[Project Complete] Ezine template: $150 prize

[JAC&Gill]

(Admin code added by Palmer - X770002J)

$150 prize; deadline 22 Sept noon (UK time) - would like to see early designs by Monday if possible

Hello there,

I have a client who needs an ezine template designed. (Actually, I have 4 of them, so watch this space for the other projects!)

Client name: Shine Consulting www.shineconsulting.com (http://www.shineconsulting.com)
Strap line: Passionate, inspired, committed people produce outstanding results
Ezine name: Shine!

The company is a team of consultants who take a coaching-based approach to organisational development and business performance improvement.

The newsletter content will be challenging and thought-provoking, and they want to present a human but professional image, as much in keeping with the website style as possible.

The ezine needs to have 5 components:
1. Banner title
2. Main article, including headline, of variable length
3. Tools & Tips (variable length with headline)
4. Further reference (variable length)
5. Call to action / Signing-off paragraph (variable length)

Let me know if you need any further information. Look forward to seeing what you come up with!

cheers,
Gill

[JAC&Gill]

Further information:

Regard ing file formats, HTML would be ideal; GIF/JPEG would be acceptable.

Also, just to add, while the template should reflect the website, I don't want that to limit ideas or creativity, so as long as there are some connections, you have a fair degree of flexiblity.

cheers,
Gill

[JAC&Gill]

I'm beginning to feel like I'm talking to myself on this one...

Anyone thinking it over or planning to submit something? Any feedback would be helpful - are my instructions not clear? Sounds like too much work? Not inspiring?

Thanks!
Gill

[Virgil]

Hey Gill,

You're not talking to yourself;) I took some time to design this first draft, hopefully in time, since it's still Monday... As you can see, I kept the website colors and feeling, trying to keep dynamism and proffessional together - in the ezine title area - I placed the team there so everybody would meet them from the first place. Also, the world piece shows the clients area covered - the world:
are operating in countries including the UK, USA, Asia Pacific, Germany, Sweden, Russia, France, Italy…

I also gave to the whole design a "shiny" look, keeping their website color.

As for the ezine title, I played with "i" and "!" turning "i" upside down, trying to give a fresh look.
I don't know if this is what you pictured, but this is how I saw it. If you think this design can be improved, please, feel free to give me some feedback.

Thank you,
Gilles.

[JAC&Gill]

Thanks Gilles - good to know someone is out there!

I like a lot of what you've done here, but I do have quite a few tweaks that are needed.

Overall the design needs to be plainer and simpler.

The content (in this instance) should be all in one column, reading from top to bottom.

I love the photo next to the main article, but can you drop the other photos?

Can you have the heading for "Further Reference" match the "Tools and Tips" heading?

Can you remove the "Monthly Workshop" heading?

Where you have the shading, can this be constant rather than fading? (Because these sections will be varying lengths in different months, the graduated shading would require a new image being created each month.)

In the header, can you drop the "Developing successful business strategies" title? Maybe replace it with the strapline that you currently have in red. And could you use "Passionate, inspired, committed people produce outstanding results" across the bottom.

I'm also not that keen on the black in the header. I know the brand doesn't have much colour choice, but I think the black is too stark.

Phew! One more thing - I like the shadow surround, but could you also provide an example that just has a thin green line around the outside?

Thanks heaps!!
Gill

[vampyress]

I will do my best do have a mockup for you before the end of the day. :)

[JAC&Gill]

Thanks Sandra, much appreciated!

[BrianDove]

me 2 ! ;)
Brian

[JAC&Gill]

Fabulous - very excited!!

cheers,
Gill

[BrianDove]

Something I started :)
Any want things you want me to change ? Feedback welcomed :)
Brian

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Brian,

Great - thanks for your design.

My thoughts:

I love the header but would like to see the strapline "Passionate, inspired, committed people produce outstanding results" included.

Can you place the "Tool and Tips" and "Further Reference" sections one after the other and make them run the full width of the page?

Can you left align the body text?

Could you also try the design without the blue vertical columns on each side - perhaps just a thin green line would work?

Thanks,
Gill

[1on1]

Hi Gill,

Just noticed this - had a quick go for you :-

*Link Removed

I have kept the design clean and simple.



Martin.

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Martin,

Really like the clean/simple approach!

A couple of comments/requests:

Could you move the strapline into the header? maybe in white?

And could you move the photo to be next to the main article?

Great work!

cheers,
Gill

[1on1]

Changes as requested :-

*Link Removed

You may need to refresh your browser.



Martin.

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for the changes. They are spot on.

One last thing. Could you remove the grey duplicate headings from the two bottom paragraphs. Reason being, one of these sections may change its title from month to month and I couldn't guarantee that the new title would exactly fit into the space twice.

Sorry about this, because I like the look.

cheers,
Gill

[BrianDove]

with changes
Brian

[1on1]

Hi Gill,

Thanks for the feedback - I have made the changes for you.

http://www.1on1design.co.uk/shine.html


Martin.

[Anne]

Here's one from me.

Anne

[vampyress]

Started work on 2 ideas (with completely different accent colours), please let me know your thoughts.

#1

http://www.servisions.net/do/clients/shine1.jpg


#2

http://www.servisions.net/do/clients/shine2.jpg

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Everyone,

WOW! Fantastic effort - thank you all so much.

Some feedback:

To everyone: can you ditch the "consulting" in your designs? I know the company is called Shine Consulting, but the ezine will just be called Shine.

Gilles - I would really love to see your revised design, please...

Brian - make the "Issue 1" smaller and less prominent; can you change "By Gill XXX" to "Kate Mercer"; can you left-align the strapline with the articles.

Martin - that's great!

Anne - not sure about the main photo, but don't know what to suggest. Aside from that everything is fine.

Sandra - sorry, don't like the red. With the blue version: can you remove the issue number and just have the date; can you get rid of the colour between the photos and on the right edge of the photos; can you change the headline of the "what shine consulting..." to "Want to know more?"; can you make the Further Reference a bulleted list.

-------------------

If anyone else is planning an entry, please let me know - otherwise I will send these entries off to the client this afternoon.

Thanks again everyone!!

cheers,
Gill

[vampyress]

Alright Gill, thank you for your feedback. Consider the red version dropped.

Of course I would like to make any changes needed to the other design, I would however like to ask for some explination on what you mean by "can you make the Further Reference a bulleted list".

if you could explain that to me, that would be wonderful, thanks!

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Sandra,

Sorry for being unclear!

What I meant was in the body text underneath "Further References" instead of having plain paragraphs can you make the body text a list of items with bullets?

This section might include for example the titles of books or articles that the readers might find useful.

Let me know if it's still not clear...

Thanks,
Gill

[vampyress]

Oh of course!

*slaps forehead* :blush:

Consider it done :)

(edit)

#3, with changes.

http://www.servisions.net/do/clients/shine3.jpg

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Gill,

I'm working on something.

I'll be back shortly :)

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Sandra - great, that's exactly what I meant.

DesignGeneral - I will happily wait :)

cheers,
Gill

[Anne]

Removed consulting and changed the main picture

[Anne]

Oops double post

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Gill,

Here is my entry:

http://www.designgeneral.com/DO/shine/

Let me know if you want changes.

Thanks :)

Adrian

[JAC&Gill]

Hello everyone!

I am absolutely overwhelmed by the entries in this contest - you've all put in some terrific work.

Feedback:

Anne, thanks for the changes - that's great.

Design General, can you make the picture in the main article narrower and give the article more room. Could you also add some more "text" so that the article is longer. With the Tools and Tips can you change it so that the Tools and Tips body text isn't on the same background colour as the heading and the Call to Action heading.

Gilles, Brian - I would really like to see your designs revised, please.

I will email these across to the client tomorrow morning.

Thanks,
Gill

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Gill,

The space for content isn't fixed, so will expand according to the length of article(s).

I'll proceed with the revisions :)

Cheers :)

Adrian

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Adrian,

Re: longer article

Gotcha - but it would help my client to imagine what it might look like...

Thanks,
Gill

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Gill,

Here is the revision.

http://www.designgeneral.com/DO/shine/

Cheers,

Adrian

[JAC&Gill]

Thanks, Adrian. Much appreciated.

[BrianDove]

updated entry:
Brian
:blush:

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for this.

cheers,
Gill

[JAC&Gill]

Just to let you know the client is reviewing the entries and I will hopefully have an update by Monday.

Overall the initial response is really positive - you guys sure know how to make me look good!! :D

Thanks for your patience!

Gill

[Virgil]

Hello Gill,

Sorry for the delay...Here are the changes you requested. Hope it's not too late though. This is a simplified version of my initial. Comes in two versions, one woth green outline placed different.

Gilles.

[Virgil]

2nd:)

[Virgil]

Hello,

Here's one with the logo colors changed:)

[JAC&Gill]

Thanks Gilles, much appreciated!

[Virgil]

:)

[JAC&Gill]

Apologies to you all for the extended silence. The client has gone AWOL on me. :weep:

Will hopefully have some feedback by next Wednesday.

Sorry!! :blush:

Gill

[JAC&Gill]

Thanks to you all for your patience and for the wonderful entries that you submitted. The client was really chuffed with everything I sent over.

Anyway, the winner is Adrian/DesignGeneral.

The client does have some revisions that they want to see made but I've yet to get them. I will let you know as soon as I hear.

Many thanks,
Gill

[DesignGeneral]

WOW, Cool :yes:

Thanks Gill.

I'll proceed with revisions as soon as you have them.

Cheers,

Adrian

[Anne]

Congratulation DG :tup:

[Virgil]

Congratulations Adrian:) Cool design;)

[DesignGeneral]

Thanks Anne and Gilles :blush:

[JAC&Gill]

Hi Adrian,

Apologies for the delay - the client is currently overseas. I am meeting her on Tuesday and will have any revisions for you then.

Thanks,
Gill

[JAC&Gill]

It would appear that the client has changed her mind about the revisions and is happy to go with the design as is.

The only additional things needed are versions of the single picture for the other two consultants (same size, same style).

Huge apologies for the delay.

Thanks,
Gill

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Gill,

Don't worry about the delay.

I'm leaving town tomorrow morning, so I can have revisions by Sunday night or Monday morning.

Cheers,

Adrian

[JAC&Gill]

That would be great. We are looking to send the newsletter on Tuesdsay.

cheers,
Gill

[JAC&Gill]

Aaaaargh, just come across a change I was meant to have asked for and forgot...

could you change the header as follows:
1. swap the position of the strap line and the web address
2. change the web address to .co.uk and not .com

Many, many thanks!
Gill

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Gill,

I'm working on it.

Cheers,

Adrian

[JAC&Gill]

Got the files - another great job done.

Thanks,
Gill