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Uncategorized

Spectruss Client Story – East By Main Starts Construction in the Southside!

Construction is about to begin next week on a new modern town home development in Chattanooga’s dynamic Southside neighborhood. Local real estate developer Thomas Connolly and Nashville developer Buck Snyder teamed up on the development side.  Collier Construction is the builder and the project was designed by Cogent Studio. The website for this project was designed and built on the Spectruss CTR platform.

“The Southside is characterized by its diverse selection of local food joints, entertainment options, creative office space, and art studios. The individuals that work and play on the Southside need unique housing options at a size and price point that makes sense for them.” Thomas Connolly stated. “That is what we hope to provide with East by Main townhomes.” There is opportunity to fill a void as almost all of the new residential construction on the Southside is in the form of 2,000+ square foot single family homes, ranging from $315,000 to $450,000.

East by Main townhomes will be three story homes with one bedroom and one bathroom. They feature a flex space that opens up to an oversized outdoor terrace. Other amenities include stone counter tops, hardwood flooring, built in shelving, efficient building practices, and onsite parking. “We designed East by Main as a collection of homes connected by a series of pedestrian paths, gardens, and parking courts with the intention of creating a unique urban lifestyle.  With this level of density, great care was given to provide high quality public and private outdoor spaces.” Added architect Jared Hueter of Cogent Studio. The great Main Street location puts the owners just a few steps from all the restaurants and entertainment located near the Main and Market Street commercial corridor, but also just a five minute walk to Jefferson Heights Park which features a walking path, sand volleyball court, and pavilion.

“Just like I’ve seen in Nashville, I know there are a lot of people out there, ranging from first time home buyers to empty-nesters, who want to live in a low maintenance, simple townhome that is a short walk to everything. Why spend your weekends doing yard work or cleaning an oversized house when you could be sitting on the patio of Flying Squirrel, biking to the Chattanooga Market, or enjoying a cup of coffee at Mean Mug?” said Buck Snyder, “Not to mention, these homes could also make great AirBnB or VBRO rentals for owners to supplement their income.”

When asked about the trend toward apartment development and living, Thomas responded, “We’ve seen a lot of emphasis on apartment development over the last few years, but rents have risen significantly and are often much higher than what a mortgage payment on one of our units would be. While a lot of individuals will continue to rent, we also know that there are plenty of people who are ready to buy. Interest rates are still low and unlike most condominiums, these townhomes will have the option of low down payment FHA financing.”

The townhomes are expected to be finished in early 2017.  Price points have not been set at this time, but interested buyers can see more about the project and get presale contact information at www.eastbymain.com.

Categories
Events

Spectruss Hosts Holiday Party!

During this holiday season, Spectruss hosted its holiday party at the local Chattanooga brewery, Hutton and Smith.Clients, friends, and fellow Spectruss co-workers gathered inside the brewery for various beers, snacks, and conversation.

If you haven’t already, check out Hutton and Smith Brewery at 431 East Martin Luther King Blvd in downtown Chattanooga, or online at huttonandsmithbrewing.com.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic 2016.

Cheers!

spectruss-launch-party

Categories
Projects

Website Launched – CityScope Food and Drink

This week here at Spectruss, the popular local magazine CityScope gets an online face-lift for their “Food and Drink” magazine. CityScope is a Chattanooga-based magazine with many annual and seasonal magazine releases to multiple scenes around the local area, including:  Football, Business, Home & Design, Health, to name a few.

With the launch of the new website through Spectruss, the team at CityScope now has easy control of their front-end website appearance through a personalized WordPress back-end. This is the first website rollout for what will be several websites to embody their brand. The new website features a content management system that will allow CityScope to plug in their own content and take control of what appears on the website.

Spectruss is now beginning development on the “Moth Ball by CityScope” website, which is a great benefit event put on by CityScope and the women of Chattanooga. With that underway, Spectruss is excited to add another great website to the Chattanooga website design community.

For a firsthand look at the new site, head over to: cityscopefoodanddrink.com.

Categories
Design

Spectruss Lead Designer Justin Aragon Interview

This week we highlight lead designer of Spectruss, Justin Aragon. In this interview, we learn about his design aesthetic to his personal web design treasures!

 

What is your greatest strength when it comes to designing website layouts?

When it comes to designing website layouts, you have to think of who you’re designing it for first. Listening to the client’s vision is a major strength to have and being able to translate an abstract idea to visual communication. Every web design project we work on is custom designed for each client. From the navigation, sizing, text placement, typography, photography, video, film, graphic elements, animations… etc., everything is designed accordingly to best represent who the client is. It is also important for me as a designer to produce unique designs every time. It keeps me creative, playful, push envelopes and maybe raise some eyebrows too!

 

Do you create all the components to the website? (icons, imagery, art)

Yes! I’m very observant… which every designer should be. I look at websites every day. My eyes recognize when certain graphic elements or iconography have been used before in multiple projects by different agencies. Even when I’m driving around the city, it frustrates me when I see the same topography and icons on billboards and posters here in Chattanooga. I like to give our clients designs that they can only call their own. I have Illustrator files that scroll forever full of custom-designed graphics that I consider one of my prized possessions.

 

When working on a project, what is your average turnaround for completion?

Every project has a different timeline, so it’s difficult to give a specific number. It also varies on what kind of project it is. We’ve worked long term with clients on fully functioning custom-designed websites, to as short as two weeks, to twenty-four hours! The average would probably be around three to four weeks. Ideally, we like to have a week for the design phase, another week for edits, and go to the programming phase on the final week.

 

What part does branding and brand identity play in your creative process?

Branding is everything! Branding dictates the overall direction of how to represent your clients. Branding a new company is probably the most creative part of being in this business. We’ve worked with several local clients here in Chattanooga, and it feels really great when people recognize your work just by looking at a signage, logo, and visiting a website. When I moved back to Chattanooga from Architecture School in 2011, there was a growing population in the creative community… which was awesome! But I also noticed that everyone was producing very similar trendy designs. Trends can only last until there is a new one. I’m a huge fan of timeless design that remain significant over years and years. I always keep in mind when designing a logo or any kind of branding that the overall visual appeal would become an instant classic and does not come with an expiration date.

 

Do you favor the idea of working with a company to focus their branding and improve upon it before beginning the website process?

When clients come to us, they are either looking to start from the beginning or unhappy with their current appeal. It is always good to suggest improving certain elements of their brand before further producing major work. When we work with a company that already has their branding established, it is our job to use what they currently have and build the rest of their Identity effectively. Limits can be great. It can be your friend sometimes. When I was studying architecture, I hated working around building codes, but you’ll realize how efficient your designs become. It’s the same with any type of design. You have to be able to work within certain parameters.

 

How would you best describe your design style? (modern, vintage, etc.)

Like I hate labeling my relationships, I don’t necessarily put a stamp on my forehead and say I only have one specific style. I guess I can answer the question in two parts:

Being in the creative industry, you have to be able to tackle different styles. For web design, it is always important to be cutting edge. Since websites are now the new storefronts, you always want your appeal to be fresh and interesting regardless of style, because you are one click away from the x button. If “Advanced” is a style, I would say as a company that we integrate design with the most current technology in our work.

In my personal time, I still do a lot of designing. I’ve been working on conceptual furniture, playing around with new silhouettes for men’s fashion, and currently building ideas for the Millennial House. I could describe my personal aesthetic as modern minimal. I like simple bold statements, solid contrasting gray tones, and honesty of materiality. When you’ve been working all day with information overload on client projects, it’s nice to come home to clean lines, smooth surfaces and pure simplicity because it will always be beautiful. A very small hint of my personal style can be seen in my professional work, but I always make sure that the work remains egoless and not about me.