Web 2.0 for Professional Services

Please, save me from my own awful site design, circa 2001! This should be fast work…there’s nowhere to go for this site but up. :-)

Let’s tackle the home page for now. An updated, professional, modern look.

From this, other work on the rest of the site will follow.

Please see brief.

Cross Canyon Corporate Services

Take a quick look at where we are now: http://www.crosscanyon.com

Not much will change for now in terms of content. We just need a better look. I'm sure you agree. :-)

The site audience is not a massive, retail clientele. Most of the business is brought in through word of mouth and relationships with other professional service companies. So the goal is to communicate professionalism. A “conversion” is a submitted Contact form.

Brand should be prominent. This, of course, is not a logo contest, but I’m open to any variations on the brand as it is showing now. I’m not wedded to the “building in a circle” icon, nor the two-line representation of the company name itself.

“Cross Canyon” can be more prominent (on top, bolder, larger…whatever, up to you.) than “Corporate Services”.

Need: navigation scheme that is scalable. I’ll be adding more sections as they are developed, so perhaps a stacked, left nav is better than a more constricting top nav.

The main content on the home page will be some basic information about the services offered, similar to the copy that is there now. And then I’d like two main action buttons: Learn More & Get Started. (I may changed the “Get Started” button to “Contact Us” but I can swap as needed for testing later.)

There is a section for Clients and Testimonials. Please help me imagine what is possible with regards to organizing this and making it look informative, yet clean, not too busy. What I have now is an animated gif, and its embarrassing. Maybe what we’re looking for is 3 or 4 small “box”-like areas, each with a quote and maybe a small image. This section will link to a page with more, so include a “More” or “read more” or something like that.

One new section: There should also be a small section that will include a short “letter from the founder”. Me. There will be a small photo of me and a “read more” link at the end of a statement of several sentences.

Sites I like:

For tone, professionalism, and organization:

http://www.omniture.com/ – nice compartmentalization of content, use of gradients and shadows rather than heavy box borders

http://www.redbricksmedia.com/ nice compartmentalization

For simplicity, the use of whitespace and imagery:

http://www.mint.com/

http://www.proquo.com  

- modern, clean, professional
- serious, sophisticated tone, but not stuffy like a law firm
- blue, silver, greys
- centered, floating design with gradient background

- bright, light colors.
- yellows, pinks, oranges, red
- for my site to be as ugly as it is now. help!