--- type: deliverable owner: Mech (CTO) for: Carl created: 2026-04-19 updated: 2026-04-20 status: review --- # Stellaris Ridge — Website Redesign · Seven Concepts Seven complete standalone homepage concepts, all built on the canonical SR brand system (`brand-guidelines.md` + `DESIGN.md`): Deep Void `#060B18`, Primary Violet `#5B3FA0`, Cool Blue `#2D5AAF`, Violet-soft accent `#7A5DC2`, Ethnocentric + Orbitron + Inter + Fira Code. No teal, no warm colors, ever (per brand-colors.md Rule #1). Each concept is a single `index.html` — self-contained, no build step, open and go. ## How to preview Open any of these in your browser (double-click the file, or drag into Chrome): - `concept-a-mission-control/index.html` — Mech (initial) - `concept-b-live-ops/index.html` — Mech (initial) - `concept-c-manifesto/index.html` — Mech (initial) - `concept-d-hybrid/index.html` — Katara (CMO revision) - `concept-e-ridge/index.html` — Mech v2 (post-feedback) - `concept-f-launch/index.html` — SpaceX Starship cinematic - `concept-g-atlas/index.html` — Brand-book editorial - `concept-h-summit/index.html` — E+F+G hybrid (Mech, 2026-04-20 PM) If you want a proper local server, run once from `C:\Stellaris\10-stellaris-ridge\website-redesign-2026-04`: ```bash npx serve . # or python -m http.server 4000 ``` Then open `http://localhost:4000/concept-e-ridge/`. --- ## The three finalists (E · F · G) Carl's feedback on rounds 1 + 2 narrowed the direction. Concepts E, F, and G are the three live candidates. | | **Concept E · Ridge** | **Concept F · Launch** | **Concept G · Atlas** | |---|---|---|---| | **Inspiration** | Katara's 4-pillar balance + C's manifesto moments + B's telemetry | SpaceX Starship landing page | Brand-book / editorial system | | **Hero** | Mountain ridge + Ethnocentric wordmark + tagline + custom canvas stars + pulsing status eyebrow | Mountain ridge + massive Ethnocentric wordmark + "Your Business *Better*" + scroll-cue + minimal chrome | Split: Ethnocentric wordmark + promise + lede left · brand-spec card with swatches right | | **Density** | Medium-high — pillars, services grid, transcript, telemetry, team, FAQ | Low-medium — full-viewport sections, lots of air | Medium — chaptered structure (00–07), paper-contrast manifesto block | | **Best for** | Prospects who want breadth + proof in one read | Prospects who need to feel scale and conviction | Prospects who respect craft + want to see the system | | **VOX-heavy?** | No — 4 pillars balanced | No — 4 pillars balanced | No — 4 pillars balanced | | **Services section** | Chip grid, 30 services, links to `/services/[slug]` | Chip grid, 30 services | Chip grid grouped into 7 categories | | **Signature move** | Live telemetry strip + VOX transcript playback | Huge paint-swept "30%" number + full-viewport manifesto | Paper-contrast brand promise + "how we sound / how we don't" voice table | | **Brand clarity** | Very high — Ethnocentric wordmark dominates hero | Very high — Ethnocentric wordmark fills hero | Very high — wordmark + spec card make it obvious | | **Risk** | Most moving parts to keep coherent | Lightest on proof — relies on feel | Paper block breaks the dark consistency if prospect doesn't scroll through | --- ## What each concept optimizes for ### Concept E — Ridge (recommended baseline) The most complete of the three. Hero matches the deck (mountain ridge from slide 1, `s1_arrival.jpg`, with Ethnocentric wordmark and the pulsing "VOX · OPERATIONAL" status eyebrow you liked on B). Custom canvas star field with 3 parallax layers — fixed the "generic looking stars" complaint. Live telemetry strip (calls answered today, jobs booked, pipeline value, avg response) with a scrolling ticker. Four pillars presented equally (VOX, Core CRM, Automation Engine, GEO SEO) — no more VOX-heavy. Chip-grid of 30 services, each linking to a service page. VOX transcript playback of a $6,200 furnace emergency booked in 28 seconds. Team, FAQ, pilot CTA. **When this wins:** an owner who wants the whole story in one scroll — brand, proof, products, price, team, path to start. ### Concept F — Launch The closest to the SpaceX Starship page you referenced. Hero is almost all Ethnocentric wordmark and mountain ridge, with the promise line below. Scroll triggers full-viewport sections in sequence: - Big paint-swept **30%** gradient number — "of your calls go unanswered" - Evidence grid — four hard stats in stark columns - Four systems, one ridge — products presented as spec blocks - Thirty services — chip grid in a single unsorted wall - Team · FAQ · Pilot CTA Minimal chrome. Mix-blend-mode nav that inverts over hero then locks to a glassmorphic panel on scroll. Heavy type. Light content. Drama is in the rhythm of scrolling, not in widgets. **When this wins:** a prospect arriving cold who needs to feel scale and conviction before they read detail. ### Concept G — Atlas The editorial / brand-book take. Treats the homepage as a printed prospectus — chaptered (00 The Ridge, 01 The Promise, 02 The Systems, 03 The Menu, 04 The Voice, 05 The Team, 06 Questions, 07 The Offer). Hero is a split: Ethnocentric wordmark and lede on the left, a brand-spec card on the right with live swatches (Void / Violet / Blue / Violet-soft / Paper) and a type-system readout — so it's *visually* obvious that this is a brand that takes design seriously. Chapter 01 flips to a paper-colored block (`#F4F1EA`) for the manifesto, with five numbered principles. Everything after that returns to the dark system. Chapter 04 has a "how we sound / how we don't" voice table directly pulled from `brand-guidelines.md` next to a call-transcript sample card. **When this wins:** a more discerning prospect — a dental practice owner, a law-firm partner, an architect — who is buying the *operator*, not just the tooling. --- ## What's built into all seven (SEO / GEO / AEO) Every concept ships with: ### Traditional SEO - ``, meta description, keywords, author, robots directives - Canonical URL, theme color, geo meta (US-AL, Tuscaloosa) - Semantic HTML5 landmarks (`header`, `main`, `nav`, `section`, `article`, `footer`) - Alt text on every image; preconnect + preload for Google Fonts + hero LCP ### Social / Open Graph - Full OG + Twitter card tags with declared image dimensions - Locale, site name, type ### GEO / AEO (AI Search Optimization) - **JSON-LD structured data** graph with `@id` cross-references: `Organization`, `LocalBusiness`, `WebSite`, `WebPage`, `Person` × 2 (Carl + Jarod with bios and job titles), `Product` (VOX with offer pricing for both tiers), `Service` (Core CRM Foundation), `FAQPage`, `SpeakableSpecification` - Speakable CSS selectors marked for voice-AI assistants - `llms.txt` in every concept — AI-crawler flat summary of pricing, team, services, verticals, key stats. **No GHL references — branded as Core CRM.** - FAQ answers the six questions Jarod gets on every discovery call ### AEO highlights - Every FAQ question phrased like a real prospect typing into ChatGPT or Perplexity ("How much does AI phone answering cost?") - Specific numerical claims ($3K-$8K, 30-35%, 78%, $249/mo) — AI search engines quote specifics over hedged prose - Prices visible on-page AND in structured data — required for product comparison surfaces ### Performance - No external JS libraries (vanilla only — canvas stars, IntersectionObserver) - Inline CSS — no render-blocking external stylesheet - Font loading async via `display=swap` - Honors `prefers-reduced-motion` --- ## Shared assets All concepts pull from `./shared-assets/`: - `logo.png` · SR ridge logo - `hero-bg.jpg` · original mountain-ridge background - `Carl.png`, `Jarod.png` · team photos - `favicon.svg` - `deck/s1_arrival.jpg`, `deck/s2_pain.jpg`, `deck/s3_answer.jpg`, `deck/r_base.jpg`, `deck/r_peak.jpg`, `deck/d_aurora.jpg` · decoded from the SR deck base64 sources (the mountain/portal/aurora graphics you liked on slides 1, 3, and 7) - `fonts/Ethnocentric-Regular.otf` · canonical brand typeface, loaded via `@font-face` --- ## Recommendation If you twist my arm: **Concept E — Ridge** as the production baseline. It addresses every piece of feedback you gave — not VOX-heavy, clear SR branding in the hero, mountain ridge from the deck, custom (not generic) stars, Core CRM naming throughout, 30-service chip grid linking to service pages for SEO. **Concept F — Launch** is the better fit if we want the site to *feel* bigger than we are. Fewer words, more scale. It's the one that would look like it belongs next to a SpaceX tab in a browser — if that's the tier of peer we're pitching against, F wins. **Concept G — Atlas** is my dark-horse pick for the actual personality of the business. It telegraphs "the operators care about the craft" faster than E or F, and the voice table + paper manifesto block are the strongest differentiators across all seven concepts. It's also the easiest to adapt for case studies and the blog down the road (the chapter system scales). **Best-of-all-worlds hybrid:** take E's hero + telemetry + transcript, add G's paper-manifesto block and voice table, and port F's rhythm of full-viewport evidence statements between the pillar blocks. Call it **Concept H — Summit**. If none of E/F/G lands as-is, I'll build that. --- ## What's next once you pick 1. **Decision** — pick a concept (or a hybrid). 2. **Content polish** — 30 minutes with Jarod on the "how we sound" copy to make sure it still passes the "would a plumber read this out loud without cringing" test. 3. **Service-page build** — each chip in the grid links to `/services/[slug]`. Budget a day to build an Astro content collection with ~30 entries, each with its own SEO meta + FAQ + price. 4. **Port into Astro** — production site lives in `C:\Stellaris\astro\`. The chosen concept gets rebuilt as Astro components, keeping all SEO/schema/speakable hooks intact. Budget 1-2 days. 5. **Asset production** — OG image (1200×630), any motion for hero, refreshed team photos if wanted. 6. **Deploy** — Vercel preview first, then cutover on `www.stellarisridge.com`. 7. **GEO audit after deploy** — run `/geo audit` to verify structured data renders, `llms.txt` serves, and AI search engines can summarize. --- ## Known limitations of these prototypes - They are single-page demos. `/privacy`, `/terms`, service pages, case studies, blog — still need to be built. - Mobile nav on some concepts (A, C, F) hides the link list above 760px. Production will get a hamburger. - All booking CTAs point at the existing GHL widget URL — that stays until the Core CRM booking flow is live. - No tracking scripts yet (no GA, no Meta pixel). Added on the Astro port, not here, so demos stay clean. --- *Round 1 (A/B/C) built 2026-04-19. Round 2 (D Katara) same day. Round 3 (E/F/G) built 2026-04-20. — Mech, CTO*