[Project Complete] DVD Photo Montage Website - $450

[Prodora]

Admin code added by Abby - (7DN20818K5271342L)

We are offering $450 with a deadline of November 15, 2005 for a home page and an interior page design. We know that's a very tight deadline. We can push the deadline if necessary, so if you will be posting but need a few days, please let us know.

We are a new company and are trying to make a push into some local retail stores. We'd like to have a professional looking website to back us up. We'll use the look and feel of the website to help inform the new marketing materials that we're developing.

We have an existing website at prodoramemories.com (http://www.prodoramemories.com). This website was put up over a weekend; you shouldn't feel any need to keep any of its design elements.


Our Business
We sell custom photo montage DVD's. Customers provide us their photos and a song, and we animate the photos (using Ken Burns or "pan-and-scan" technique). We create custom covers and disc art and burn the photo montage to DVD. Therefore, we believe the website should have some nice photos.

Most of these DVD's are for babies, weddings, birthdays and funerals. We'd like to see a couple of photos that indicate this (maybe a baby and a wedding cake; I've attached a couple samples, but please feel free to use your own).

We will be changing the sections of the website over the next couple of months. Please structure the navigation so that items can be added/removed. The navigation only needs to support 1 level of nav (no nested menus).

Looking for
We’re looking for a clean, bright, friendly site without being garish or over the top. We expect most of our customers to be female, mothers or expectant mothers, probably 30+. Images of babies and families are good. We’d like to evoke a “warm fuzzy” feeling.

The layout of the pages should be 2-column. On the home page, we’d like a center space for our major offer/communication. We’d like to avoid hard edges and lines. Rounded corners, soft blends, etc. are good.

Communicating the nature of our product in static media is difficult. We’d like to have some imagery that indicates the “pictures+song=DVD” message prominently displayed on the website. Please feel free to include such imagery, or place holder. If we don’t get one with the template, we’ll post another contest.


Here’s the info from the guide:

Name of company: Prodora Memories
Company tagline: The gift of memory
Logo: attached
Visual identity: See attached card and website. We aren't very attached to these - feel free to ignore them!
Nature of business: We sell DVD photo montages. Clients pick pictures and music of their choice and we animate them and place them on DVD's. See samples on our website.
Target market: Mostly female, 30+

Website details: Existing webiste: http://prodoramemories.com. This website was thrown up over a weekend. There's no need to honour it.
Websites we like the look of:
http://www.microsoft.com/max
http://www.trugreen.com

Colours: Light colours
Navigation: See existing website
Look: An open, clean, warm feel
Competitors: http://www.essenceoflifevideo.com/index.html
http://www.pictureperfectslideshows.com/
http://www.foreverdvds.com/
http://www.onetruemedia.com/otmpublic/index.html (note, we don't offer online services like these)
Prefered imagery: happy families, possibly watching TV

Deadline: November 15 2005

We will be monitoring this contest hourly, so please post any questions you have and we’ll respond immediately.

Thank you for your interest,

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories

[Aliska]

Hello
I will upload my idea in a day

[Prodora]

We were glad to see your interest, Aliska. We're looking forward to your entry with enthusiasm!

Any one else planning to join?

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories

[Aliska]

Hello
My entry.

[Prodora]

That's great, Aliska! Thanks for posting your idea.

We thought your approach was really good. Here's some feedback:

1. We'd like to remodel the top of the page a little bit:
a. Remove the girl with the camera
b. Move the music bar and photos up to the top (where the logo is now)
c. Move the logo down to where the music bar is now
d. Add a couple of small pictures other than children to the photos on the music bar (maybe a wedding picture & an older couple)
e. Add a DVD image between the music bar and the photo of the family watching TV (I've attached a sample DVD case cover and disc art, if that helps)
2. We'd like to change the top navigation from tabs to buttons. We'll be changing the sections/navigation and buttons will be easier for us to change. We'd also like to add a Home link in the top & bottom nav

3. Can you raise the content area a little bit? I've attached two images that show the content at 800x600 and 1024x768 resolution. In the 800x600, I'd like the entire title ("Photo Montages on DVD") visible and maybe the first line of text; at 1024x768 I'd like the entire email side bar to be visible.

4. Would it be possible to punch up the content area a little bit? Maybe a little colour, or a faded photo, or anything to give it a little "glow"?

What are your plans for the interior pages? I think the title area is a little too large for content pages. If you remove the family watching TV and put the logo and the music bar inline with each other, I think it would transform nicely to an interior page header. Your thoughts?

Again, thanks for getting this to us Aliska. We were both very pleased with what you've delivered.

Are there any other takers?

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories
ian@prodoramemories.com

[Prodora]

Sorry, here are the attachments.

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories
ian@prodoramemories.com

[BrianDove]

Hi I am plan on entering by tomorrow :)

Regards

Brian

[Fabian]

Hi,here's my entry:)

[Prodora]

Hi I am plan on entering by tomorrow :)

Regards

Brian

Great! We're looking forward to your entry, Brian.

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories
ian@prodoramemories.com

[Prodora]

Fabian,

Thanks for your entry. Another really good approach.

Here's our feedback for you:

1. The colour scheme needs to be brightend up somewhat. Can you replace the grey with something more lively and warm, maybe an orange?

2. The graphic looks good with combination of visuals and words. However, the music bar seems to get lost in the pictures. Would it be possible to perhaps shrink the photos and bring out the music bar more? And the words "your favorite pictures" and "with music" would need to match the new colour scheme.

3. We'd like to have our phone number displayed on the home page. Can it fit in on the top nav bar, perhaps?

Thanks again for getting this to us, Fabian. We like the different take you've taken in your approach.

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories
ian@prodoramemories.com

[Fabian]

Here's a revised version :)

[Fabian]

Also,

im a big fan of black and white photography,so i'll like to run this one past you :)

Thanks
Fabian

[BrianDove]

Hi, here is my entry :)


http://brianstudio.com/designoutpost/montage/template.jpg




Navigation bar color changes with different sections of the website as you can see here:

http://brianstudio.com/designoutpost/montage/brochure_small.jpg

Looking forward to your response, and any modification you want :)

Regards

Brian

[Aliska]

Hello
And changes at my version.

[Prodora]

Thanks everyone for your designs. Everything looks great. We're formulating specific replies for everyone and will post them a little later.

Thanks again,

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories
ian@prodoramemories.com

[Prodora]

Fabian,

Thanks for the new look - I think that we need to keep the site in colour. It keeps it looking lively and warm.

Can you try carrying the colour throughout the whole website (nav bar & headings, maybe)?

Would it be possible to reduce the strength of the yellow in the background of the left-hand photo?

Thanks,

Ian & Roula Lowe
Prodora Memories
ian@prodoramemories.com

[Prodora]

Brian,

Thanks for your entry. We really appreciate your effort.

Some changes:

1. We liked the moving music bar at the top. Is it possible to add some colour to it?
2. We also liked how you made the photos look a little like Polaroids. Could you enhance the illusion a little by squaring the pictures a little bit and adding a little bit of white margin to the tops and sides of the photos?
3. Is there anyway to make the music bar visible between photos?
4. Could we add a couple of smaller photos in to the mix with the larger ones?
5. Although we really like the second photo in the header, I don't think that black & white will work with this web page. Is there another photo you can use to replace it?
6. We'd like to see the main content area in a 2-column layout with the "Contact us now!" call out on the right-hand side in a more vertical alignment.
6. I think that we'd likely want to stay with a single colour scheme for all pages. Is there a way to highlight the current section with the colour or background of the button in the nav bars?

Thanks again, Brian, we look forward to your next post.

[Fabian]

Hi,thanks for your feedback

Made some changes,hope you like it :)

cheers
Fabian

[Prodora]

Hi again, Aliska,

We liked the direction you took here. Overall we liked the DVD05 file better.

We have a question about the header bar. If we change the sections, how easy will it be for us to add/remove buttons like you have up there. Is the solid line in the background and the buttons on top, or is it all one image?

Some feedback:

1. Can you move the picture of the wedding couple a little to the right and down so it obscures the other pictures a little less?
2. Can you make the music bar a little bigger or highlight it more?
3. I like how you added our DVD images, however, our DVD case cover looks like a piece of paper rather than a DVD case. Would it be possible to cut that image so it looks like the front cover of a DVD case and then put the DVD positioned like its coming out of or is on top of the DVD case? Let me know if that's not clear...
4. The pictures on the left edge of the content area are nice, but they look like they are links and are tied to the content blocks rather than just decoration. (That is, it looks like the photo of the boy is tied to the 1st and 2nd paragraphs of content, even though they aren't related). Is there something we can do to keep the content area lively in a different way? (Just a thought: how about a background watermark-type photo?)

Looking again at the header bar, we'd like to emphasize the concept of "your music + your pictures = dvd", if that's possible.

Thanks again, Aliska, we're looking forward to your next posting.

[Prodora]

Aliska, Fabian and Brian,

So you can include higher resolution versions of our logo in your posts, I've saved the original .ai files as .eps files and attached them. Let us know if there are better formats for you.

[Fabian]

Hi,'ll be happy to swap out the logo :)

Could you please convert the fonts to outlines,as i don't have the used fonts on my system.

Cheers
Fabian

[Prodora]

Here are the logo's converted to outlines.

[Aliska]

Hello
How about that?

[Prodora]

Hello
How about that?

I am really liking the top half and how you changed the DVD cover. My only comdern is that the bottom half were the picture+music = DVD is a bit blan. How about putting the Music scale behind the picture and darkening up the cd?..We will get back to you for more.

Ian & Roula :D

[Prodora]

Hi,

We'd like to make our decision today. Brian, will you be posting an update today?

Thanks,

[Prodora]

Aliska

Can you post us on what the internal page will look like

Thank you

[Anne]

Hi

I might be to late but I take the chance :)

Here's my entry
Anne

[Anne]

and the interior page

[Aliska]

Hello
Changes with home page

[Aliska]

And sub page

[Prodora]

Thanks to everyone who entered our contest. It was a pleasure seeing all of your ideas for our website.

Thanks, Fabian.
Thanks, Brian.
Thanks, Anna, for your late entry.

But the winner is Aliska! We were really smitten with your design and really like the way it turned out.

We have a couple of questions about the design and might need a couple of touchups, which we can take care of in revisions.

Thanks again, everyone! :D

[Aliska]

Thanks for choosing me :)
Waiting for your comments on revisions and your questions

[Prodora]

You very welcome Aliska

We will give our comment's by this evening or hopefully sooner.

Again
Thank you

Ian & Roula

[Prodora]

Hi, Aliska,

Thanks again for a great design.

We would like to make a couple of changes to the pictures used on the site. Will you be providing us with the images in an editable format (i.e., .psd)? If so, we can handle the changes ourselves.

How long do you think it will take for the .html?

Thanks,

[Aliska]

Hello Ian & Roula
Sorry, I was away this weekend. I'm starting HTML coding right now and will send you files during next 12-14 hours. I will also send you all images I've used at design.

[Prodora]

That's great, Aliska. We look forward to receiving the files!

Thanks,

[Aliska]

Hello :)
I have sent you a private message with a link to your project files. Please do not hesitate to email or message me if I can help you further.

[Prodora]

Thanks, Aliska.

We've now received all of the files.

We'd like to say again how happy we are with Aliska's design and her work for us. We'd definately recommend you to others.

Sincerely,

Ian & Roula.