Design a polished, professional website for an innovative new documentation platform

Technology

Antora is an Open Source software platform that makes it easy for technical writers and software developers from anywhere in the world to create, maintain, and collaborate on documentation sites. Suggested tagline: The multi-repository documentation site generator for tech writers who love writing in AsciiDoc.

https://antora.org

We don't want our software to be outdone or overlooked because the design is lacking. We're looking for a sharp, easy to read, tech-modern project site that allows our software platform to go shoulder to shoulder with contemporaries. We aren't necessary looking to create a new genre here, though individuality is certainly welcomed. We just need the site to be put together so we can look the part. The existing project site (and logo) look like they were thrown together quickly (by a developer) because they were. We'd like to avoid a corporate look, so let's steer away from corporate blue and green. Instead, we want something that looks tech-modern, easy to read and understand, but still has playfulness to it. We see us shooting for something most similar to gitbook.com (without the corporate blue and green) and gohugo.io. We're not afraid of color. We've been using purple for the existing logo and we're thinking we'd like to build on that color. See the attached diagram for ideas about other colors. If you plan to incorporate the existing logo into the design, don't be afraid to apply a tint to it. Once the site design is complete, the logo will be redesigned in the same style, so don't incorporate the existing logo too heavily (if at all). In general, we're looking for a big hero with a colored background above the fold, a transparent navigation bar along the top, visually discrete sections below the fold to cover additional information, and a large but simple footer for branding and resources.

Home page: We want a home page with a catchy, uncluttered "above the fold". It should prominently feature either screenshots from the expo or the logo, display a brief description, and communicate the latest version. (The call to action is to either download/install or learn more). The above the fold should also include a primary navigation bar to get to other pages, such as the Docs, Expo, Resources, social media accounts, etc. Below the fold, we want to showcase key users, behavior, and features. The idea is to give the visitor the impression of what Antora is going to do for you and how broadly it's adopted. We have plenty of content already, which you can pull from the existing project site (https://antora.org) or the docs (https://docs.antora.org). The information is just too dense. We think icons and/or illustrations would help make information about the features, benefits, and audience easier to consume. Expo page: A key part of selling Antora is showcasing who else is using it and how. We'd like a nicely designed expo (aka gallery) that showcases each key rollout. There should be room for commentary so we can explain what the visitor should pay attention to or why we think the usage is interesting. The initial list will include: Couchbase - https://docs.couchbase.com, Mulesoft - https://docs.mulesoft.com, Antora - https://docs.antora.org, Asciidoctor - https://asciidoctor-docs.netlify.com, Rudder - https://docs.rudder.io, Across - https://across.foreach.be/documentation, and Fedora - https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/f29/. Resources page: As the ecosystem grows, there are going to be a lot of different places to go. This page lays out where everything is located. It should be organized in a directory style that includes source repositories, plugins, docs, communication channels (chat and issue tracker), related projects (such as Asciidoctor, Handlebars, Algolia docsearch, etc), social media accounts, key adopters (drawn from the expo).

Avoid corporate blue and green. Let's make a splash! We aren't afraid of trying colors off the beaten path like purple and orange. Let's stay away from dropdown menus in the primary navigation bar. We'd also like to avoid caraousels for primary content, though they are okay for resources (like the groupings of source repositories) to save space in the footer.

The current logo is going to be redesigned, but not as part of this contest. Either don't incorporate it, or tint it to fit with the design, keeping in mind that it will change. We don't see stock photography fitting well with this site (as it can come across as artificial in this context). The one exception is a mountain peak. Antora is the name of a mountain peak in Colorado (see https://listsofjohn.com/img/1/400.jpg). If you'd like to try to incorporate stock of a snow-capped peak that looks similar, give it a shot. But it's not a requirement.

Every design category has flexible pricing for all budgets. Web page design starts at MX$11,399.