Background:

Lithik Systems specializes in improving network and systems security for financial institutions to keep them in good standing with the FDIC.

Lithik wanted the site redesigned for several reasons:
-design looked dated
-design did not portray them as professional
-design did not convey their area of expertise
-site wasn't build well (outdated techniques made it difficult to update and hurt search engine ranking)

Before:

Solution:

The goal was to give the site a modern feel (ie, not look like it was built in the 90s) that was somewhat edgy but still had a "conservative corporate" look that appealed to their audience (bank presidents / executives). The neutral colors added a nice framing look to the site and gave focus to the logo. The use of stock photography helped give visual interest. The site was built using CSS and XML to enable updates to be quick and easy, and greatly improved their search engine ranking. I also used Flash / sIFR to add some variety to the headline typefaces without having to create graphical headers that are ignored by search engines.

Final result:

Lithik was extremely impressed with the final result and the new design (along with a rewrite of the copy) helped greatly enhance their visibilty and credibility with their potential clients.

After:

Alina's Feedback:

While Lithik's old Web site is attractive (I'm such a sucker for white space), I do agree with Chris completely that it was not suitable for a business that is in the finance sector. Having worked with finance myself, I have paid close attention to design for this sector, and I feel Chris succeeded in giving Lithik a more corporate and financial look with the use of "richer" colors and images that reflect a sense of strength and stability and wealth. It also displays more information, something investors want and need.