adioso.com #2 - $525 UNcoded template for flight search engine

We require a web 2.0-style template for our airline flight search engine.

This is the second time we've run this contest; we feel the first attempt didn't have a clear enough brief, partly because we weren't sure enough what we wanted.

We're hoping this version is more focused to make it easier for you all to work with and deliver something that hits the mark.

The most important point is that this is a flight search engine rather than a holiday booking site, so whilst it should be fresh, vibrant and friendly, we're not looking for beaches and palm trees.

See the full brief for details...

adioso.com

Accepted File Formats:
Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)

OVERVIEW

The site, "adioso.com" is an airline flight search engine, that lets the everyday public find the best flight on a given day.

It should be clean, bold and not look too professional, and should focus on simplicity and ease-of use.

The goal we're going for are sites/interfaces that are user-focused (think the mac OS X, Google's apps, Facebook).

BRAND

You can see our brand/retrieve source files at here.

There are several versions/variants on the brand here - you may use whichever inspires you most - convince us you've made the right choice!

COLOUR

We are not locked in on colour schemes, and are open to any suggestions/variations on colour for the brand/design.

We like simple, bold, high contrast designs, with white or light coloured backgrounds (not black).

ELEMENTS/LAYOUT

Please base your entry on this page:

http://staging.adioso.com/flightsli…rne/Darwin

The menu items should be:
- Home
- Search
- Contact
- Blog - The header bar should also include a large/prominent dropdown selector titled "Select your city". OTHER

The design should be optimized for 1024x768.

Excessive use of stock photography or other non-original elements is not desirable - we don't really want the site to end up looking like something downloaded directly of templatemonster.com.

OTHER THINGS TO AVOID:

Excessive use of icons, bad fonts (eg, Trebuchet)

 

FINAL-IMPORTANT

In our first attempt at this contest, we had some reasonably good entries but most had too many travel-site cliches like beaches, palm trees, city skylines, blue skies & fluffy clouds and flight attendents.

Whilst it may be appropriate to include a plane in the design, this is not mandatory and encouraged only if it enhances an already good design.

This service is a search engine; ie, a functional tool, not a sales site, so we would like the design to reflect that.

Think facebook, google apps/analytics, linkedin, but with a touch more web 2.0-style sparkle worked in to make it really shine.