Here is a link to the finished and uploaded website:
Finished Website
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Visitor’s Project
Competitor:
I am the CEO of a competing large wool corporation. What I am here to look for is their pricing, how they present themselves and to find out more about their history. Since this appears to be a small organization, they only have the bare essentials of what the site needs which does make it easier to navigate. I was able to find their prices with one click. I can see that they target their products mostly to small organizations and maybe to individual consumers so I don’t think I would have very much interest in doing business with them.
Consumer:
I am a grandmother looking to purchase some organic wool so I can knit my grandson a sweater. With one click, I was able to find what Mary & Lambs charges for their wool. I also like the colours and sizes they offer. I think it would be better if they provided a map to their location. I like how they want me to call them to place an order. It allows for a more personal shopping experience. I also visited their “About Us” section and I’m happy to find that they value their animals and treat them well. I will gladly buy from Mary & Lambs again.
Fabric Mill:
I have a medium sized, family run fabric mill. We produce wool clothing and toys for children and today I am looking to switch to an organic wool provider. When I visit the Mary & Lambs website I am looking for their prices and what else they offer. I easily found their variety of colours and their pricing. The sizes are not sufficient for our business but hopefully I can manage to convince them to make some changes and we can form a partnership.
Images(additional)
Here are some extra images we have gathered for the site.
Site Skeleton
We have begun coding the webiste. We are starting with the basic HTML structure and then we will style it with CSS. As of right now we are working on the HTML. We have most of the images placeholders set and the navigation links have been created.
Here is a preview of what the site looks like so far in Firefox.
…and in Dreamweaver
…and this is the code we have so far. \/
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd”>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″>
<title>Mary & Lambs</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id=”container”>
<div id=”header”>
<div id=”navigation”>
<ul>
<li><a href=”home.html” title=”Home Page”>Home</a></li>
<li><a href=”#” title=”About Us”>About Us</a></li>
<li><a href=”https://teamcrushhh.wordpress.com/” title=”Blog”>Blog</a></li>
<li><a href=”#” title=”Products”>Products</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id=”headerImage”>
<img name=”headerimage” src=”” width=”787″ height=”402″ alt=”” style=”background-color: #669999″>
</div>
</div>
<div id=”boxes”>
<div id=”ourPoducts”>
<img name=”snowboarder” src=”” width=”230″ height=”83″ alt=”” style=”background-color: #993333″>
<h2>Our Products</h2>
<p>Our Australian Wool is some of the finest out there! Home grown sheep in the feilds of wild Australia, you know you’re getting the best of the best!</p>
</div>
<div id=”aboutUs”>
<img name=”snowboarder” src=”” width=”230″ height=”83″ alt=”” style=”background-color: #993333″>
<h2>About Us</h2>
<p>Founded by Mary Lamb in 2005, Mary’s Wool began in her backyard with a little Sheep. Farms followed, production grew and after operating for over 5 years, Mary’s Lambs produced over 500 lbs per year of wool.</p>
</div>
<div id=”news”>
<img name=”snowboarder” src=”” width=”230″ height=”83″ alt=”” style=”background-color: #993333″>
<h2>News</h2>
<p>Mary & Lambs is proud be be the new sponsor of professional snowboarder Serg Mctague! This is a big step towards speading a wide awareness about our brand and our values.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Mary & Lamb animation
Site Elements
Upon the initial development of the site elements, the team realized that the original colour scheme did not work well at all. For an organization like Mary & Lambs, we needed to express a sense of organic and uncontaminated purity so we decided to go with a toned down and peaceful white and grey colour scheme with pale red accents.
The buttons will be simple text with no background and the dividers will appear as soft indentations in the site’s background.
The actual background of the site will make the container div appear to be lifted off of the website.
Week 5
Today we took Sumit’s recommendation from project management and listed all of the tasks that we will need to complete throughout the entire Mary & Lambs project.
After we completed this, we began the search for images and text for the website and downloaded a colour scheme from Kuler.
We also created a basic site wireframe:
Our theme color :
Images:
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Text:
-About Us
Mary Lamb is founded in 2005, Mary’s Wool began in her backyard with a little Sheep. Farms followed, production grew and after operating for over 5 years, Mary’s Lambs produced over 500 lbs per year of wool.
Mary’s Lambs is at the forefront of the organic wool farmers industry in Australia by importing raising new lambs, production techniques and processing technologies. The business now employs over 10 people with an in-house training system covering all aspects of the business.
Despite the inherent difficulties that come with maintaining a busy, expanding livestock business in an urban environment, animal welfare and livestock health remain two of the highest priorities for the business, with staff training in animal husbandry – an important aspect of the business.
Mary’s lambs plays an active role in the organic wool industry and its local community, sponsoring local teams, races, charities and raising awareness of how important natural organic fibers are for our planet – not to mention proper animal care.
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Organic wool
Mary & Lambs expects the organic wool market to grow rapidly. The market is now driven not just by health concerns, but also by animal rights campaigners, increased awareness of the positive environmental benefits of organic agriculture, and by the new association of organic with fashion and media cool.
Wool is a natural textile made from the fleece of sheep. According the Organic Trade Association, wool can only be certified organic if its production meets federal standards. Federal requirements for organic livestock production include:
- Livestock feed and forage used from the last third of gestation must be certified organic;
- Use of synthetic hormones and genetic engineering is prohibited;
- Use of synthetic pesticides (internal, external, and on pastures) is prohibited, and
- Producers must encourage livestock health through good cultural and management practices.
Week 4
In this class, the team completed and submitted the final draft of the Mary & Lambs logo.
We also began laying out the wireframe of the website. We decided to go with the basic website layout – navigation on top of a big image with three or four smaller divs underneath, followed by the footer.
Within the next week, an actual photoshop wireframe will be produced.
Week 3
In class, the team discussed the logo and agreed on the final design. It is currently being finalized for next class.
We also had the opportunity to write a proposal of how we would sell our team to Mary & Lambs.
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Company Background
Crush is a design firm based in Toronto, Ontario. Crush was founded in 2000 by Akiko Nakada, Martin Howitt and Jordan Alamilla. We started this design firm after graduating working together on a website for Jansport and realizing our potential as a team. Every member has had a vast exposure to multiple aspects of the new media industry including web design and development, video production, 2D and 3D animation, sound engineering and project management.
Team Members
Akiko Nakada
With experience in sales, Akiko knows how to sell your brand. A quick confab can provide Akiko with a solid understanding of your business. She can then emphasize your positives and strengths and develop a strong case for you. She will be responsible for providing the copy for your website and the information architecture.
Martin Howitt
A strong understanding of design fundamentals, typography and human perception provide Martin with everything he needs to create a strong design for your website. With previous web design experiences include work with Nike, McDonalds and Yoplait Canada, Martin knows how to make your site work for you.
Jordan Alamilla
Graduating top of his class from the Computer Programming program at Humber, Jordan has a vast knowledge of programming languages. HTML5, ActionScript 3, PHP, Javascript, C++ and XML are just a few of the languages he exceeds in. Whatever the design requires, Jordan can bring it to life.
Experience
Crush has had ample experience working with large and small businesses. We have worked with large companies such as Vans, Hanes, Activia and Dairy Farmers of Ontario to help improve their online identities. Working with clothing and farming companies makes us confident that we can satisfy and understand the needs of Mary & Lambs.
Competitors
Competitors of Crush include other local Toronto-based design firms such as 3magine, Climax Media, Kinex Media and Silent Blast. Our competitors don’t come close to matching Crush. We have spent a lot of time using each of our vast experiences to develop an infallible method of questioning and interviewing to get the right information from our clients so we can build the strongest possible website.
Goals
Our main goal is to help our clients improve their online identities and thus, bring in more business. When you have Crush working for you, your priorities become our priorities.
Mary & Lambs // Week 2
Unfortunately, Martin fell ill and was unable to come to class. Akiko and Jordan discussed logo suggestions and answered the following inquiries:
Core purpose – To spread awareness of the strategies and benefits of using organic wool.
Vision – to spread our methods and promote organic production to other local businesses.
Mission – we take part in sponsorships and charities and participate in local community events to spread our values.
Values – Animal health and welfare, keeping natural traditions alive
Position (how we are different) – In order to continue manufacturing top quality wool, we constantly make sure that our animals are happy and healthy.
Positioning Statement (How we say we are different) – Ethical treatment of animals is our highest priority.
Character – We try our best to spread awareness of proper animal care in the local community through sponsorships and charities.
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Jordan developed a basic idea for a logo that could serve as a foundation to expand upon through discussion between all team members.
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Akiko and Jordan developed the first logo concept, pulling big inspiration from illustrations by Steven Noble: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Logo-Identities-Illustrated-by-Steven-Noble/6483195
We feel that this style will fit well with the organic and natural aspect of Mary & Lambs.
During the next meeting, Akiko and Jordan will gather input from Martin and all team members will collaborate to expand further on the development of the logo.
teamcrushhh 