When a client wants a clean simple site, that does not mean less work. The pressure is on to create a subtle site of precision and quality. In this piece, it is the little details that add the sophistication. Project Overview: I created a site for the Riverbend Capital Advisors through my partnership with Seraph Technology Solutions. The main capital advisor, Tom Hession, was re-branding his company and needed a new site. With many years of experience, and a large client list, Tom needed a site that portrayed the stability and growth that his clients found through his services. He wanted the site to be simple though. The content, page structure, and layout are indeed simple. But the interactivity and design details subtly portray the quality of the brand. See the site: www.riverbendcapitaladvisors.com Project Details: A Question of Branding: The idea behind the company name was Tom’s love of the water, specifically the Chicago River. Plus it makes for a great metaphor of investing. Clients need help foreseeing the path beyond the next bend in the river. Who knows what lies beyond. Riverbend Capital Advisors act as a river guide to the torrential waters of the investment market. In their capable hands, the twists and turns of economic boons and downturns seem like still waters. On this project, I worked with Jennifer Lunz, a skilled graphic designer. Jennifer helped create a logo for the Riverbend brand. Jennifer did a great job portraying this concept in the logo. I worked with Jennifer and the client to choose the colors, patterns, and layout of the pages that would best support this conceptual branding. Complexity to the Simplicity Despite the desire to have a simple site, I wanted this site to be more than a plain white corporate homepage. Riverbend clients were not children learning about investing, they were successful and wealthy people looking to maintain their success. They were used to steak dinners, cigars, exotic places, nice cars – all things of quality. So I figured tight lines, patterns, gradients, and interesting interactivity could be a nice subtle touch. To keep the simplicity, there would be no drop-down menus, no aggregated content, no banner rotator element or accordion or flyout to show information. And initially, I wanted a rather monotone site too. This was the main change: after talking about branding (see above), we decided to have some complexity through subtle use of tan and blue. The Subtle Details I really like the subtlety and complexity within the simple setup. I hope the audience barely notices what is going on. Apple OS has a similar subtle interactivity, and people rarely even notice. How about you? Do you see the following… Notice how clicking from page-to-page animates a move? Do you see the horizontal line drop...