Develop web design for SoftwareTesting.net

We currently run the web site http://www.SoftwareTesting.net. We started the redesign of the site and settled on a layout we liked. We want to take this layout/design and give it a web 2.0 look/feel with far more life and energy.

http://www.softwaretesting.net

The initial design can be found here....

http://www.softwaretesting.net/index_1.jpg
http://www.softwaretesting.net/index_2.jpg
http://www.softwaretesting.net/index_3.jpg

Tag Line for the Site is:

Essential Software Testing Tools .... selected for Software Testing Professionals

This contest is guaranteed, so we are looking for something impressive and original. You only need to submit a home page for this contest, however, the winning designer may be asked to deliver an aditional 2 interior pages/themes. We do NOT need coding but the designer will have to work with our coder/developer to complete. We just want a great looking design.

We are a company that sells software testing tools to people in the software testing industry. We have three products to sell and need these products to be prominently displayed on the index page. These products could possibly be represented as product boxes or logos. The products are ...

QaTraq: http://www.testmanagement.com/index_tm_1.html

SQLDelta: http://www.sqldelta.com/downloads.html
TestAssistant: http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBTestAssistant.aspx

The following example site is in the same industry sector, and has the sort of professional look/feel that we are looking for. Although we are looking for something a bit more creative, we like the colour schemes used on this site.

http://www.applabs.com

The following site is the site we based our original design on as we like the way this site works. We like the rotating main image, the quick links on the right hand side and the prominance of the product box. We don't think it is a particlurly clean or neat site design as it looks quite fussy.....

http://www.automationanywhere.com

Below you will find some images that could be considered relevant to this sector. You can use any or none of these as you choose (we just thought they might be helpful to give you a feel for the industry).

Magnifying glass
http://www.dreamstime.com/magnifyin…age4651849

Cogs and wheels
http://www.applabs.com/html/Tooland…vices.html
Flow charts
http://www.applabs.com/html/sustena…vices.html
Stopwatch
http://images.google.com/images?gbv…80&ndsp=20
Tools
http://images.google.com/images?gbv…40&ndsp=20
Jigsaw
http://images.google.com/images?gbv…40&ndsp=20
Lightbulb
http://www.applabs.com/html/consult…vices.html

The site will be developed in Joomla where we already have the first mockup created, which can be found here...

http://svr114.edns1.com/~softtest/i…/home.html

The index page MUST enable the user/site to complete the following 5 key tasks (in order of priority)...

1. To entice potential customers to find out more about the products we sell (we aim to pitch 3 key products right up front on the index page)

2. Entice potential customers to sign up with their email address for a whitepaper/article on "Evaluating Test Tools" *

3. Provide convenient links for the following tasks:
- buy now
- learn more
- download free trials
- request a live demo
- ask an expert
- contact me

4. for existing customers to find information about using their products (e.g. link through to the Resources and Support sections of the site)

5. Maintain our good SEO rankings by displaying a 650 word article on the front page (might be difficult this one but it would be great to accommodate this in a good looking page design). *

* - we could weave the SEO article text (5) into the whitepaper signup (2) section in order to combine them. So we might consider having a block of text containing images and sign up box for the email capture to request the whitepaper/article.

There should be a main menu bar which covers....
- home
- products
- download
- purchase
- resources
- support
- blog
- company

- Joomla compatible
- Professional corporate design
- Clean and creative web 2.0 style

- No template-based deigns that looks like we've just spent $45
- No boring, non-creative designs
- No smiling people in business suits