Eco Guides Web Site -- can you capture the flavor?

TCG Eco Guides

Our client is launching a new company, TCG Eco Guides (TCG is just an acronym for their existing company). TCG Eco Guides (who we will call TCG from from now because I'm lazy) is a group of biologists, naturalists, and other scientists who develop interactive printed guidebooks for housing developments, city parks, nature trails and the like.

Their guide books (officially called "Interpretive Guides") are designed to be carried as you hike along the trails, telling you about what you see or might see on your hike. Their books are quite professional and they provide details about the history of the trail and area, what kind of trees and plants you'll find, what kind of animals you may see or be eaten by while you're out there, and more.

TCG also provides trail design services for nature trails, hiking trails, city parks and such.

TCG's tag line is, "Every place has a story...let us tell yours."

TCG expects to market their services primarily to:

(1) Developers of new high-end neighborhoods that will have nature trails, hiking trails and the like. The interpretive guides would be used as a marketing tool to help promote the virtues of living in these developments, and the developers will offer these guides to their buyers and residents.

(2) Municipalities who are developing new parks and trails.

We'd like to see designs that communicate to the viewer, at the very first glance, an "outdoorsy" feel. This can be done through the use of graphics, colors, and/or layout (meaning, there's no need to put a tree into your design if you can accomplish the outdoorsy feel using just colors -- but trees are okay, too, if that's what pops into your head). The main reason we hold design contests is because you guys always come up with ideas we haven't thought of, and we love it!

The colors of the design should integrate well with their existing logo, which you can find at http://74.52.167.35/~tcgecog/Final%…0pixel.png (sorry, I don't have a vector version of the logo).

Our final design will be a fixed width of 980-1000 pixels.

The "feel" of the site should be "professional" and "outdoorsy" -- but don't be afraid to push the envelope. "Unique" is good, too, as long as navigation is clear and things are easy to read.

Menu items should be: Home, Interactive Guides, Trail Planning & Design, Inventories, Links.

You can shorten the menu labels, if necessary. Ideally, your design should allow us to add more menu items in the future as the site grows.

Final file format should be layered png or psd files.

This contact info will be on every page, so please incorporate it into your design:
TCG Eco Guides
410-B Millstone Drive
Hillsborough, NC 27278
919-555-1212