[Project Complete] $340 Template project for Sales Training company - July 30, 2005

[UpsideDown]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 1972882916, 0P473459JL0861828)

Company Details

1a) Name of Company:
Develop ME!
Domain: www.developME.com.au

1b)Company Tag Line or slogan:
Professionally, Personally and Prosperously

1c) Do you have a company logo?
Yes - see this thread: http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?p=163675#post163675

Note that we would like the logo name and the site name to be "Develop Me!" and any the URLs to be shown as "www.developME.com.au".

1d) Do you have a corporate visual identity Ditto

1e) What is the nature of your business?: Briefly describe your products or services:
Provision of personal development products and services, including:
(i) sales training
(ii) personal development
(iii) business strategy training
(iv) wealth creation training
Products provided via physical media: audio tapes, DVDs, books and manuals plus downloadable media.
Services provided via seminars (physical and Webinars) and consulting.

1f) Who is your target market? Who are you hoping to reach with your site?
Individuals seeking personal growth, individuals seeking improved financial performance and businesses seeking to develop the people management, sales and marketing skills and performance of staff.

Website Details

1b) Do you have an existing website? No. URL will be www.developme.com.au

2b) IMPORTANT: Please list at least 3 URLs (web addresses) of high quality sites that you like the look of (these do not have to be sites who’s business is similar to yours. It aids us in determining what your design style is.) Please consider layout, colors, navigation, graphics, and typography.

http://www.realestatedynamics.com.au/ Like: Use of people images. Friendly, clean, vibrant and authoritative - all qualities we need. Really Like: the way the people images "leap out" from the page (i.e. image background is same as the page background. Dislike: Color scheme a little too cold for us and home page too busy - i.e. a little too much content.

http://www.platinax.co.uk/ Like: the clean design and the images bar. Authoritative. Dislike: Too cold for us and way too much content.

http://www.profinvest.com.au/ Like: Nice clean design. Authoritative but too cold for us.

http://www.bni.com.au/ Like: Use of people. Authoritative. Dislike: Design lacks something.

http://www.casafinancing.com/ Like: the clean design, the warm colors, the sound when the page opens, centered, the house image (i.e. it's roof top) being "cut" into the logo Hate: the rollovers especially them having a rollover sound

http://i22.wwwoz.com/ Like whole effect - more interesting than the standard rectangle with square corners. Footer image provides even more interest.

Also, I like the way the people stand out from the background in Aliskas' designs here: http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7913

3b) What colors or color schemes would you like?
Color sceme to be neutral to warm (i.e. not cold). Site look to feel inviting and safe (confidence building) but very professional.

4b) List the Navigation links for your Site:
CSS Rollovers - i.e text links using background images. Only 2 images required - on and off for each type/class of link. (eg rollover links to "products" and "services" using javascript, would require 4 images "Products" on, "Products" off, "Services" on, "Services" off. Whereas we use text links and the background changes frbetween the on and off positions, so only two images are required - the on and off images.

5b) What type of look are you trying to achieve?
Site look to feel inviting and safe (confidence building) but very professional.

6b) Please provide the addresses of competitors' sites, if possible:
These are in similar areas of business:
http://www.briantracy.com
http://www.prosperitybasedliving.com/
http://healthywealthyandwise.com/

7b) Do you have any images for use in the design of your site? If not, do you have images, can you offer suggestions of what you type of imagery you feel would be most suitable for your website:

We have no specific images that need to be used. However, to enable a better quality result, we are including an additional budget of up to approximately $250 for the purchase of royalty free images. As free images of people are generally of low quality or dated, we suggest the budget be mainly used for the purchase of people type images. You do not have to use the budget, of course. However, we don't want to see images, particularly of people, that have been commonly used on other sites.

8b) Page structure
2 column tableless design of fixed width (990px), centered, with top banner, topnavbar and a footer. Home page to incorporate a 3rd (right) column which will contain testimonials.

Topnavbar to contain these links: Customer Login, Your Account, View Cart and CHECKOUT pages. These are to be rollover image links. Please provide both on and off images, unique for each link (i.e. in contrast to the way we want the left menu rollover images handled).

Left column to contain links to Affiliate login page, product categories, Contact Us, Shipping Information, Site Map and Home pages plus a search box plus another box for our product gurantee. All links will be rollover text links where the rollover effect is obtained by changing the background image. Perhaps the product category link background images should be different to those for the corporate ( eg Site Map or Contact Us) links - we'll leave this decision to the designer. See 4b) above for further comments about the left menu links.

Footer to contain links to About Us, Privacy, Security. Footer links to be 100% text links.

No html required - we will do all the coding.

Deadlines and Deliverables

1c) What is the deadline for the design of your project? Extended to August 2 2005

2c) What is required breakdown of the files you require our designers to supply you with on finalization of your project?

PSD files with layers.

3c) The prize for the template is $340 plus we are allowing another $250 for the purchase of royalty free images, if required. In respect of the latter, the designer needs to advise us of the image purchase details and we will buy them and send the image to the designer.

[Luc]

Thank you for the invite. I'm not a logo designer though. I would sugges that you post a separate contest for logos because not all template designers are best in it. The logo designers are. :) We also base the layout/color scheme to your logo.

[Michael]

Hello, Luc is correct you will you a greater response if the projects were posted separately.

Feel free to email me if you would like to discuss this further

michael @ designoutpost.com

[Palmer]

This project is going to be separated in to 2 projects, first the logo then the template. This one will be closed until the logo project is complete.

[Palmer]

Ok, this project is open now, the logo is being finalized in this thread (http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?p=163675#post163675).

[Aliska]

Hello
I will join to your contest with my idea.

[UpsideDown]

Thanks Aliska :)

[Aliska]

Hello
My idea. Waiting for your comments.

[UpsideDown]

Nice :)

I'll run it by my clients.

[Anne]

Here's a start from me.

Anne

[UpsideDown]

Aliska: overall my clients like your design but are a little unsure about the people images. They are out doing a quick and dirty survey to see what others think.

Anne: another nice design :).

I am meeting with my clients tomorrow and will have some specific feedback then.

Thanks


Pete

[Luc]

I will enter.

[Luc]

Can you send me a transparent version of your logo?

[UpsideDown]

Definitely, but I need an email address to which to send it. I have submitted a message on your site.

[Aliska]

Hello
I've made changes with header images. What do you think?

[Lori]

Definitely, but I need an email address to which to send it. I have submitted a message on your site.

UpsideDown, please do not send the file directly to Luc, or contact her privately until your project is complete here. This is not permitted by any of our team members.

Can you please attach the ai or eps here to a reply in this thread.

Thanks,

[UpsideDown]

Thanks Aliska. I meet with them in about 5 hours from now. Will let you know soon after the meeting.

[UpsideDown]

"please attach the ai or eps here to a reply in this thread"

OK. Attached. But it is a psd.

[Lori]

That is fine too :)

Thanks!

[Luc]

UpsideDown, please do not send the file directly to Luc, or contact her privately until your project is complete here. This is not permitted by any of our team members.

Can you please attach the ai or eps here to a reply in this thread.

Thanks,

Oops! Sorry about that. I didn't know it was not allowed too. Ok so now I know. :)

[UpsideDown]

Apologies for not being able to respond again yesterday.

We are having problems with the background images - we need them to create the "right" image in the minds of our potential customers.

The characteristics of the market where we expect to get most of our sales is persons aged in their early twenties to mid to late thirties. This doesn't mean we won't get significant sales from other age groups but rather the great majority will come from this age group. Thus, it would be better to use images of people who look to be in their early twenties to mid to late thirties.

We want to appeal to a wide range of professions and trades so we would like one image to contain a group of people who obviously come from different trades and professions. Bear in mind that the great majority will come from white collar jobs so other people images used in the design, should probably be of white collar worker types.

Possibly one of the images could be of a couple enjoying some evidently relatively expensive but believable (to our potential clients) leisure activity eg at a resort hotel or wandering along some beautiful beach or at an expensive looking restaurant or whatever else, including sporting activities to which you think the majority of persons in our "targeted age group" might aspire (we'll pass on the jets and yachts, thanks. LOL).

As our prime market is local i.e Australia, it is important that the images appear to represent local characteristics and so don't look too "American" - eg. images that contain images of US currency won't work for us. Similarly, in respect of racial mixes, we have almost zero persons of African descent in Australia but have a high percentage of persons of Asian descent, particularly in the age groups we are targeting.

In retrospect, it would have been better had we thought to provide this information earlier.

Specific design feedback:

Aliska: our clients preferred your original design and liked the image of the young women walking to the chauffeur driven car but preferred other people images, as per the guidelines above, for the rest of the design.

Anne: nice design. Your people images were from the targeted age group but miss the "prosperously" part of the image we are trying to convey and the spread of professions and trades.

Sorry we failed to provide the information above, earlier but hope this will point you all in the right direction.

Finally, we are extending the deadline of this competition to the close of business August 1, US Pacific time, to give everyone adequate time to consider our design input, above.

Thanks.

[Fabian]

Hi

Here's something ive put together for your consideration.

Your feedback would be most welcomed :)

Thanks
Fabian

[UpsideDown]

Thanks Fabian :)

Any more submissions? We were hoping to have a couple more by now.

MaryLuc, were you not submitting???

Thanks



Pete

[Luc]

Pete, sorry to keep you waiting. I've been swamped. Work is always unpredictable to me. :( I've started something though.

[Aliska]

Hello
Changes. What do you think? I can look for more suitable images.

[UpsideDown]

Very nice Aliska. The new images seem to be right on my clients' guidelines.

"Work is always unpredictable to me." I empathize Luc - I have the same problem. We look forward to seeing your design :)

[UpsideDown]

Btw Aliska, if you found a group image that showed people of different professions for the center, that would be helpful. Perhaps this could be quite a large group, so that that individual characteristics are discernable but not dominating when reduced in size to fit within the banner (i.e. a group image that doesn't exactly fit the guidelines when viewed full size may appear to fit the guidelines better when reduced in size).

[UpsideDown]

A couple of you are having difficulties meeting the timing so we are hereby extending the competition until tomorrow. :)

[Luc]

And here's my entry.

[Aliska]

Hello
Some modifications with header images. What do you think? I can continue with images, you know :)

[UpsideDown]

OK folks I have just returned from a meeting with my clients and after a long debate over the past couple of days my clients have chosen Aliska's design in Message 30, subject to a couple of changes, including the images:

1. The images still are not quite what we are looking for eg no-one in any of the images looks particularly happy.
2. We still would prefer a bigger group of people (i.e. more people) in the middle image
3. If possible, we would like the top banner reduced in height by approximately 15% - it takes up too much screen real estate so that important text gets pushed below the fold. One place to explore a height reduction would be in the top nav buttons which are too high, in our view.

Aliska, I will send you some more information about required characteristics of the images that we need.

Thanks to everyone for their submissions particularly Maryluc, whose excellent submission caused my clients to have a difficult choice to make. :)

Once again, thanks for the great submissions. :)



Pete

[Luc]

Congrats Aliska!

[Aliska]

Thanks for chosen me and thanks Luc :)
I will make some versions with new ideas and upload it later today.

[Aliska]

Hello
One more version. And I will send you links to suitable images at private message

[UpsideDown]

Aliska,

I have had a terrible week including a hard disk crash so I am running behind schedule. Sorry.

My clients like this latest design except for they want a change to the center image - it is all women. They would like you to retain approx one half of that image and then mererge it with part of an image containing men. It would be good if that image could contain at least one person of evidently Asian descent and men from evidently different professions eg one person with a hard hat etc.

I was going to find such an image for you but with my problems this week, I have not.

Other than that adjustment to the center image, they wish to proceed with your latest design.

Thanks.

[UpsideDown]

Perhaps you can get something from one of these Corbis images?

42-15485710
CRBR003512

[Aliska]

Hello
How about that?

[UpsideDown]

Yeah, that's very good except we are still missing the other requirement of illustrating multiple professions and trades. All of those people look like office workers.

Even just 2 people who are clearly non white collar workers would probably be enough. Building and construction or factory workers are probably the best choice because they don't wear uniforms. With people in uniforms, we will probably run into the problem that the uniform in the image will not be like the uniforms in Australia, so will look "American" to Australians.

[Aliska]

Hello :)
One more idea. And a small question - how many people do you want at the middle image?

[UpsideDown]

Hi Aliska

Although you have followed our instructions, upon consideration, we prefer your design in message #37. It's very good and we don't want to mess with it. I'll find a way to include images of persons from blue collar professions etc. in the page content of important pages.

I need to get one more top button in (5 rather than 4) with the other one saying something like "Online Store". This may require the top buttons to be reduced in height which is OK with us as we think they are too high anyway (as stated in message #31). I am not sure what font size you used but perhaps 1px smaller would be better?

Other than that, please finalise this project based on the design in message #37. In addition to the images, I assume you will give me a list of the hex values of the colors, the font sizes and for each, where used, plus the dimensions you have used for the columns etc.

Thanks :)

[Aliska]

Hello
Changes and image with additional info. Do you need that type of info?

[UpsideDown]

Perfect. Thanks :)

I should be back here with the final sign off in about 6 hours.

[UpsideDown]

Aliska,

My clients have signed off so please give me URLs to the psd files.

Thanks. We are very pleased with the design.


Pete