It’s with great excitement that I’m beta launching a redesigned web site at www.altimetergroup.net today. I welcome your feedback before I port the main altimetergroup.com site over to the new design on Friday.
The site was designed by Horn Group, a digital communications agency (disclosure: Horn Group is a client and they were paid for their work on the site). The goal of the site is to provide more information about Altimeter, the services being offered, and also be a home for The Altimeter blog. My favorite gee-whiz feature — the rotating tag cloud sphere on the home page.
A big shout out goes to the Horn Group team for the pushing me to adopt an innovative design, porting it to WordPress, and most importantly, being patient with me!
If you have any feedback on the site, I would love to know about it. What do you like, or dislike? What content am I missing? Please leave them in the comments below or send via email to charlene (at) altimetergroup (dot) com.
You’ll also note that I’m finally using the logo that I had designed on crowdspring.com last fall. The Horn Group team keyed the design of the Web site off the name and logo, giving the site a sense of flight.
The logo project on crowdSPRING received 146 entries and I gave feedback to every design because I was grateful that these designers took the time to submit a concept. In the end, I gave two awards of $400 each because I needed more time to decide between the two winning designs.
Both designs were done by professional designers, which was a surprise to me – a common misconception is that it’s students and creatives just starting out that use the crowdsourcing sites. The first award (see the logo to the left) went to Orbis, a creative designer who specializes in logo and brand development. The second award for the logo I eventually chose was done by ANV, who has a day job as the creative director for an ad agency — he participates in crowdspring to “keep his design chop up”.
I wanted to provide some background on the two different approaches I took to designing the logo and site, especially as the NO!SPEC community has taken umbrage with my use of crowdSPRING. I believe there is a time and place for different approaches to brand marketing and design. In relation to logos, I have done projects that ranged from an agency-led, tens of thousands of dollars logo and branding for a new online product to paying LogoWorks a few hundred dollars for a few designs. For the scope of my logo needs, I had a clear sense of the brand and didn’t need all of the support that a formal branding and logo process required — I just needed a good logo that met the detailed specs I provided with the project.
But when it came to Web site design, a different type of relationship was needed, one that was much more collaborative requiring an ongoing relationship. That is the reason I decided to work with Horn Group, a team that understands how to use social media, Web design, and also author promotion. Left to my own devices, I would have veered toward a more traditional design. But the relationship with Horn — and the trust I developed in them over the engagement — gave me the confidence to try a different approach. And I love it!
There is a time and place for crowdsourcing design, and I would definitely use sites like crowdSPRING again. But they do not spell the death of agencies or creative designers, as the iterative, collaborative process is still very much needed and alive.
I hope you’ll take a moment to visit the new site at altimetergroup.net and let me know what you think.
I like the blog. It’s always a challenge because blogs are inherently boring looking. Plus, you have a reputation that should be reflected in a wowee type of way. You’re a visionary so your blog should convey future/leading edge/tech.
I actually prefer the second logo. for me the “Alti” is a little lost and the “meter” part jumps out. The “A” actually disappears for me. I also like the graphic because it more closely resembles an altimeter instrument and it is pointing up (good).
A suggestion: put the logos of the “my sites” links on the upper left. Maybe even avatars or logos next to some of your blog posts. make it look a little “Twitter like”. You’re a visionary…make it exciting!
Hi Charlene,
First off I would like to say thank you for Groundswell. I am in the middle of reading it and it has been quite helpful.
I like the new site design, but do have the following recommendations. First, your twitter stream is a live index to your blog postings; as such I think it should be higher up on the page design. I think it would have more impact if you put it in a three-column wide box just below the logo and quote section.
Second, I don’t see your “My Sites” listing anymore. I liked that feature on your current blog. Additionally, if you do put that feature on your new site I would recommend adding the rel=”me” tag to power your social graph profile (e.g., Google social graph api http://bit.ly/WFw0y).
Finally, have you thought about adding Disqus or Backtype as a commenting system?
Cheers,
Ken
Hi Charlene
I like the look of the new site as well. The recommendations I have are similar to above. I think you should try a few of the following:
1) move your description under your photo so that it is persistent but does not block your recent content
2) make the twitter stream more visible
3) I would flip the two boxes on the right side – show people where you are, and put the “give-aways” lower.
4) Make the menus more visible. I am a big believer that menus that come above the logo disappear, and it took me a while to see the depth of the site these menus bring. If you can bring them closer to the content they will integrate more with the homepage
5) Add a video of yourself speaking. Ideally, add some videos and Slide Share presentations to bring forward youyr perspectives (just overview stuff, obviously).
Just a few thoughts…looks great! I agree with the Greg, the second logo is the better one.
David
Hi Charlene,
I love the new site! It creates a feeling of relationship and trust, which so in keeping with your philosophy. My favorite part is your values listed on the About page.
I agree that you could move some boxes from the right to the left to bring up the Twitter feed. But I think the top menus are fine. If anything they are a kayak problem – you may not see them at first, but they are easily found and used so the problem goes away. Plus I love the quotes and think it’s better to highlight them.
Only other critique I would have is that the blog posts seem a little tight – would be nice to give them more room/bigger pictures, at least on the individual post pages.
I like the first logo better. The “A” doesn’t disappear for me, and I have no idea what a real altimeter looks like but the first logo looks like some kind of instrument and the second one doesn’t at all. I think the crowdsourcing was a great idea. I found that doing the logo for Weightcircles was extremely hard – it was very difficult to get designers to create something that met my (very high) expectations. I would definitely try crowdsourcing if I had to design a logo again!
Interesting article, Charlene. Thank you.
charlene, i completely agree with david on the recommendation to add a video window. start with archives of speaking engagements and presentations, and in a short while altimergroup.tv might emerge — an open window into the insights and best practices you convey in everything you do…or something like that! site is clean, crisp, and engaging — i’m a total fan of the color blue — but i’d like to see more of your personality…it leans a degree or two too far to the professional from a look and feel perspective. maybe have a mini-prius scoot along the nav bar, or a picture of ben pop up unexpectedly when you scroll over personal info…
I love your new site Charlene. It’s my new standard for clean, clear and warm.
I used crowdSPRING for my logo and business cards which I used as elements in my web design. I liked their process and services a lot. Some of my graphic designer friends challenged me on using this service but backed off a bit when I asked them when was the last time they bought something off of E-Bay or Craigslist.
The nice feng shui look and feel of your site (uncluttered) with easy access to navigatgion make it a winner in my books. I will strive for similar looks when I do my next redesign.
Brent MacKinnon
Charlene I think it is a great design strong image related with name
Regards, from Spain and ideas4all