come up. So here are some significant changes that would create more white space: leave the welcome copy box dimensions as is; eliminate the upper right box with handsome, square-jawed guy; eliminate one news item and move the recent news header and items down, with header hitting with the second welcome text paragraph. Wordiness aside, the top banner has some impact that we don't want to see crowded. You have other ideas? Go to it.

[townes]

Lilja, Brian, and George: we have a decision-maker in flight right now. We'll have feedback this evening. Thanks.

[Trifolic]

Originally posted by townes
Jason- This has been a big step forward. It left the theory stage and went right into something tangible--very nice. In practice, the 'Power of Limitless...' line gets lost if viewer isn't in a sufficiently large screen size. But the effect, and the text, are terrific. For the remainder of the page, "busy" and "text heavy" still come up. So here are some significant changes that would create more white space: leave the welcome copy box dimensions as is; eliminate the upper right box with handsome, square-jawed guy; eliminate one news item and move the recent news header and items down, with header hitting with the second welcome text paragraph. Wordiness aside, the top banner has some impact that we don't want to see crowded. You have other ideas? Go to it.

Great feedback as always.. However I don't know if I totally followed it this time.. Something caught my eye and I went with it. Take a look here and let me know what you think on this..



Also the part that I have underlined in the quote, can you explain that a little more I'm getting confused easy these days.. lol

Thanks :D

[splunking]

Hi There :D

Thank you for your comments and compliments! Here are the changes you suggested.

LE DIRECT REVISIONS (http://www.flashbrite.com/ledirect.htm)

Thank You :D
- Cindy

[townes]

Jason-

Sorry I wasn't clear. (Wordiness had nothing to with the top banner--my poor sentence structure.) Look back to the version I was writing about. The challenges were two-fold: 1) we wanted additional white space as a buffer below the top section--to avoid crowding and allow full impact to the rolling image and navigation area. 2) there was too much going on below, period.

So the thought was, insert some horizontal space below the navigation area; next, leave the welcome/copy block in the center as designed; cut the height of the news section and push it down (creating a block of white above it up to the logo); remove handsome guy block (new white space); and leave group photo block where it was.

Hope that's better.

Lilja, Brian & George: I haven't gotten an airport call, so looks like I won't hear feedback tonight. I have everyone engaged this weekend, however, so we'll be in touch. Thanks.

[Anne]

Here's the revision (http://www.newfacedesign.net/do/ld/index4.html)

Added a new image to the header and more white space to the content area.

Anne

[Trifolic]

Originally posted by townes
Jason-

Sorry I wasn't clear. (Wordiness had nothing to with the top banner--my poor sentence structure.) Look back to the version I was writing about. The challenges were two-fold: 1) we wanted additional white space as a buffer below the top section--to avoid crowding and allow full impact to the rolling image and navigation area. 2) there was too much going on below, period.

So the thought was, insert some horizontal space below the navigation area; next, leave the welcome/copy block in the center as designed; cut the height of the news section and push it down (creating a block of white above it up to the logo); remove handsome guy block (new white space); and leave group photo block where it was.

Hope that's better.


I have those changes made here

http://www.jpwebtech.com/preview/DO/ledirect/V2/

You might have to CTRL+F5 the page if the old one was cached..

[townes]

It was the weekend of server problems--better than a workday, but pain just the same. Here's feedback to this point:

Lilja-The new silhouette choice is much better. Everyone was very complimentary about the combination of visual cues you've chosen to communicate the consultative process and the business sector, as well as keeping things simple and clean. I think it can stand as is, as we enter the final phase of design consideration. Thank you.

George- You've taken a totally different approach to anything else we've seen, something the reviewers really appreciated. It's a very arresting, high-impact look--and though it's not the direction in which we're moving, you did a great job of capturing the viewer immediately, which is of course critical in the online setting. Thanks for giving us the chance to see it!

Brian- You've enhanced the design while still keeping it clean--nice job. The chess pieces are something I've talked a little about before; nice for communicating strategy, but something that tends to be a little overused. If you want to come up with an alternative for us to look at when we do final review tomorrow; otherwise we'll just know that's something that would be changed, and consider based on the design as a whole--which I think is very good. Nice job.

Cindy-You've executed all the changes with great skill, and created a look that communicates both the bottom-line business and the creativity that characterize our firm. The reviewers had no additional requests as we go into the final phase. Thank you for providing such a good work for our final review.

Anne- Much stronger. The additional buffer space makes a big difference, and the people photo is the right idea. One reviewer is still obsessing a little about the calculator; I've given him until after lunch today to suggest an alternative or move past it. Anne, you've done terrific work. If we have any other direction, it will be in the early afternoon today. Otherwise, we're pleased to have this stand in final consideration.

Jason- I'm waiting on one more reviewer of your last submission, and should have feedback in the next couple of hours.

[townes]

Jason-
All the reviewers are comfortable with the design for the final consideration. Thanks for getting the changes done, despite the initially vague request. Excellent work.

Anne-
There's still some internal discussion about the header, but not to worry. We know what's do-able and what isn't in the refinement process, and your design can easily stand on its own strengths.

To everyone: We've seen some terrific work in this forum, and I want to thank all of the submitters. Your talent, flexibility, efficiency and good humor have made it a pleasure. In the process of creating and building this agency, we've often laughed at our own internal challenges--even as we do work for clients who are building their brand, creating sales tools, and getting to the heart of what they do best. Each of you has helped us step back, look at ourselves, consider our mission and our methods, and refine how we present our company. What you've done for our website presence will make us stronger across the board. So thank you all.

We're working on a schedule when we can all the decision-makers on the phone to review the entries individually, narrow the choices, and make a final decision. Our goal is tomorrow afternoon, 8/31. If that fails, Wednesday morning, 9/1 will be the back-up. We will not prolong the suspense, I swear. I look forward to delivering the news of our choice. And again, thanks.

[splunking]

Thank you for all of your excellent comments and feedback. It has been a pleasure working with you.

- Cindy
:D

[townes]

At last. First, I'll apologize for the extra time this took. But in truth, it's a credit to all of you, because we had several very strong contenders from which to choose.

The final choice for winner is the entry from Trifolic--Jason.

Thanks to everyone for such smart ideas and great work. We would happily work with any of you again--and hope to have that opportunity.

We're ready to be moved into the revisions forum. Jason, we'll likely start giving you direction for those tomorrow.

Best-
Townes

[Trifolic]

Thank you! :D I'll be checking up waiting for the revisions list to be posted.

[Michael]

Congrats Jason :)

Moved to Revisions

[splunking]

Congratulations Trifolic :D

- Cindy

[townes]

Good morning, Jason-

I've gone over the notes and tried to consolidate comments, so we can do this in the next few days and be all signed off.

First the dynamic element: Can the borders be softened any? We tend a little toward boxiness anyway--starting with our logo-- and the black border tends to accentuate that.

Chicago is entirely recognizable, but could probably be stepped up a little in scale, so the landmark buildings in the center are more prominent and some of the extraneous stuff on the sides is cut.

There's a concern that in the Chicago view, "The Power of Limitless Expertise" text is a little far to the right; obviously, its position is dictated somewhat by the roll back into Baltimore where the World Trade building comes up. So: if the Baltimore shot has no more width (that is, if the view can't shift any to the left) and thus allow the "Power of..." text to move left a little, then we'll deal with it.

Either way, we should hold a couple of more beats on Chicago once that text is up, before rolling back to Baltimore.

No significant layout changes: just scoot the recent news header and items down a bit. It's competing with the 'Welcome' headline.

And two questions: first, what's your recommendation for software for us to manage/add to the site? Second, if subpages have more copy, will the bottom (navigation, copyright, etc.) move down to accomodate? One person here just wanted to make sure that the copy area wasn't "locked in" for subsequent pages.

That's all I've got for now! Thanks-

[Trifolic]

Originally posted by townes
And two questions: first, what's your recommendation for software for us to manage/add to the site? Second, if subpages have more copy, will the bottom (navigation, copyright, etc.) move down to accomodate? One person here just wanted to make sure that the copy area wasn't "locked in" for subsequent pages.

That's all I've got for now! Thanks-

I should have the revisions in a few hours or so.. Lemme just answer your questions first.

Personally I am not a big fan of any CMS software unless it performs something that normal HTML cannot accomplish. I have heard alot of good things about Mambo, and I belive DO uses mambo, however I have no expirence with it myself.

The body and copy text will be able to expand as far as you like or shrink as small as you like, this will be controlled but just using corners and background colors. So you will not be "locked in" for any page

[townes]

Understood. I think they were just asking more about working in HTML to build on. GoLive or...? (I'm not from the art department, God knows--I sign the checks when they tell me that they can't live without a Quark upgrade.)

[Trifolic]

Originally posted by townes
Understood. I think they were just asking more about working in HTML to build on. GoLive or...? (I'm not from the art department, God knows--I sign the checks when they tell me that they can't live without a Quark upgrade.)

Ahh ok, well I will be using notepad to code everything. It can be managed or edited with, Notepad, Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Golive, or any other WYSIWYG editor out there..

[Trifolic]

Changes made http://www.jpwebtech.com/preview/DO/ledirect/V3/ Please review and let me know if you need anymore.. I also changed the first phrase to slide and fade in at the same time making it a bit smoother..

[townes]

Excellent. I've sent to the Chicago contingent for any last words. I'll have that or the blessing tomorrow a.m.

Thanks.

[townes]

That's it! When it's all set, everything can be sent on to me (.zip or .sit) at townes@ledirect.net.

Jason, thank you for the great work. It's been fun, and we look forward to doing it again. Once the content's in and it's all up and running, we'll let you know.

Townes

[Trifolic]

Files sent! Thanks

[townes]

Files received, project over!

Thanks-