[Project Complete] $325 Aspen Blinds (site redesign)

[tiago]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 4U628418WH1224846)

Company Details

1a) Name of Company
Aspen Blinds Inc.

1b)Company Tag Line or slogan:
We bring the store to your door

1c) Do you have a company logo?
Our logo is based on the words “Aspen Blinds” in a bold Harrington Font.
See web site : http://www.aspenblinds.com
See our latest flyer : http://www.aspenblinds.com/outpost/flyer.jpg
See uniform: http://www.aspenblinds.com/outpost/shirt.jpg

1d) Do you have a corporate visual identity (a customized (non stock) logo and color scheme carried out throughout your office, stationery, business cards, etc.)?
Part of our identity is implied quality. There are many players that focus on price. Even though we are very competitive on price, it is premium service and products that we are trying to emphasize. Our identity is still morphing. Open to change.

1e) What is the nature of your business?: Briefly describe your products or services:
We are a mobile service that sells and installs window coverings (e.g. Blinds and Shutters). We set up an appointment, visit the home with lots of samples. Measure windows, quote, order the blinds and later install them. (It is a common model.)

1f) Who is your target market? Who are you hoping to reach with your site?
New Homeowners, Women age 25-40. Women are more likely to make the appointment and make initial decisions even if it is ultimately a joint decision.


Website Details

1b) Do you have an existing website? If so, what is the URL?
http://www.aspenblinds.com

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.

Note: None of these sites are optimal, but contain elements of interest.
http://www.altawindowsolutions.com Interesting colors and layout, my wife liked this visually the best, but I'm not very interested in the dropdown menus and tricks.
http://www.blindsgalore.com
http://www.comfortex.com

3b) What colors or color schemes would you like?
I currently think that the scheme on our printed flyer is the best that we have to date for reaching our target audience, but again, we are open to change in this area. Our web site is in natural colors that tend to be used in painted walls, and hues taken from photos of light coming through blinds. (I'm not quite sure if this looks too western though.) The blind effect in the background is interesting and communicates what we do, but it may be a bit distracting.

4b) List the Navigation links for your Site:
Our site is very simple: It includes the following top level links:
Home
Gallery (needs to be added, will be a collection of blind images and case studies. I.e. Evidence book)
Products and Services
Location
Contact Us
Who We Are

All pages except “Gallery” have no additional navigational structure within them. The Gallery page should contain additional navigational structure to view different case studies and examples of product. Initially there will only be a few, but as time goes, more will be added. The structure should be scalable to handle up to 50 or so cases. (Through hierarchy or any other means)

I want the template for the Gallery page. For the other pages, I will remove the inner layer of navigation and replace the content. (Although feel free to mock up other pages if needed.)

5b) What type of look are you trying to achieve? (e.g. clean, high-tech, conservative, warm, flashy, etc.)
As mentioned above, we want to communicate high-quality, professionalism, through our image to our target market. The navigation should be close to standard shopping/mainstream sites like amazon, gap, landsend, etc. The visitor shouldn't be presented with anything different or distracting. We want it to feel “friendly” (customers have commented that this was a factor in choosing us.) It is preferred that all navigation be true text and not images (as many of these sites do these days) so that we can use the template as the basis of dynamically generated pages. It is also preferred to avoid any “tricks” that may not work in most browsers, or may be difficult to implement or maintain.


6b) Please provide the addresses of competitors' sites, if possible:
http://www.budgetblinds.com
http://www.shuttersnw.com
http://www.blindguy.com
http://www.3day.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:

I can get source images for the images featured on this site:
http://www.kirtz.com/shuttermill/sm_gallery.htm

And I have a large collection of images from this site:
http://www.comfortex.com

There are quite a few. I'm not sure how to best make them available.


Deadlines and Deliverables

1c) What is the deadline for the design of your project? Sooner is better, but getting something we love is highest priority.

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

I need the final html template to be customizable without creating new images (i.e. Plain text navigation) so that it can move to dynamic generation in the future. I would also like the source files in whatever native format was used to generate all of the components.


Are there any other comments/specific ideas we should keep in mind while designing your project?

I am very open to suggestions. If there is a constrain that I have added that does not make sense or is limiting, let me know. In the end, I just want the best product.

[IDarwish]

Ill have a go at this one :)

[Aliska]

Hi :)
I will also join to you contest in some days.

[SKR]

Hi, I will work on a design for this also :)

[SKR]

Hi,

Here's mine :)

Thanks

Sarah

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspen.jpg

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspen2.jpg

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspen3.jpg

[JeremeDavid]

If you could provide those images from the first Kirtz site, that would be great. If you zip them up, you can attach them to your original post. There is a size limit of 1.9MB though.

[dziner]

Hi, here is one from me. I will be happy to make any changes that you would like to see.
Thanks!
Shelly

http://www.yencreative.com/aspen/web1.jpg

[tiago]

Sarah,

Thanks for your strong entry. I think that you did a great job capturing the spirit of what I was looking for. My wife walked in and without any hesitation said "I love it". You did a great job with the colors and keeping the navagation simple. I also liked the subtile fabric texture in some of the graphics.

My inital reaction is that I like the first one the best. I'm going to think about it and talk it over with some others and may add some more feedback later.

I have a few questions:

What happens on resizes? Horizontal, and/or Vertical? (What is the target optimal viewing size?

What do you envision for the gallery? As mentioned in the inital spec, what is the next layer of navigation for different cases? (Also, do you have suggestions on how to layout cases to best blend with the look? A typical case would consist of 1 to 4 images and some descriptional text.) Maybe the gallery could have a different, but similar, layout that can extend vertically? Or, maybe it would be better to just restrict me to only one image per gallery page and make some navigation layers to link releated images. (e.g a roman shade link could open a set of links to styles, and then a style link could open another layer that has the 2 or 3 pictures of that style.) Again, I am open to suggestions.

Thanks

[tiago]

Shelly,

Thanks. I really like the boxes on the bottom right that have the "call-to-action" feeling that businesses need to portray. It does a good job protraying professionalism. Overall, I like it, but the colors could be a bit more feminine. (I thought of UPS when I first saw it.)

Also, like I mentioned to Sarah, the gallery is a big concern of mine.

[tiago]

JeremeDavid,

The Kirtz images are quite high quality, >10M. I have one of them that I have used before. I will find it and resample it to a smaller size and try to post it sometime monday. As for other images, could you find a few that you like, I don't want to bother them too much, as it is a favor for them to send them to me.

[SKR]

Hi,

Thank you for the feedback. Glad you like my submission :)

In regards to the first design - The design would be centered with the background filling the remaining viewport. I will show you how the design would look expanded vertically with more content. I will also provide an idea for the Gallery page.

Regards,

Sarah

[SKR]

Hi,

Here is an example of the Gallery Page and a Case Study.

The secondary navigation could be a product list (like example) or the different rooms (like Comfortex).

To answer your questions about resizing, I have created a preview you can view here: View Preview (http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/index.htm)

The other designs would resize basically the same way. Let me know if you would like to see any changes.

Thanks :)

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspengallery.jpg

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspencase.jpg

[Anne]

Here's my entry

Anne

[dziner]

Hi, here are some adjustments from me. I have also included a possible gallery layout.
Thanks!
Shelly

http://www.yencreative.com/aspen/web1b.jpg

http://www.yencreative.com/aspen/web1b-gall.jpg

[tiago]

JeremeDavid,

I put a couple resized Kirtz images here,
http://www.aspenblinds.com/outpost/kirtz/

I have a few more, I will try to add them latter today.

[will]

Hi, here are my first ideas. I used some of the kirtz images because they are a lot better than other stock photos :D There is a lot of space for the gallery and for any kind of content. I used this colours since they reflect a warm light, stylish & professional.

CONCEPT 1
http://www.willdesigns.com.ar/aspenblinds_idea1.jpg

CONCEPT 2
http://www.willdesigns.com.ar/aspenblinds_idea3.jpg

[tiago]

Thanks for all the great submissions. I look forward to seeing those yet to come.

I am planning on providing some more specific feedback tonight or tomorrow.

[Fabian]

Hi

Here's something i would like to put forward for your consideration.

Your feedback would be most welcomed :)

Thanks
Fabian

[tiago]

Sara,

I think that the gallery turned out very nice. Overall we like the layout, colors and ideas. If one thing is missing, it is a little stronger call to action. In our review today of the designs, Shelly's call to action boxes and Will's use of the "save.." phrases were seen as good examples of call to action. You already have the "make you appointment today", which is good, but if you have any additional ideas we would like to see them.

[tiago]

Anne,

It looks great. There were good comments about the way you used earthy collors that are very popular in current home designs to create a design that still has some softness or feminine feel to it. We would like to see any ideas that you have for the gallery navigation, and a stronger call to action.

[tiago]

Shelly,

Thanks for the adjustments. I mentioned above. We really like the focus on the call to action. The style of gallery that you have shown looks very nice but doesn't quite meet our needs. We need to be able to combine text with photos to tell a short story. (e.g. look at the way these great roman shades ... ) The gallery area also needs to be simple, in that it shouldn't require to do a bunch of special effects on each photo, other than appropriate sizing. We want to make it as easy as possible for us to change out content. There were some concerns also with the top frame. For such a large image area, it doesn't seem to add as much value as possible. We would like to see any other layout ideas that you have.

[SKR]

Hi - thanks :) I have some ideas and will work on them tonight.

[tiago]

Fabian,

I appreciate your willingness to break out with some strong color, and even though those are colors from our printed flyer, I think that they are too intense for the look that we want on the web. The layout is functional, but it resembles off-the-shelf layouts a bit too much.

[tiago]

Everyone,

We at Aspen Blinds really appreciate all of the work that has gone into creating some very competitive designs. This is going to be hard for us to choose.

By my count there are still three of you that are still working on initial designs. If it is more than a day or two out, could you let me know when?

[Anne]

Thank you for the feedback. Here's the revision for the home page. I'll work on the gallery page.

Anne

[Anne]

Here's the gallery page

[Anne]

and

[Luc]

I plan on submitting but the link http://www.kirtz.com/shuttermill/sm_gallery.htm is down.

[SKR]

Hi - Here's two different versions of the home page with a "Call to Action".

Thanks :)

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspenhome.jpg

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspenhome2.jpg

[JeremeDavid]

I will be done with my entry today, or tomorrow.

[Aliska]

Hello
And my first idea. Waiting for our comments.

[JeremeDavid]

Here is my entry.

I added the phone number and in-home consultation offer right up top so that it can be displayed on all of the pages instead of just the homepage.

[will]

Tiago, Sorry to bother you. Is there anything you want to change about my layout or anything to be kept. If you don't like it at all I can always create a new concept. :D

[tiago]

Will,

Sorry you didn't get feedback yesterday. I even typed it out, but it didn't end up getting posted.

As I mentioned in feedback to other designers, when we reviewed the designs your design was seen as having a good call to action. Overall it has a good professional feel.

I would like to see if you can make it feel softer with a bit more feminine elegance. (I don't know how else to describe it.) I'm not saying it has to be pink, we just want our target customers to be thinking something along the lines of "I want my home to feel like that".

Concerning the layout, I don't see anything wrong with it, but if you have any other ideas we would appreciate them.

As we mentioned in the original spec, and to other designers, the Gallery navigation, and a gallery page format that is extensible vertically is important to us. We would like to see any ideas you have for that.

I hope that helps.

[tiago]

Sara,

Thanks for the call to action addition, it looks nice.

[tiago]

Anne,

Thanks for the call to action and gallery. The new elements fit well with your design.

[tiago]

Everyone,

As we move forward, I would like to make a few general comments. As I mentioned to Will, we value the feeling of "I want my house to feel like that." This is the reason that I don't think that bright colors are what we are looking for. (I'm also not saying that everything has to be brown and green, even though we have had some good entries with those colors.)

Concerning the Gallery, as you have noticed, it is important to us. The second image in post #12 probably best fits what I was trying to describe in the original spec: an extra layer of navigation using mostly text, a vertically extensible design, and an area for mixed images and text. We really want to try to keep the maintenance simple as we add cases. The thumbnail style galleries look great, but would be a big pain to change and maintain.

New Entries: We will be meeting in the next few days and reviewing all of the designs again. I will provide some more detailed feedback then.

Let me know if I didn't explain enough.

[will]

Tiago, thanx a lot. I will work on the ideas you mentioned and the gallery section too :D

[Aliska]

Hello
And second idea. Waiting for your feedback

[Anne]

Here's another gallery page :)

[JeremeDavid]

Here is my sample for the gallery page. It is very flexible vertically. You can add plenty of items along the left side and the main content area will extend down as far as you need it to, to accomodate however much text you would like to add in there.

In the main space, the "why choose..." area would be really easy to update. You would just need to add in new text. Or that whole thing can be taken out.

The image has a drop shadow and border surrounding it. The shadow would be coded into the html of the page, so all you would have to do is just add in a new image.

If you would like to see anything changed, just let me know.

[tiago]

Everyone,

We met and discussed the designs. We feel that It is really down to 4 right now. (In no particular order) Sara, Anne, JeremeDavid, Will. (Luc, if you have put something together we will still consider it.) We want to thank everybody so far for all of the effort and the great creativity.

Will - We're waiting for your latest revision.

Sara - We would like the first example on post #29 with a different color scheme. We would like to try something a little less pastel, maybe more in the browns and greens. (We seem to be gravitating that way.)

Anne - We really liked the way JeremeDavid placed calls to action at the top-left just under the logo, and bottom right, (like you already have). It has a nice first-place-you-look and last-place-you-look flow. Is it possible to integrate a call to action at the top left (below the logo) and strengthen the bottom call to action?

JeremeDavid - We would like you to modify your home page to look more like the gallery page. We like the left swoop that holds the gallery navigation. Can you create a "Current Specials" box in place of the gallery navigation?

[SKR]

Hi - I'd just finished these :)

I'll change the colours on the other design also.

Regards,

Sarah

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspengreen.jpg

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspenbrown.jpg

[will]

Tiago, I am so sorry for the delay. Tomorrow first time I will start the changes, but today was a really heavy day, and for a geek that stays 24/7 in front of the screen to go out the entire day doing burocracy was like being a flee on a manequeen, definetly lost out of my territory :P

[JeremeDavid]

JeremeDavid - We would like you to modify your home page to look more like the gallery page. We like the left swoop that holds the gallery navigation. Can you create a "Current Specials" box in place of the gallery navigation?

I will complete the changes when I return from work this afternoon.

[SKR]

Hi,

Here's the colour change to the first design :)

Regards,

Sarah

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspencolour.jpg

[SKR]

and Gallery for new design :)

http://www.mydezines.com/projects/aspen/aspengreengallery.jpg

[JeremeDavid]

I have made the changes that you requested.

I wasn't sure what format you would use for the specials on the left. The download coupon buttons there would be text-based, so you could update them easily to match whatever special you are running.

I added a featured rooms section to replace the larger image I had. To update this, you would just have to save your new images over the old ones.

If you would like to see more changes or revisions, just let me know.

[Anne]

Here's the revision for the home page

Anne

[will]

Hi, tiago, here is another concept. Maybe I am using the blinds too much, let me know. The menues' text as well as the context text is fully editable in Times new roman.

http://www.willdesigns.com.ar/aspenblinds_idea5.jpg

[belladonna]

Hi, if Im not too late, I would like to show you this idea :)
***Image removed***

[will]

Here are 2 other colour variants as well as top images :D

WARMER COLOURS
http://www.willdesigns.com.ar/aspenblinds_idea5c.jpg

SOPHISTICATED
http://www.willdesigns.com.ar/aspenblinds_idea5d.jpg

[tiago]

Belladona,

Thanks for the entry, but I think that we are pretty satisfied with the current final four.

[tiago]

Everyone,

Thanks for all of the new submissions. We will try to review them early next week. I just wanted to let you know that it may be a few days untill it get back to you with specifics.

[belladonna]

No problem, good luck everyone! :)

[tiago]

Hi all,

Thanks for the patience. We have been reviewing and thinking about the designs for several days. It is a real credit to the quality of the work that you all have done, that our decision is so hard. Each design has elements that we really like.

Sarah, we would like to choose you to complete the project. There are still a few aspects that we would like to improve. Do you want to finish out the project with us?

Thanks again everybody!

[will]

Congrats Sarah !! :D

[SKR]

Thank You for selecting my design :)

I would be happy to finish off the project with you. Please let me know what you require me to do from here.

Thanks Will :)