Here's where you get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how we do what we do at
The Greatest Agency in all the land.
The Greatest Agency in all the land.
Monday, April 9, 2007
new website conceptual design
The first stage conceptual design for what will become our new website is pictured above. (The site this will replace, for reference: www.viaworldwide.com)
The top panel (with the bobble heads) will be an animated Flash program, which will showcase a couple of A-list projects, or whatever we think is hot at the moment.
The column on the far left will feature copy detailing our core service offerings. The middle column will feature recent developments or things we need to shout out loud.
The panel on the far right will include flexible promo areas, that we can swap out, dependent on what mood we're in at the moment.
None of the copy has been written yet - but will be in our typical dumb-ass style.
Navigation is simple, short, and runs across the top bar. Logo is placeholder for now, as we're still working that out.
Overall, you'll see a lot of flexibility, which is key, so that we can grow into this, not out of it. We only have time for a redesign every couple of years. ;)
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:41 PM
5 comments
looks like everything out there...
I like it. It looks nice and easy to navigate and doesn't scream "we're pretentious design assholes" like a lot of stuff can these days. Everybody's working so hard to try and show off that the message trying to be communicated gets lost. I don't have to dig to find your portfolio in something like this. It isn't a quiz to see how smart I am. I came here because I want to see your work and I can find it easily. That's what a agency site should do.
That said, I think it'd be cool if you could incorporate the plaid into different elements. A visual message that says "Plaid is everywhere." For example, a macro image of your whoop-ass conference table with a piece of plaid fabric hanging off the edge or something. Not so subtle subtle things, if that makes sense.
Yeah, I'd say true, it does look like a lot of stuff out there but the point here is your work. I hate hate hate when design company sites try to build really obscure interfaces to show off how creative they are and in reality all it does is prevents me from getting to their actual work.
I would try to throw some angles in. The plaid is tweaked, looks like less than 45 in the header despite being 45 on the card, but either way it'd be cool to have elements either at 45s or 30s or whatever you've got going on in the plaid itself. Maybe you can do that in the features, or somewhere else just to tie that angle in.
Looks like you guys aren't trying to design a website to impress other designers. Rather you're designing to attract potential clients. Makes sense to me!
All great input. Thanks everyone.
For background, here's where we're coming from:
Our audience is brand managers and CEOs. Fortune 100s to indie business people.
We would like to get a few success stories right up front. It's about our work first - and I see EVERY DAY how our past work gets us in new doors.
There's also a lot going on here, and we need to share /brag about news on a regular basis. We wanted room for a top level story or two to promote recent developments.
Most importantly, we want to differentiate ourselves. There are thousands of design firms just like us. Many with work at the same level, or better.
We believe we're differentiated by our people, our personalities, and ease of doing business together.
The copy, when complete will reflect our personalities. The key factor: we don't take ourselves too seriously. We like to have fun.
The navigation needs to be easy. For a BRAND MANAGER, not a Flash developer. This ease of use communicates in a subtle way that we understand their business, we understand they're busy, and they want to see our work. Quickly. For those that have more time, we'll have plenty to explore too - but don't force exploration on EVERYONE.
I really believe our current structure and design accomplish these goals.