New website design wanted for author, speaker, entrepreneur Rick Smith (currently ricksmith.me)

Business & Consulting

I am an author, entrepreneur and speaker. I have two bestselling books, and have two more in the works. I have founded and sold two successful executive networking companies (world 50, G100). I am building a third. I speak professionally for companies and conferences. The audience is business professionals (those who hire speakers, blog readers, and potential professional business customers. 

www.ricksmith.me, www.leapbuilder.com

So, my main thought is to do a Da Vinci Vitruvian man theme.  I added a file Vitruvian Dude, which will give an idea.  I would like my head on a vitruvian man sketch, with way toned down muscles.  This can be the full image, or the half image. I want the overall theme to be Da Vinci drawings - not finalized, but thoughts in process.  How would you sketch out a powerful idea if you just thought of it?  Like, when you hover over the author button, images of the main thoughts from the book, or drawings, appear.  Like Davinci, with illegible words around them.  The theme should also be minimalist. So, images on the left, illegible words, maybe some blank parchment in the middle, then a rough, small menu words on the right.  The idea would be that the open areas would be filled with the content (books, videos, etc.), as you click or hover over the area.   I want it all to look like sketches, but there are two possible directions to go. Two possible directions.  One - make each tab funny version of vitruvian man (like my powerpoint). Again, looking like Da Vinci drew it, not how I made it look in the attached powerpoint. But incorporating humor into the concepts.  Two - and I am leaning in this direction -  go with the theme of da vinci drawings, use the file i uploaded for images of each theme. What would da vinci draw if he were creating all these ideas back then?    If you take the second powerpoint I uploaded, and turn the pictures into sketches and drawings on parchment with illegible words around them, you will be VERY close to what I am thinking.  Want this to be totally catchy and interesting, but also a bit fun, irreverent, playful.  Very fine line to walk, as I dont want this to look cocky trying to act like I am da vinci (so no head on the super muscular drawing - the body needs to be much smoother and normal - but still thin).  Objectives are sell speeches, get people to sign up on the blog, and general branding.  Need something that is totally unique, and blows people away for the creativity. Totally awesome and stand out design.  

Home Page. I need a main page that communicates my brand and branches out to all the content. I have a very clear idea of the design idea, but really need help with images, creativity and layout. Need someone with good photoshop skills. I created a powerpoint that has design direction, but need someone to turn this idea into something killer. Blog Page. Here I need an integrated design for my blog. I think I am going to ditch the pictures on my blog (www.ricksmith.me), and just focus on the content and discussion. Again, I want to super simplify, and make it super clean, but with very cool design elements consistent with the homepage. Speaker page. I have a couple main videos which I can put on the homepage. But will want these, as well as various video clips on a speaker page. Clean, but this should also be a visual page. Creative way to incorporate the videos, along with the basic speaker content.

The key is to do something totally cool and creative, but also with a minimalist design. If you look at any major speakers site, I want to do the opposite of that. Much more playful and fun, and much less crowded.

This site will be very visible. Will be a great reference for you.

Every design category has flexible pricing for all budgets. Web page design starts at US$599.