Motion 2 Emotion - I Need Your Help

[EvansLight]

It seems like every new thread i make is asking your guys opinion. But i trust yall, and this is my business, this is my livelihood, so i need input and what better place than with my hookah brethren.

Well before i get to asking your help, bring on the back story!! About 3 years ago, i was busy enjoying online gaming, just got myself out of high school, and was just getting used to not waking up for school each day. Well i met a guy who's online name was Phisch (for curious, real name was Steven) and he was a photographer. I had always had an interest in photography, and just about anything that ended up with my creating something, so i got started trying to learn photography. Well with that came learning photoshop, so i could edit photos. Long story short, that led to tutorials, and eventually my first graphic web design. Now i had been doing HTML coding since before 2000, but graphic design was all new to me.

So to show off all the work i had done, i made my first company, which really was just a site to show my stuff off at, and its name is Stoned Devil Inc. Now i say is, because SDInc. (in an attempt to make it sound better than a satanist stoner, i shortened the name to the nice little thing you just saw) is still alive today. Now a spam ridden largely unmaintained tutorial site, with templates taking a back seat.

Well life has thrown me some interesting curves since those simple days right after school. I was one shot away from death, i have almost lost my home, i have lost just about all my friends from high school, and i still have no real job, and only small income from work online. I can't complain, wherever I'm going in life this is the road i have to take. I don't have to like it, but I'm not going to complain, and i wouldn't change any of it. But i think I've become a better dude through it all, and now I'm ready to get my life together.

Now i got a home school high school diploma, no real job experience, and no one who will hire me, other than places i will never work, because its not somewhere I'm suited for. So im taking the initiative and making my own job. Ive always dreamed of running a web design firm, and i think i finally found out my path to do it, and i think its time, i have the motivation.

First i needed a new name. A short paper i wrote about my little trip through the world of photography, gave me this name. Motion 2 Emotion. It sounded both artistic, and at the same time professional. And like SDInc, it makes a nice little acronym, M2EDesigns. So now i got the name. Hosting. This was helped out by my sister, who lent me her CC in return i give her the money each month. Next, a Portfolio. No matter what i need to show people i can do what i say i can. This means working websites. I got this with MNH, and for that i thank Tarik and Scott for trusting me. Now i just need some services to offer, more than just web design. My grandfather provided this, photo editing, photo restoration, and digital printing. Great, getting there. Now, a better computer so i have less trouble working on things, and a better monitor so i can see what im doing. Once again, sister to the rescue. Cassie got me the monitor i so desperately needed, and once certain bills are paid, will help me with a computer.

Finally, a site to let the world in on my business. Enter M2EDesigns.com - short, simple, easy to remember, and i get to use the lovely short version, which i have become attached too. But a domain name, and hosting is no good without a design for the site itself. This is where yall come into play in this story. I need your help to make sure this design works good. I don't want any "looks great", i need real constructive criticism. This is the first thing new clients see when they visit, this is the first thing they get to judge my talent off of. For weeks ive had a design in my head, and after many failed attempts, i think i finally have started on a good design.

Now I need brutally honest comments. I want to know what I've done wrong. So below is the rest of the info, and the design itself. I gotta say a big thanks to this community. I think its both broke my sanity, and saved it. Without guys like Scott, Tarik, Scally, and all the rest, i think id be living under an overpass right now XD

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The Design - I am trying to go for a portfolio style design, mixed with a functional web design firm site, mixed with a control panel type functionality. Its not been easy just thinking up a design that meets all i need, plus is simple enough to load fast, and translate well into CSS and DIV based design, but also looks as good as it functions. Here it is, following are a few descriptions about things that will look are act differently, then a simple photo can show you.

Oh and ignore the huge amount of watermarking i had to deal with design theft a few weeks ago, and its got me paranoid if anyone wants to see a un-marked version, chat with me on AIM, or HFC, and i might hand out the link ;-)



First thing you might notice, is the top bar. Its the main way clients interact with my site. I wanted M2E to also act as a hub for clients to get updates on there projects, see live previews of the work in progress, ask questions, get support, change and add services, and more. I also wanted some access features on the main page, kind of like how art sites do it. But I will go about this differently. On M2E the bar up top, will not always be shown. It will be, more less hidden, like the start bar can be hidden on windows. When the user clicks any links to login to CCP (Client Control Panel) the bar pops down, or when they click a little tab button that will be at the top. This means more room for the site itself, and less clutter, and non-clients don't have to stare at it.

Next thing is the background. I really wanted a more modern vector based background, done in the top right corner, and for my best efforts i couldn't come up with one i liked. Then i made this. I absolutely love it, and i find it adds to the character of the design.

The main content area is still under construction. I got allot of decisions to make there. Example, the side bar, if you look closer you will see the 2 heading bars are different. I gotta decide which one i like most. Another thing to decide, is if i want to add a small portfolio preview on the main page. It would be at the bottom if i do, and show the latest entries in our companies portfolio. Other than that most of it is thought out in my head, i just gotta get it put down. Something missing right now is the nav bar, its going to be the top part above the header, just right now i haven't gotten around to adding in the text and finish styling it.

Finally, the color scheme. I personally love it, blue and black are two of my favorite colors, and i love shades of blue like i use there. Tell me what you think, and tell me if it needs more color.

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Phew, thats all about the design side of things for now. I gotta compliment anyone who's read this far. Now onto the coding, and for some just skip this, its going to get technical

The site is going to be all standards compliant, semantically marked up, fully accessible, DIV and CSS based coding, with a full PHP back end, including separated design, theme, and base coding and functions for ease of updating. I'm probably going to stick with basic PHP for the first version, but as i get more into it, ill add more advanced things, and eventually some Ajax functionality, as well as some custom Javascript, see if i can't mess with the DOM a bit The site will be fluid, so it should expand perfectly. I plan on coding for most major browsers, and after the first full version is done, ill work on adding support for other ones, along with support for palm pilots, PSP's, etc.

The site will have 6 main sections, not including the CCP. These will be the home page, the portfolio, a list of services and base prices, along with examples, a page to submit info to get a quote, a contact form, for basic questions, a support ticket system, for non-registered clients, for pre-sales questions, and other things. I will also have a forum system, but its going to be custom done, and made for things like tutorials and free web designs. The forums will be what take over things SDInc. currently does.

The next major thing is the Client Control Panel. This is my biggest dream. Offering people the ability to not only get there web design, but hosting, domain names, SSL, and more, all through me (which will be done using reseller), and be able to control it, and do things to and with it through my site. The control panel will have areas to edit basic info, change payment options (ill be accepting paypal, google checkout, a few other ones i know of, and of course major credit cards), post comments and questions, and wanted modifications to the projects they currently have going (i call everything we offer a project, from photo editing to web design). They will also have there own dedicated support ticket system, that way things stay separate. Im also going to work on adding a nice function the support system, allowing them to use there computer mic to call my computer. I already know how... kinda XD

I also have plans more a few more functions in the CCP, but that above is what im going to require myself to get done before the launch of the company.

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Thats the jist of what im trying, and planning on doing. This is going to be my lifes work, and im looking for any help yall can provide. The forums have already given me so much, and i hate to ask for more, but this is very important to me

Im also looking for designers and coders who want to make a bit of extra money. I need other people to help with the work load on the site, both on creating the site, and eventually with clients. I will split profits equally with anyone who signs up this early on, and helps with the actual M2E site. I hope to have at least 3 coders, and 2 more designers by the time the site is launched, this way M2E can handle more work, since it would be more than just me.

That is about it. Im not looking for anything more from you than your opinion. And if you know how to do the stuff i listed above that i plan on doing, then please consider working for M2E. And anyone who has read this all the way through..... go you

And once again,
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

[ghostofdavid]

Yo! I must say that I am proud of you for sticking with something that you like doing and it will pay off and you will be rewarded for it because you are a talented web ninja. I really like the fluid maneuverability that exists in MNHookahs site and I like the way the one above looks as well. I have nothing to offer you for your web ninjas skills and no way to join you in your career because I lack having any computer talent, colour coordination, graphic design skills, but I will give you a few suggestions, if you'll hear me out.

I have a friend who graduated from a college with a degree relating to computer graphic design and his name is Josh. He is probably the most talented graphic design person I have yet to meet (face to face) and he can make a webpage look uber with even the most basic of tools. He is artsy and cool and personable and a nice guy and easy to work with. His downfall? Like a lot of artistic people I know, he is slow to respond to people and highly unmotivated. When he does start projects, he often does not finish them or does not take the time to stay in contact with the person he is doing business with. He'd get an email and instead of responding instantly, he'd go off to do something else, usually personal and not stay in contact with businesses who were interested (at first) in him. I am not implying that you are that way, Evans... don't get me wrong for a moment! However, if you can present yourself to companies who have experienced this same problem and prove to them that you are the opposite of those things, they will love you for it. Someone shoot you an email? Respond ASAP. Think about investing in a Blackberry when things take off so you can always be contacted on the go. Haven't heard from a customer in a while? Call them and ask them if there is anything you can do for them. Ask if anything they are happy/unhappy with and what you can do to fix it. Have a survey for them to fill out about your services so that YOU know without a shadow of a doubt how you are doing with them. You are a personable and likeable guy and I imagine you can communicate with those people easily. Most important, if someone is not computer inclined, treat them with just as much respect as someone who is an elite hax0r 1337 awesome-saucer. If you have a little bit of patience with the computer illiterate, it will reward you. Most people heavily into computers have little or no patience with those who do not understand them and if you do, it will take you far.


Yea, that's all I got for now. Take care and if one day I ever have a job of my own, I hope I can get you to design my webpage. That is, if you aren't knee-deep in benjamins and bentleys!!!!!!!!!

[EvansLight]

LMFAO its funny how well you just described me XD oh im trying to get better, but i got the same damn problems XD Good to know i aint the only one. My only difference is i love starting things, i love finishing things, but i HATE keeping them up to date i love redoing sites, but i just hate the day to day maintenance thing oh and the e-mail thing is a problem too XD i still have the one from Inside Hookah from when i wanted to be a writer for them

[EvansLight]

Okily Dokily, the design is more or less the same as it is there XD im at a mental roadblock XD i hate those with a passion. But i think i hit on a new design idea for the logo, that goes along with the theme of the layout. Its currently just using the basics from the design, with a pre-defined font type acting as the lettering, the final logo will be redone heavily with my own vector work, and my own style. This is just a concept

Here is the first one:


And here is the new one:


Once again, please be brutally honest. Do remember though it is only a concept, and the final one will be much smoohter, look a bit different, and not be composed of pre-made, or things i already made

[Johnny_D]

It's very good EL.

The top one is very easy on the eye, plus it seems to carry on your 'ninja mod/web ninja' personficiation.

The bottom one has a very urban theme to it, which depending on your target customer audience, which may or maynot be a good thing?

either way - you have more talen in your left pinkie than i have in my whole entire body!

JD

[Forgotenpriest]

i have to agree the first one looks a little better than the first one. but maybe not so pink man. but thats just me, other wise it's the better of the two. i never really liked urban stuff anyways. lol

[ghostofdavid]

Pink one.

[sicklecow]

Yeah, the pink one looks way more professional, but they both rock.

[web250]

I *love* the design in the first post. Looks really professional. As per the logos, I like the look of the pink one, although I'm not too fond of pink, but to each is own

[EvansLight]

It's very good EL.

The top one is very easy on the eye, plus it seems to carry on your 'ninja mod/web ninja' personficiation.

The bottom one has a very urban theme to it, which depending on your target customer audience, which may or maynot be a good thing?

either way - you have more talen in your left pinkie than i have in my whole entire body!

JD

Well the urban theme im guessing comes mainly from the font type. I wasn't really trying for urban, but that was the best font type i could find. As i said above it will be a custom font type in the end. I personally like the bottom one the best, but i want your opinions because it dont matter what i like, it matters what the customers like

i have to agree the first one looks a little better than the first one. but maybe not so pink man. but thats just me, other wise it's the better of the two. i never really liked urban stuff anyways. lol

lol read above. its not really urban, at least i wasnt trying for it, the font does it XD its supposed to be a more modern vetor style look, and i hope when i do the custom font it will look alot more like in my head

Pink one.

lol you just want the pink it wont be pink in the end, the colors will match the design, which is of course black, grey, white, and blue.

Yeah, the pink one looks way more professional, but they both rock.

Still i think its just the font that really does it. I could be wrong

I *love* the design in the first post. Looks really professional. As per the logos, I like the look of the pink one, although I'm not too fond of pink, but to each is own

Thanks web you were the guy i was really waiting to hear from i had put in the part about anyone wanting to join the team for a few people, the main one of course was you And once again, is it just the font you think? I really love how the bottom one looks, but as i said i need to go with the masses. I still think with the custom font i have in mind it will look better

Keep it coming guys, anything you have to say don't be afraid to spit it out and thanks alot for your opinions so far, and double thanks to anyone who actually read all that crap XP

[cafesaden]

well I can give you some constructive criticism because I was a web designer for quite a while, until I got completely fed up with clients fleeing when it came to payment day. good luck in this area, make sure you get everything in paper before you build something for them.

first of all your logo is badass. the pink one. very unsual, very CUSTOM. shows the customer that you can do custom graphic design work.

your layout, seems.... like you have been browsing good-tutorials all day. with the retro bubbles and gradients. no offense because I know that it is not the easiest layout to create, but I'd go with something more unusual, creative, off-the-wall.

check out this website for maybe some light: Zen Garden

they have some crazy css layouts on there, not for use, but to look at. i know php and css pretty well, and thats my coding of preference. css loads fast, and php is pretty customizable.

just some constructive thoughts, don't take them to personally I would just personally stay away from that trendy tutorial graphic sh*8. Retro bubbles are a fad for people our age, not people wanting a $5,000 website. Look professional, clean cut layout, easy to read (black text on a light background).

I have been out of that department for a while. the last time I did something was when I built a large (1000+pages) website for myself to try and compete directly with the infamous vegas.com

Needless to say, that didn't work out quite as well as expected, partly because it was my and 1 friend working 12+ hours a day trying to keep up with updates. Cool thing about it? My website was 1/2 informative, 1/2 commission structured. So to this day (over a year later) I still make 200 bucks a month doing absolutely nothing. its great side money, and you can pm if you wanna talk about that

[web250]

I *love* the design in the first post. Looks really professional. As per the logos, I like the look of the pink one, although I'm not too fond of pink, but to each is own

Thanks web you were the guy i was really waiting to hear from i had put in the part about anyone wanting to join the team for a few people, the main one of course was you And once again, is it just the font you think? I really love how the bottom one looks, but as i said i need to go with the masses. I still think with the custom font i have in mind it will look better

I don't know if I could sign on for much, I have a lot on my plate with school, my site, etc. But if you ever get stuck, I'm pretty fluent in HTML, CSS, and PHP. I actually just finished http://www.theartistdistrict.com 's DIV/CSS design, site might not be up though, we're goin through a server/host change. Most of the site is CSS/XHTML valid now, cept for the code the news spits out, but I'm working on coding a work-around.

[OPR234]

Starting with the layout of the website, I think its pretty nice. The only thing I'd change about it is just a little bit more color, contrast blue with the gray and stuff or something along those lines, but keep it subtle.

I like the form of the new logo more, but the outline of the whole shape seems kind of bland with just the circles (seems like it would blend in too easily with the layout of your page). I'd also recommend changing the gray part of the background circles or the text to blue so that the lettering pops out more. You said it would be one of the colors you'll be using, and I think it'd look nice.

The pink one is artistic and looks cool, but to me it just doesn't look like a presentable logo. When I see both shapes and text in company logos, they compliment each other to a certain extent. The shape part just seems to overwhelm the text.

I think a combination of your examples would look sweet. Take out the text and pink circle out of the pink one and change the abstract shape color to blue. Shrink your whole second logo a little, leave the color of the circles gray, and change the "M2E" to your shade of blue. Place the modified second logo over the abstract shape of the first, and I think it would look both professional and creative.

If you don't like that idea, maybe just use your second logo, but give some type of flare or texture to the outlines of the circles (after some type of color change, of course). If I had any proper imaging software I'd just show how I'd change them, but I don't, so hopefully my descriptions make a little sense.

I know its only a concept and that you'll be changing it regardless, I'm just giving you my friendly and honest input, with a few possible suggestions. I hope my feedback is useful, because I actually kind of enjoy going over your work . I've taken a visual communications/ graphic design class in the past, and we did some brief work with logos and stuff, so I know a little about what I'm talking about, but by all means I'm nowhere near to professional.

[djbomberto]

the 2nd art work looks like a Tag for Breakers. i like it.