We’re seeking a web home page design and one sub-page design for Elixir, a coffeehouse by day and wine bar by night, located in an upscale mixed-use community. The look we're going for with the place is what we call, "faded elegance". Please read the brief in full and view the materials before submitting. Thanks for your interest!

Brand Name

Elixir

Description

The Business

At just under 3,000 square feet, Elixir is more than double the size of a good sized Starbucks and is a destination location. We’ll serve artisanal coffees and pastries in the mornings, salads and sandwiches during the day, and wine, cheeses, and a tapas style menu at night. Evenings will feature art showings and performances by local musicians.

It’s the kind of place where residents of the development and the local community can hang out, have a latte, read a newspaper, or enjoy local art and music.

While the project is located 10 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, you’ll want to draw on a more urban, New York flavor, and avoid anything that says Las Vegas.

The vibe is “urban upscale”, while remaining approachable, warm, and inviting.

Our Customers

Elixir will be located in ManhattanWest, a mixed-use community featuring 700 residences, shops, restaurants, offices, and a hotel. Customers will typically be evenly split male and female, 25-55, professional, singles or younger couples, and empty nesters.

It’s not necessary, or even desirable, to match to the ManhattanWest brand for this website. Just as New York has a wide range of businesses and styles in a given area, this project will as well, and the site should have its own identity completely separate from ManhattanWest.

You will want to incorporate and draw inspiration the representation of our logo as seen here.

You'll find a transparent EPS of the logo here.

We like the colors and background used in it and they’d make a great background/accent for the site.

Description

We describe the look we’re going for as “faded elegance” taken over and invigorated by a youthful energy. Think early 1970’s Mercedes convertibles, before they started getting squared off… The theme is elegant, but not stuffy, leather that’s acquired a rich patina and actually looks better with wear, oriental rugs that look better now than they did when they were new 100 years ago.

While it’s elegance, because it’s “faded”, it’s warm and approachable.

Another good analogy is a really well done loft conversion. Taking an old, elegant building, repurposing it, bringing back its glow, and giving it fresh character.

We’re looking for a site that feels independent and original, rather than a rehash of Starbucks or another chain. To get a better idea what the business and the space are about, you’ll want to watch our brief video at:

http://www.manhattanwest.com/content/?c=56#videos

You can also draw on the colors and style of the space and furnishings as shown in the PDF you'll find a link for at:

Elixir PR/PDF

This PDF provides an overview of the exterior and interior space, furnishings, and colors for the business.

Note: The Cappuvino name and the type treatment on the PDF are not at all what we're looking for. You'll want to just use the finishes, furnishings, and space for inspiration and ignore that name and style.

As long as your concept fits the branding, don’t feel limited by the PDF. Also note that the floors will be dark hardwood- this isn’t shown in the file.

            Navigation:

            We need to have the following menu options in the nav bar:

            Coffee

            Wine

            Liquor

            Menu

            Events

            Contact

            Location

The home page should have the main nav, an area where we can have roughly 100-200 words of copy without it looking out of place (good for SEO),

and at least one larger space that can be used for a flash slideshow with images of the space, the food, coffee, wine, etc… We don’t have these shots yet- feel free to use stock images for placement…if we like them we may purchase them, so check please istock or a comparably priced site first..

We don’t have a large development budget for this project, so while any thoughts on flash are welcome, the site has to be pretty easy and cost effective to build.