$450 Uncoded "web 2.0" look template for church + OPTIONAL logo design

We need a clean and simple web 2.0 look template design for a church with an optional logo design. We will also need you to provide a simple interior page layout using the same header and footer. We want a clean, professional look. When in doubt, lean on the example sites given in the full description.

New Horizon United Methodist Church

Tagline:
n/a

Desired Color Scheme:
open to suggestion - see comments in brief

Desired Style:
clean, professional, "web 2.0" look, "stretched" template

Accepted File Formats:
Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)

 

We are including a lot of examples we like as design guidance for you. Hopefully you will find it helpful. One thing we are committed to do is offer everyone who enters feedback in a timely fashion so you are not in the dark. Take a look at our past contest for proof of this. If you can code - we may be interested in having you do that as well after we wrap up the design.

EDIT: Yes, this is a church website, but this church is targeted to people who don't go to church, so we want more of a corporate look. Don't make use of any type of church icons or spiritual imagery please. This applies to the logo as well as template design.

Here you can find two documents that will help:

Design Template Wireframe:
http://www.cornerstoneinternet.com/…eframe.doc

Site Structure with Menu Items:
http://www.cornerstoneinternet.com/…ucture.xls

Feel free to ask any questions and we will reply in a timely fashion. Thank you very much for considering our contest!

-Matt

We have included the logo design as a bonus. If you want to include a logo, fine, if not then we are ok with that. You can leave the logo area blank or use a placeholder logo. Our main concern with this contest is the site template. IF YOU DONâ€T WANT TO DO A LOGO, PLEASE DON'T LET THAT KEEP YOU FROM ENTERING. We will select the best site design regardless of the logo. If you want to submit a logo only, we will consider it, but our main focus with this contest is the site template.

 

 

 

Logo Comments: Mostly text based logo. Text: New Horizon United Methodist Church. No crosses or church based icons please

 

No “churchy†type of looks with church buildings or things like that. You can incorporate some symbol, but nothing overpowering. Just a simple clean, modern looking logo.

 

 

 

Color: Open to selection. The color scheme should not be feminine. Bold is fine, but we do not want the site to be too dark. Blue would be a good place to start. Black is ok as long as it is not overpowering.

 

Here are a few sites that we really like. If you come in with something like what you see here, we will be good to go. We want a “stretched†template that uses 100% of the screen. Width of the content area should be small enough so there is no scrolling on small monitors.

 

http://thecity.org/ - simplicity, professional look and smooth design

 

http://newsongministry.com/ - nice, simple overall design & look.

 

http://www.southridgechurch.ca/index - nice simple header navigation layout

 

http://www.churchplantmedia.com – really great header design and color combos. Nice tabs.

 

http://www.ekklesia360.com/overview/ - nice header & layout of interior page

 

http://www.stonebriar.org/ - nice stretch header, layout of top menu. Don’t like artistic design in header

 

http://fairfax.cc/ - nice simple stretch header, layout of tab menu. http://thinkpocket.com/admin/jump/pick_pocket - like the stretch and glossy 2.0 look of this header

****** EDIT -posted in general contest comments and added here****

I want to list several sites below that may give you inspiration for the direction we would like to go with the header region and navigation.

 

I like these sites for their clean simplicity of design and that is the type of look we would like to go for.

 

http://www.freeagentcentral.com - header layout is close to our wireframe. great color scheme.
http://www.subnixus.net - great color scheme.
http://campallen.org/
http://cssvault.com/
http://jandaco.com/
 *************** end edit**********

 

 

From here I will just walk down the wireframe document to give you an idea of what we have in mind to give you the best idea of what we are looking for. You can find the menu links in the attached xls file and I will list them here as well.

 

 

General header comments- see example sites above for what we like – a lot of good examples

 

 

Area 1. At the very top right of the header we want small font textlinks with | separators. To the right of those should be a site search box. This page has the best example of what we want:

 

http://www.southridgechurch.ca/ - Links should be: Home | Blogs | Directions | Contact Us -- then the search box. This small strip can be delineated with a stripe of different color than the header – or not, doesn’t matter.

 

 

Area 2 – see general header comments

 

Area 3 – logo – see logo comments above

 

Area 4 – Main navigation menu – see examples. There are six menu items on this menu. See Site Structure xls document for the text for these 6 links.

 

Area 5 – main content area – divided up into separate areas for content

 

 

Area 6- we plan to use a video application in this spot. Fyi, two examples of this are:

 

http://www.marshillchurch.org/New

 

http://www.watermark.org/ - there was a video player – but now it is rotating graphics

 

The content of this video will be similar to the mars hill example. Welcoming visitors to the site but also directing them to areas & buttons on the site to get more information.

 

 

Area 7. Block to immediate right of the video. In this area we do need 6 graphics created to match the template design. The video presenter will verbally be directing the visitor to these 6 graphics. A couple examples that are close to this type of layout below. You can come of with any configuration or shape of these buttons/graphics that fit your template design.

 

http://www.watermark.org/

 

http://fairfax.cc - the buttons

 

Text on buttons – See site structure page for Section 7 – IF you are cramped for space you can eliminate the Get Directions & Times button.

 

 

Area 8 - we will do the design of these buttons ourselves. Just need you to show the basic layout on the template of where they will go and size. Leave enough space below them for text. Examples:

 

http://fairfax.cc – showing text below button graphics

 

http://www.riversidepeoria.com/

 

http://www.watermark.org/

 

http://stanleypres.org/

 

 

Area 9 – area for misc text

 

 

Area 10- in this spot will will install some type of graphics rotator to show events etc.

 

Fyi - Examples here:

 

http://www.golftipsmag.com/ - this rotator at the top is ideally what we will plug in here

 

http://www.southpointcc.com/

 

Other examples: http://slideshowpro.net/

 

 

Area 11 - footer – see basic layout and text links needed on wireframe. Would like some kind of graphic header for “Aboutâ€, “Quick Linksâ€, and “Stay Connectedâ€. We want a vertically deep footer similar to what is here:

 

http://www.citybiblechurch.org/

 

http://www.thecity.org

 

Also needs to be included in footer layout somewhere:

 

 

 

 

New Horizon United Methodist Church
3002 W. Bloomington Rd.
Champaign, IL 61822
217.359.8909

 

 

 

Interior Page Layout

 

 

-same header

 

-same footer

 

 

Just need a simple 2 column layout.

 

-the left column will be narrower for the submenu and whatever other content we want to fill below it.

 

- The right column would be larger and be the main content area for the sub-pages

 

-I like it when there is some type of delineation of color or shading for the giving the two columns a little contrast instead of just a line in between:

 

-Best Examples:

 

 

http://www.churchplantmedia.com/abo…hat-we-do/
- I really like this one with the except menu on left

 

 

http://www.southridgechurch.ca/about/C1
http://www.citybiblechurch.org/p/87…fault.aspx

 

This contest was originally listed in multiple categories:
- Logo Design
- Web Page Design