This project had a very short time frame, my client contacted me six weeks before the event. In that time frame, we went through several design iterations before the final version.

The first specification was for a one-page website that would announce this Halloween party event to a sophisticated San Francisco audience. There would be many other (highly publicized) adult-themed Halloween events competing for same audience.

My first design copied the “feel” of these competitor sites, but before I got past the first draft, the client specified a new first priority:  create a promotional flyer (for both print and online use). My directions were to create a sultry ambiance, with figures in shadows and orange/black Halloween colors.

The flyer shown left/above is the result. The client liked it so much that he told me to redo the website design “to look just like the flyer.” The screenshot shown right/below is the resulting one-page website.

Of course the website does not have the fixed layout of a print flyer, but adjusts its layout intelligently to accommodate various devices and screen sizes. The “orange smoke” background from the flyer was reprocessed into an image that could be tiled seamlessly across any size browser window without any change to image magnification. The devil-guy and sultry-woman images float in front of this background and will resize and/or re-position depending on the browser viewport size.

Ticket sales for the event were managed by Eventbrite.com, where I set up the account and created the event listing for my client, complete with graphics and promotional messaging. I also consulted with my client on the set-up and messaging for an  AdWords campaign to promote this event.

As I mentioned, I constructed the visual design according to the client’s specifications. I made a quick “preview” build of the site according to the original specs for client’s feedback and approval. Then we decided on the second design as a much better embodiment of the “sultry” mood (and less like a costume carnival.)

Here’s that first design. Note the attention to detail even though this was meant as a rough proof of concept.