[Project Complete] Video Chat Shareware site - $300 Deadline - May 11th

[DigitalPeers]

(Admin code added by Palmer - GY9544710)

Hello to the designers of 'DesignOutpost',
Who are we:
We are a small shareware company called 'DigitalPeers.com'.
We created a webcam software that enhances a standard webcam with features like face tracking and automatic zoom. Users of our software can also add a bouncing smiley to the video image or manipulate it with digital effects.
We allready have a site at www.digitalpeers.com . But we decided to redesign the site, and give it a better impact.

Our audiance:
Our audiance are video chat users who want to enhance their chatting experience.

The new site should:
1. Have a modern, professional and trustworthy look.
2. The site should catch the attention of the user, and have him understand very fast what is the product that we sell.
3. Convey the field of our work: Software for webcam and video chat.
4. Be XHTML/CSS valid. IMPORTANT: We prefer to receive the template code from you. But, if you have a good design and don't know CSS we will create the code.
5. Should be viewable at 800x640 resulotion. The emphasis is on the width not the height. But the user should understand what the site is about without scrolling down.

Resources:
You can use what ever text and pictures from the site. but we will appriciate if you offer new ideas on how to visually convey the features of the product.
We have a friend of us working on a new logo, And we hope to post it in a few days.

Deadline: Two weeks from today 24/4/2005
Thanks
Amit
www.digitalpeers.com

[Squad]

Hello i've read your post and i would like to enter, but first of all i would like to see the new logo, because the design will have to interfere with the logo.
I hope that you agree with me.

Cheers,
George.

[DigitalPeers]

Hello George,
Thanks for joining. I hope to post the logo in a few days.
Just to be sure that there is no misunderstanding, we need a template for one page, and not for a whole site.

Amit
DigitalPeers - Webcam Software (www.digitalpeers.com)

[Aliska]

Hello Amit
I'm also waiting for your logo :)

[DigitalPeers]

Hello Aliska,
I'm glad you have decided to join this project. I have seen your work and George's work on past projects and I like it.

Thanks,
Amit

[BrianDove]

hi,

here is my entry :)

Tell me your thoughts on this one,
Looking forward to hear from you,
Brian

[DigitalPeers]

Hello,

I attach our new logo, sorry for keeping you waiting so much time.
I have asked the administrators of DesignOutpost to reset the deadline to two weeks from now. Let's start... :)

Thanks
Amit

p.s.
Brian thank you for your post, I will post my comments in the next hour.

[DigitalPeers]

Hello Brian,

I like the way you divided the page. It is different (being on reverse, main text on the right) and easy to read.

About the top menu:
1. We have only one product so we don't have a product page. Instead we use the home page. You can use the same menu structure we have on our site.
2. No need for sub menus.
3. The font of the menu should be bigger.
4. Don't repeat it on the bottom of the page. Use a standard footer (similar to what we have on our page)

The image you added is a bit confusing and doesn't quite explain what CamTrack does.

No need for the "trial version" button.

Our copywriter sent us today the text for our new home page. I attach it here so please use it in the template. Please keep the 'tell a friend' button even though it is not included in the new copy.

Thanks
Amit

[BrianDove]

Here is updated version :)
:blush:

Regards,
Brian

[Aliska]

Hello
And my idea. What do you think?

[Anne]

Here's my entry

Anne

[Aliska]

Hello
And second idea. Waiting for you feedback.

[DigitalPeers]

Hello folks,

It is great to see the new designs.

Brian:
Your new design is better and I like the Icons you added. My comments are:
1) The logo doesn't interact well with the menu design.
2) Please remove the shadow gradient at the top of the page. It gives is an "old" look.
3) The eye is drown to the paragraph beneath that photo which is no the first paragraph of the text. I think that it is because the first paragraph is lacking a noticeable header.
4) If I understand correctly the links above the Download button, link to the headings in the lower half of the page. I think that this links will confuse the user because they will all cause the same effect: jump to the lower half of the page.
5) I miss a link to "Features" page.
6) Now, the new footer is too simple.

Is there a way you can make the design a bit more colorful?

Aliska:
Both of your designs are nice and colorful. I like your second design more.

First Design:
1) Our logo should be inside the top image and not above it.
2) The text in the page is crowded and confusing. It should be divided in a different graphical way.
3) The eye is not drawn to the first paragraph. It is almost hidden. This is one of the reasons why the text confusing.

Second Design:
I like the way you divided the page, the sub menu on the left and the footer.
1) You are using our old text. (Your first design is using the correct text)
2) Our logo doesn't blend well with its background (or maybe it blends too much :) )
3) It is not clear what the top image (the background to the logo and the top menu) has to do with the product. It reminds me of some kind of vegetation or neurons.

Anne:
I like your design very much. It has a simple elegant yet modern look:
1) You misplaced the first paragraph. It should be clear for the user where he should start reading. His eye should be drawn to it
2) You have too many tabs in the top menu. Can you implement some kind of an elegant sub menu?
3) I would like to have a footer with out name and a link to a site map. Maybe you can implement it with the "Attention webcam manufacturers …" paragraph.

To all designers:
1) I appreciate the effort you put into the images in the template, but non of them really demonstrates what our product does: Face tracking, auto zooming on the users face and special effects. You can get and idea of what I mean in our site:

www.digitalpeers.com
And another draft we did for our site:
http://www.digitalpeers.com/new/index.html

2) I want the headings to be text (SEO considerations) so please don't do them images.

Thank you for all your posts.

Amit
_____________________________________
DigitalPeers.com - Webcam Software (www.digitalpeers.com)

[Anne]

Here's the revision.

btw can you tell me what links you want to see on the site because I am a bit confused.

Anne

[IDarwish]

Hello Amit,

I will try and have an entry by next week.

-Imad Darwish

[DigitalPeers]

Hello Anne,

The photos are still not "Speaking for them self". I want the user to be able to understand what CamTrack does in just a short glance at the page. I would suggest:

1. About the image on the left:
- a. It should be bigger.
- b. Remove the webcam from the photo.
- c. Can you make the photo more dynamic? (More 3D or with give a feeling of movement)
- d. The photo should look like it was taken in the middle of a webcam chat. (The girl in the photo doesn't look as if she is chatting)
- e. Can you make another image that demonstrates the special effects features of CamTrack, like the floating smiley?
2. I like the photo of the girl from your first version. The problem with this photo is that the girl is using a Mac. CamTrack runs only on Window XP. Can you find a similar photo with a PC?

About the headings:

1. Remove the heading "CamTrack"
2. "Take Web and Video chat to the extreme!" is the main heading and should appear first and bigger.
3. "CamTrack webcam software gives you more fun and better performance for under 10$" is the secondary heading. It should be a bit smaller then the main heading. Make "Under 10$" in the same size as the rest of the heading,
4. The headings should be aligned to the left or to the Center but not to the right.
5. The smaller headings: "Stay in view", "Chat from across the room" and etc, should be more prominent. These btw are the links you asked about in your last post.

Thanks
Amit

p.s.

Hi Imad, I'm glad you have joined. I'm waiting for your design.

[Anne]

How is this?

[DigitalPeers]

Hello Anne,

The text looks much better, now, great !

The original photo of the girl (with the Mac) had a better impact, so I prefer to use it. Sorry for making you work twice :blush: .

The middle image is still not clear enough. It doensn't express the face tracking and auto zoom effect any more. The smiley effect is nicely expressed. Can you have another try?

Thanks

Amit

[Luc]

I'll post before the deadline.

[Aliska]

Hello Amit.
Here's the changes at my first design and I will upload second design with changes a little bit later.

[Aliska]

And changes at my second version.

[Anne]

revision

[Luc]

Here's my entry. Looking forward to your feedback.

[DigitalPeers]

Hello to all the designers,

I appreciate all the good work you put in your design. At this stage I will mention that we favor Anne's design, though you are welcome to check my comments and have another try.

Aliska:
Your first design:
I like the graphical element (with the woman) you put in the heading. It conveys the freedom that CamTrack gives to the video chat user. The hands photo to the left of the woman is unnecessary.
The main part of the page is still crowded, and its general design is not in the right direction.

Your second design:
I like the over all design of the page.
The top menu fonts should be bigger. (There is a dark line near the word 'HOME' that looks like a suspicious strand of hair :) and should be removed).
The images you took from my site don't blend well in your design. Your previous images blended better (But can't be used because they don't convey anything about CamTrack)
The 'Take web and video chat to the extreme!' should be a bigger heading then 'CamTrack webcam software …'

Anne:
As I mentioned above, we like your design. The font you choose for the copy should be replaced because it is jagged (aliased). You can use Verdana or Arial.
Brighten a bit the photo of the girl. It should be somewhere in between the brightness of your first version and the brightness of the photo in your current version.
The image of the zoom effect still doesn't seem good enough. I'm looking for something more dynamic.

Luc:
You chose nice colors for the design but it looks more like a site for an insurance company and not a webcam software site.

Thanks again,

Amit
DigitalPeers.com - Webcam Software (www.digitalpeers.com/)

[Luc]

Thank you for your honest feedback. However, i would appreciate if you can tell me why it looks like an insurance company website. :)

[DigitalPeers]

Hello Luc,

I guess that it has to do with the chioce of photos, more then with anything else. The photos look too synthetic (especially their smiles). And I know that I said that I like the colors but on a second thought, they resemble the colors that are used in bank sites (at least in my country).
I'm sorry if my last comment came out too harsh (maybe even cruel). It was not my intention.

Yours

Amit

[Luc]

Not at all Amit! Don't worry about it. I loove critiques. It helps to improve ourselves. :) I don't think though that I will submit another entry. In fairness to your comments to Anne.

[Anne]

Thank you for the positive feedback :)
All text used are Arial and because it is text-based it lookes a bit jagged. I can change all text to Verdana if you like. I've laso changed the top image. I am not sure what to do about the zoom effect but I'll see if I can make it more dynamic. I'll post a revision later today.

Anne

[Anne]

Revision

[Aliska]

Changes at my version.

[DigitalPeers]

Anne, we have chosen your design for our site. Congratulations!

Brian, Aliska and Luc, we appreciate your efforts and good work. Thank you.

Anne, what type of files can you send us?

Thanks again too all the participants.

Amit

[Anne]

Thank you for selecting my design :D
I can deliver HTML/CSS and PSD files.

Anne

[DigitalPeers]

Anne

We don't need any more changes to the design. So you can send us the files when as soon as they are ready.

Thanks
Amit

[Anne]

Files sent

[DigitalPeers]

Hello Anne

I have received your files. You have done a good work.

Thank you and to all the other participating designers,

Amit