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Vivid Color Zack
07-02-2009, 12:26 PM
Hi guys,

Our new site is up and running. Just wanted to get some opinions. It's much much more flat and bland than the old site, but I think taking a step back from the casual "buddy" approach is necessary for us to change our target market (brokers) and I think we have a pretty good thing.

If anything seems grossly out of place please let me know I appreciate any and all feedback.

Thanks!

Vivid Color - Simple Printing, Wholesale to the Trade (http://www.vividcolor.com)

KristineS
07-02-2009, 12:34 PM
It is more sedate than your old site, but it looks clean and sharp. Things are also easy to find. I know when we purchase printing I hate to hunt for things, particularly when I'm just looking for price quotes. Your information pops up right away which is nice.

The one question I would have, and it is very minor, is about your contact page. You have your street address and phone number there, which is great, but if anyone wants to contact you via e-mail, they have to create an account first. My concern is that some people might just want to ask a quick question and aren't motivated enough to pick up the phone and call, and won't want to set up an account simply to send an e-mail. You might lose a few potential customers because of that, so I thought I would mention it.

Overall, I'd say nice job.

Vivid Color Zack
07-02-2009, 02:04 PM
Thanks!

Good point... We would completely prefer to have email as first point of contact anyway. Especially better than having someone just walk in to talk to us about all of the basic info they can get on the site. I'll look into that this afternoon.

Thanks, I'm happy to hear from you and I hold your opinion highly. I know you know your stuff and you have a lot of experience in this field.

cbscreative
07-02-2009, 04:04 PM
Looks like you accomplished your goals. Nothing stands out to me as being a problem. You may find a few issues as customers use the site, but those will probably be easy to address. Very nice job.

You had mentioned in a previous post that it was difficult for you to find a web designer that could build an effective printing site. Did you find a niche specialist? Just curious.

Vivid Color Zack
07-02-2009, 05:59 PM
We did, actually they started out as a print brokerage a while back and slipped more into web design over the years. So they knew exactly what we meant whenever we would have really specific scenarios that previous designers were unable to understand.

Happy with it so far, just need to start getting clients to use it so I can go back to the beach, haha.

vangogh
07-02-2009, 07:00 PM
The site looks very professional, but I am going to make a plea to add more color. I don't think it has to be over the top, but I think you really need more than the gray. The name of your site is Vivid Color after all. I think the gray sends the wrong branding message. Your name says one thing, but your site is saying the opposite.

You can still maintain a professional and corporate feel with color.

Your sidebar, nav bar, and footer are all using #515151 as the background color. Give it some blue. Make it #515161 and it'll still be close to gray, but it'll bump up the blue some. You can still appeal to your market with some color.

dynocat
07-02-2009, 09:31 PM
I agree with what's been said. Nice clean site. I think a more color would be good also.

Since you're targeting brokers your header image is probably appropriate. As a business owner, who could be looking for flyers, business cards, etc. it tells me nothing about your business since I don't know what it is. :)

One tiny thing is that your pop up windows have the "X" on the upper left. I'm used to seeing them on the upper right and had to look for it. That may be no big thing, just wanted to mention it.

Vivid Color Zack
07-04-2009, 02:07 AM
I agree with what's been said. Nice clean site. I think a more color would be good also.

Since you're targeting brokers your header image is probably appropriate. As a business owner, who could be looking for flyers, business cards, etc. it tells me nothing about your business since I don't know what it is. :)

One tiny thing is that your pop up windows have the "X" on the upper left. I'm used to seeing them on the upper right and had to look for it. That may be no big thing, just wanted to mention it.

That's actually partially intentional. Almost every trade printing site uses a press, and while I hate to conform, it gives my potential customers a comfortable and familiar feel.

Haha, the X on the upper left is kind of a mac thing, we didn't really do it intentionally but it's funny you mentioned it.

Vangogh, i'll try to add some color on monday, see where it takes us. Thanks for the recommendation :)

KristineS
07-04-2009, 01:36 PM
The site looks very professional, but I am going to make a plea to add more color. I don't think it has to be over the top, but I think you really need more than the gray. The name of your site is Vivid Color after all. I think the gray sends the wrong branding message. Your name says one thing, but your site is saying the opposite.



This is a good point, and it occurred to me when I first saw the site, but I was concentrating more on functionality, I guess. Vangogh is completely right, you could stand to add more color. The site will still function the same, it will just be a little brighter, which I think will fit much better with your name.

Oh, and thanks for the kind words after my first comment too.

vangogh
07-05-2009, 03:04 PM
Given the name the colors should probably be vivid, though I think you're trying to go i a different direction. The color I mentioned above is still on the drab side, but I think it would still work better than the gray.

Maybe just use vivid colors in smaller doses like for headings or links.

Vivid Color Zack
07-08-2009, 09:30 PM
We are taking very drastic options into consideration, as well as simple and clean color additions. The drastic ones are a lot of fun it looks like a mario nintendo game! lol.

We'll see where we end up, I may have a few versions to show you guys by the weekend.

vangogh
07-09-2009, 12:26 AM
Looking forward to seeing them. When I saw you post now I was hoping you'd be pointing us to something new to look at.

cbscreative
07-09-2009, 12:11 PM
Zack, it does look a bit like a Mario game, but I like it. The frog really makes it pop. I'm not crazy about your OMG caption, but I like the more "vivid" colors. I would ditch the slogan on the top too. Saying you're the best in the world is over the top even if it's true. I'm sure you can do better than that.

vangogh
07-09-2009, 12:24 PM
I hadn't realized you'd already made changes. I'm not quite sure what the frog is doing (I'm guessing the eyes with the word see), but I like the colors so much better. It still looks professional, but it's more in line with your company name.

Can't wait to see the other variations.

KristineS
07-09-2009, 12:32 PM
The frog with the popping eyes is cute. I'm with cbscreative in that I'm not in love with the OMG caption, but then I don't tend to like slang in general as it doesn't tend to last long term and everyone may not know it. You could probably do just as well without the OMG.

I'd also ditch the clouds at the top. They don't really go with the look of the rest of the site. The slogan is a little over the top too. That's a pretty big claim to make and it seems kind of boastful. I'd try for something else there.

vangogh
07-09-2009, 01:20 PM
The slogan is a little over the top. Can you really back up the claim you're the best in the world? It's also an empty claim. I'd also agree with the OMG. You did say you were trying to appeal to a more corporate market. OMG isn't going to resonate with that market. If you were trying to appeal to a younger market then sure use it, but it works counter to the market you're going after. Remember you have to speak the language of the customer. Does your target market (brokers) typically say OMG? I'm guessing not.

Vivid Color Zack
07-09-2009, 02:39 PM
I came in this morning to find my partner had gone off the deep end last night and done the "OMG" and the "we're the best in the world"

I hate it and do not approve at all, I don't know why he chose to actually go live with this version we're still talking about options and seeing what might work... Awesome...

vangogh
07-09-2009, 04:36 PM
Funny I guess, depending on you're point of view. I don't think anything there now is so horrible the world will come crashing down, but yeah, this stuff should be done behind the scenes till it's ready.

KristineS
07-09-2009, 04:38 PM
Just remember, nothing is forever. Even if something does go up, people won't remember what was there before if you change it. I will admit, it is nicer to play around behind the scenes and then only make it live when it's all done, but sometimes that doesn't happen.

billbenson
07-10-2009, 03:10 AM
Why not multiple sites. This is very different than the original. You need a corporate site, but that doesn't mean you can't have a couple for different target markets?

Vivid Color Zack
07-10-2009, 01:53 PM
That's reasonable, actually a pretty good idea. Our confusion right now is how to manage our existing retail clients and still attack the trade industry. Brokers don't like to feel like they're competing with their suppliers, and that makes sense. We do not plan to market direct to retail anymore, but we aren't cutting off our existing clients either.

The biggest difference in retail vs wholesale websites is actually that picture of the press that was on the top in the beginning. If you're a trade printer you have a press there, no matter what it seems. By straying away from that we start to make brokers question if we're really a trade printer or if we're a threat to them as well as a benefit.

This week has been crazy, I have family in town that thinks because I work for myself that I can leave work whenever I want and that I don't have a care in the world at my lovely beach office... Trying to balance that with everything else going on in life that I won't even get into has me bouncing off the walls and I'm probably not real fun to be around right now.

We'll see if I can get to anything over the weekend.

Thanks for all your advice guys I really appreciate it.

vangogh
07-10-2009, 04:41 PM
The multiple sites idea is a good one. It really can be hard to appeal to different types of markets, especially if appealing to one makes you less appealing to the other. Why not get a second domain name and tailor two different sites to each.

Another option would be have a home page that clearly differentiates paths into the sites. A big button for brokers and another for typical retail clients. If you don't want to market to retail clients any more and only want to serve your existing customers, you could offer some kind of backend where existing clients need to login to access the content. You could place that backend on a subdomain or in a folder and then either link to it from the site or never link the site to it and only give out the URL in something you provide directly to existing retail customers. Maybe a different business card or brochure or whatever way you could easily get them the info.

Vivid Color Zack
07-10-2009, 06:58 PM
Yeah we'll have to gauge the response on the broker side of things. Might not need the retail site or anything separate. We have an account manager for our retail guys right now who takes care of the majority of the work for the retail clients as it is now. They don't really need a site to use since most of their requests are so custom.