Fun web 2.0 site for women entrepreneurs: $215 prize

A fun site for 18-45 year old women who are striving to start or run their own business and want to connect and learn from other women. We have a rough concept (see full brief) but need it executed by someone with the knack for design. Useful, specific (and sometimes blunt) feedback will be provided!

Start Up Princess

Tagline:
Make a wish, make it happen!

Desired Color Scheme:
See current site at startupprincess.com (note that we'll probably want something less formal than this, but it's good for colors)

Desired Style:
Fun/friendly/professional

Accepted File Formats:
Layered .PNG or .PSD

Resources
Rough mockup of design concept
Icons for use in design (feel free to recolor, fill in, whatever fits with your design)

Site design interview
Please list three (or more) descriptive words that reflect what your site will be about:
inspiring
teaching women to become successful entrepreneurs
encouraging
networking
PR for women entrepreneurs/interviews

Who do you hope will visit your site:
Women aged 18-45 who are striving to start or run their own business and want to connect and learn from other women in a fun upbeat environment that is inspiring creative nurturing and resourceful and informative.

What are the demographics of these potential visitors:
Women 18-45 (but I'm going to assume that the average for site membership is 30-35). These women are ambitious, educated, web savvy, driven to succeed yet there's another mix that are silent...who are looking to be inspired and who may not ever start a business but want to do it and dream about it they just lack the drive and the ambition/resources. They find our stories inspirational and enjoy seeing others succeed.

What else do you know about your potential visitors:
They are mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, friends; they are feminine and not afraid of the 'princess' brand they want to stay at home and create supplemental income. Some want to grow their business outside of their home on a national scale.

What kind of style would you like your site to reflect:
professional/fun/stylish

Are there any particular colors you would like to use:
logo colors red periwinkle purple white beige (?)

Do you have a preferred font type: Verdana but open to suggestions

Do you have a preferred font size: Large and readable

Do you have a preference for the navigation layout on your site:
top menu with buttons throughout the site; right side bar for the blog section

Sites you like:
womanowned.com: like the use of red here and beige like the layout a lot with the image of the woman who changes with each page selected I like how the pages have drop-down menus to select categories this would work really well for us!!! I also like their use of red and where the ads are spaced looks great this is a very nice site!!
wonderbranding.com: this has a similar yet more simple layout to womanowned.com and it looks clean and sharp again nice use of red and photography i like the right side bar a lot
dailycandy.com: this is a fun stylish site that has a fun name and brand I hope Start Up Princess can feel like this somewhat
nabwo.org: this site has a square for their member feature with a 'more' button where you could read more about her. I like how they really focus on the sponsorships although I would likely prefer not to use so much room for that and I think it would be better on the bottom
antropologie.com: I like the menu bar at the top and overall it's feminine yet classy/artistic/culture
juicycouture.com: this is a bit over the top for a business site like mine but I love the girly/artistic nature of it it's unexpected and they have great gilded frames that showcase their clothes I'd like to use golden frames (illustrated?) for our guest bloggers that give a "portrait gallery effect"
http://www.tiffany.com/charms/defau…omo=GGUS4&
the artist is the same as used for Daily Candy no wonder I like it so much! The use of illustration here is great on the corner of the page demonstrating product...love it
Todays Mama http://www.todaysmama.com: I like their rotating photo and use of logo; the rest of it is rather cluttered but I like the top of it and the illustrations for the sections; they also have a great use of illustration for their handbook
womanentrepreneur.com: like the use of ads and the layout is clean but rather uninspiring designwise; you can find anything you want with the search bar at the top

How does the site tie into your organizations goals?:
We are primarily an online organization for women entrepreneurs. This site helps us to communicate about our events our members and provide resources/info/articles/blog/podcast etc.

Who are your current customers:
Entrepreneurs, primarily women

Why do your current customers buy from you:
We are establishing our expertise in start ups and business development for entrepreneurs we are recruiting high level entrepreneurs from all over the USA Canada and expanding to UK and Australia with membership; we are demonstrating that we value life balance--the whole woman not just the entrepreneur and encourage women to fulfill their life dreams and goals in business as well as take care of herself her family and home with honor and success; we offer a fun brand that makes entrepreneurship "magical" as we believe every woman has every gift talent and ability to make all her dreams come true and that a Fairy Godmother is a mentor

How do you currently market your products and services:
blogrolls
publications
word of mouth
referrals
small business development center
google search engine
we ask people who we feature to link to us

How is business generated:
Our business model will be primarily consulting events (conferences) and advertising online/sponsorships, sales of product and membership directory coupons