Term Project Final Write-Up
The following is an explanation of my creation of a fictitious start-up company, Vashro Consulting, and designing a website to anchor it.
Launch
For my term project, I built a business consulting website. I have never done anything like this before so I took it one step at a time. The first thing I decided I needed to do was create a logo. To do this, I needed to determine what software program I was going to use to build this website. I chose Microsoft Publisher. I opened the program, and started a blank page.
Key Demographic
My key demographic is small businesses that need assistance solving a problem or challenge they run into. It could also be a small business that needs outside assistance during a major change in their organization. It could also be a small business that needs someone to track progress and lead teams during projects. The needs are endless.
Competition
The competition is strong. There are thousands of business consulting firms out there. Vashro Consulting will position themselves in the market as a company who has extreme talent, who is incredibly accessible, and has very reasonable rates.
Brand
A strong brand is such a pivotal aspect of any business today. The tone in Vashro Consulting’s brand that will appeal to its audience is its simplicity, accessibility and expert talent and website. The tagline for the company is passionate about your success. Everything with Vashro Consulting exemplifies excellence in talent and service.
Research
Since I have never design a webpage before, I thought it would be in my best interest to do research at what other companies have done before I design my own. I looked at several consulting websites and the two that were most compelling to me were http://www.accenture.com/, and http://www.sakson.com/ .
What I liked most about Accenture’s website was the large picture on their home page. As I learned in class, a large photo works like white space. When you reach the site’s home page, you get a good feel for the company by looking that picture and reading a few taglines that accompany it.
What drew me in for Saxon & Taylor’s website was its simplicity. Almost the entire website was accessible through their homepage. The page is very small and entirely fits in on one window, no scrolling down. There isn’t anything fancy about the site, just function.
Design
I chose navy blue for the color of my logo for a few reasons. First, it is a strong powerful color. It is a serious, business oriented color that has purpose. Next is my logo. That logo represents a large part of my brand. Another aspect of the design of my website is simplicity and ease of usability. I used a one, two, three method. It only takes three clicks to get to the consumers endpoint (which is contact us).
Context
There is lengthy write up under each sub-heading that shares a business definition of first, what that area is and second, what Vashro Consulting can do for the consumer in that area of business. The quotes and photos on each page are nice because they work as negative space, don’t crowd the area, but still serve a strong purpose with meaningful written and visual messages. Finally, there isn’t any noise in the context, everything on the page has distinct function.
Usability
The main goal of my site was for it to be extremely simple to use. I want customers to enter the site, see their need, read about how Vashro Consulting can meet that need and be directed to human contact. I wanted to design a website with complete ease of usability. Three clicks to the endpoint without having to search for anything.
Interactive Website
Corbet Curfman from Riverbed Design explains that an interactive website should be efficient, transparent (simple), receptive and responsive, and supportive. My website offers all of these things. It is efficient because the user has only three clicks until he or she reaches the end (contact us). It is transparent/simple because each page hand feeds the user’s needs or desires without the need to visually search for anything. It is responsive and receptive in that if you click on email, he or she can reach someone in the company almost immediately 18 hours a day. Finally, there is supportive. Varhroconsulting.com is a website that is all about support. Clients come to our site with a problem, see that there is constructive accessible assistance, and call to get the business support they need.
Conclusion
This process has been very challenging and educational. One day I would like to use a software program to re-build my website piece by piece making each element stand on its own allowing me to use links. As for Vashro Consulting, this was a great start at creating a real start-up company. Maybe one day it will become a reality.
