Drawar Thread: Front page design for businesses

Front page design for businesses

bobbyh — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:25:52

OK, Oli, I gave it a stab. The production values are real low here (I just did this in Photoshop during a break from work), but here are some ideas encapsulated in a mockup.

I'll note a few random things:

The new red color is from the red color in the photo of their sign. Come to think of it, maybe that red color is just a faded version of the red you used. Well, you get the idea... :-)
I made your "bubbles" into "tabs"
I broke up your longish list of bullet points into several short lists that each go into their own category

I'm not happy with this, but perhaps there are elements in this mockup that you might like... Let me know what you think!

Front page design for businesses

brandonrichards — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:56:14

You could hire a designer to help you.

Front page design for businesses

coolbox — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:53:34

I loike your choice of colors, good work on that one! I also like the icons you have used too they are pretty cool.

With regards to the structure, i find it useful just putting togther some basic shapes in photoshop and moving them all around until i like something and then i pad it all out a bit more with detail. Normally takes like 10/11 iterations until i have something i really like.

Ill be interested to see this when its done!

Front page design for businesses

wrttnwrd — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:59:14

I agree with Mango on the info about the people: The people make the difference. What's the personality of this business? Is it super-friendly? Do they have toys for kids? Serve coffee while you're waiting?

That's the kind of stuff that can often clinch a deal.

Front page design for businesses

MangoFalls — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 06:44:25

If a decent portion of their business is used car sales I'd suggest adding a a dedicated block of content that explains what the offer and perhaps a featured car for sale.

The more I look at what you have in progress I wonder if you might be best off using horizontal blocks of content that span the entire width and lose that left hand car list. For example, if repair is their bread and butter have that be the top content block followed by auto sales and then a section about their location etc.

Also if it's a family style business I think a section about the people who work their would be a nice touch. Seeing the face and bio of the service writer, owner, mechanic is something that breaks the ice.

Front page design for businesses

fuscom — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 06:06:38

Oli --

I just did a quick Google for "family owned car repair", and while I didn't find anything with award winning designs, what I did see pretty consistently (especially for businesses that have been around a while) was history and stories and pictures of the family...

Color scheme wise, I saw a lot of blue and yellow, which by the way is the color scheme of B&C's offices according to the first photo on your workshops page.

So you don't have to get all artsy. Just get them to tell you their story and let you in on their history. That's really all the "emotion" you need that will get all the "selling, honesty and integrity" points in there. Mix that in with your "data" and you're good to go.

Front page design for businesses

ender — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:51:46

no, you don't convince them of it ... but if you make the effort at it, they do respond and more of them tend to be willing to keep looking. you're getting them to stick around a bit longer ... not *convince* them.

Front page design for businesses

Ozone42 — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:29:36

You're not going to convince someone you're trustworthy/family/happy feelgoodfuzzy over the web.

Personality is one thing, selling honesty, integrity, etc is another.

Front page design for businesses

ender — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:29:25

what kind of pictures do you have to work with? how about some pictures of the first location back in the 70s? A small flash "movie" going through the evolution of the site might be a good way to build up the brand and history and trust. look at us, we've been around a while and we're not going to disappear any time soon. in fact, that type of flash piece could cover many of the bullet points.

the map can be a good touch, but i'm not sure you *need* it on the front page. and i would recommend a custom map drawn for you instead of a cut-out of another map.

i think one way to think about layout can be seen on winesource.com ... they've worked a lot of stuff into the small space "above the fold."

ozone has a LOT of really good points. i'm afraid my brain is a "do it" rather than a "describe it" type of brain so i'm just fighting the urge to design the page for you! lol

Front page design for businesses

fuscom — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:22:52

I can dig that Oli, but don't over think my statement. You don't need to be an artist. You just need to find a little empathy.

Obviously I don't know anything about your situation, but if it's feasible, I'd spend a little time in their environment. Watch how they work and interact with their customers. Try to capture what you experience and design (or develop) it on to the site.

Even great developers can elicit emotion by opening their eyes and stepping out of their shoes and it those of their clients. It's one of those things that make functional design, truly functional in all respects.

You may be all logical like that, but I've been around and read some of your other posts -- you got the passion for others, you just need to apply it here as well.

Maybe garage websites do have little personality. Maybe that's a problem, cause families with 30 years of business in the same place, usually are full of personality.

Front page design for businesses

Oli — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:00:26

Bottom line -- less logic (ie "data") more emotion.

Argl... Does not compute!

But seriously, I know what you mean but please understand: I'm a developer 100 times more than an artist. I'm much more comfortable with functional design and data presentation. I'm not saying I can't do it, just if I did, it would likely be an accident =)

If you can find any little used-car garages with a website in the style of a VW ad, I'd be interested to see. Most of the websites for garages around here have less personality than my big toe.

And Ozone: Yeah the content currently displayed on the front page is from the last design. It's just there as it was to fill the space for now.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the "for work" aspect. Could you just explain that bit?

I think, between you, you're onto something. The current page has a very basic premise: just get the data to the user. There's no priority, it doesn't address what people would like to do when they land on it and it has no personality, something that a small family-run business should really be overflowing with.

Front page design for businesses

Ozone42 — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:52:38

I like the frame, hate the text/picture layout within. It's not immediately apparrent that the list of car makes is clickable and leads to an inventory.

Whenever I design a site, I try to think as a customer. Who are potential B&C Motors customers. What do they want? Try to think outside of them as just B&C's customers as well. If you were a customer of B&C or their competitors, what would you want to know, what is most important?

Your main bullet points

Family business
Established over 30 years
Extensive forecourt and showroom
Over 50 cars from leading manufacturers in stock
Fully workshop facilities
On site parking
5 Miles north of Cambridge
Easy access from the A14 and M11
Open 7 days per week

from the list, I'd guess you have two main categories of customers, those buying an auto, and those that need work done on it. If I'm buying an auto, I don't care that you're family run or established for 30 years. I do care how many cars you have, and how to get there. I also care what they are.

For work, I might care that you're family run. I do care that you've been around for 30 years. I don't care about your forecourt or showroom.

I was looking for a local example to me, and found one in the UK, I am amused. Denton Motors It's a slightly different angle to what you need to communicate with your site, but close. I like how they have their schedule small and easy to read over to the side. It's easy to find but it doesn't take up the main focus any.

If I were doing this site, my front page would be a very brief about us in more of a prose style. Three or four sentance paragraph. Then I'd have the info everyone wants to know (hours, contact info, location) with the info people may want to know secondary, and leading to a more detailed page. This way you could focus on people that want to buy, and people that want work done.

I'd probably try first to throw the photos over on the right, and restructure the main text content to balance it better (not just a list.) The mini map should probably be it's own sub-page with how to get there instructions. Certainly have the address on the front, but not everyone will need the map.

Ok, I know that's really rambling, but I was trying to get my thoughts out as they occured. Hopefully it can give a little help and maybe cue other ideas in your own head.

Front page design for businesses

fuscom — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:48:06

The first thing I would recommend is looking beyond the surface of what they sell (garage services and automobiles) and more into what they're really trying to sell, which is established in the first 2 bullet points -- family owned, 30 years established.

What they're selling here is trust, reliability, community, friendliness, quality and history. Combine that now with what people usually associate with cars. It's not garages, but rather freedom, personality and even love if you've seen the latest round of VW ads.

Think less about the garage and more about the experiences they as a business help their customer to attain. You might find some motivation there.

Bottom line -- less logic (ie "data") more emotion.

Front page design for businesses

Oli — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:29:09

I'm trying to do a design for a garage at the moment and I'm hitting a wall that I never really expected to run into. I don't have a clue how to lay the front page out.

You see I'm more of a developer than designer but I know how to achieve any look with CSS I set my heart on... the problem is I don't know what I want.

The data that needs to be displayed is pretty simple:

Introduction about the garage (where they are, what they sell, how long they've been about, etc) in bullets or prose.
A picture showing the forecourt
Opening hours
A map

This is data nigh on identical in type to what must be billions of other business websites yet I can't find any good examples to get inspiration from.

Here's the design-in-progress to give you a rough idea of the data again and where it needs to fit in.

Because they sell used cars, the stock listing is very fluid and it's not worth putting selected cars on the front page. I just thought I'd shoot that idea down now. =)

And to make it worth your effort, or at least for me to show my appreciation, I'll give out 10 points for each plausible example or suggestion. I hear points are going to mean something again in Ali2 but getting this design finished means more to me than my points.

Thanks in advance =)