history
atms
by tuck
Mon 08 Jul 2002 04:34:11
although its just a side project, ive started a business, and im trying to make it the best it can possibly be. ive managed to acquire some resources here which no one else has, or can, and im in a good position to build a really solid foundation for what could be a truly kickass service with good, honest intentions, and born of a desire to support what i feel to be an important area of study.
visit the <b><a href="http://www.atmschina.com">page, atmschina.com</a></b> and tell me what you think. try to go through all the menus and learn about what im offering and get a feel for things. right now you guys are the only real source of input i have. from the ground up, i built around what i conceptualized as the most complete, appealing program which i would have enjoyed being a part of while having the goals that i did upon first deciding to leave for china. all the ideas, all the writing, even the schools name- its all my creation. so hack it all apart and tell me where things suck, and im sure theyre many places which do suck, if you have time.
ive kept the focus small because im just starting. this is just something to gain experience and fix the bugs. once a season or two pass, my eventual goal is to make this more of a cultural immersion program which uses martial arts training to achieve a deeper knowledge and understanding of various lessons in oriental philosophy. as it is now, philosophy is more of a byproduct of the training instead of the purpose. as mentioned, with the help of some professors, i eventually want it to be the other way around.
i know some pictures need to be changed because theyre lame, but i had no others available. also, a couple violate copywrite laws, probably. but replacements are coming.
my partner/roommate/pal morgan (of vermont, total metal-head) is going to be on an ABC Newsmagazine special about his training here (and i get a few comments in there too, but unfortunately i have to talk about him hehe) and hes going to mention the business and the page. its kind of crucial that it be a real solid url since a few million people will be learning about it in a few weeks.
were shooting to have the first real load of students this feb, and a megaload (20-25) for next august.
comments
tuck - Mon 08 Jul 2002 04:35:11
you may have to use explorer/communicator for the time being. mozilla coughs it.andy - Mon 08 Jul 2002 04:36:11
sweet idea, tuck. i'd love to talk more about it with you once i get over there. for now though, a few ideas... (i already think ATMS is a kick-ass idea, so i'm only going to point out criticisms here) 1) applicants of all ages and ranges of experience welcome to apply. okay, fine. but what's your target audience? are you prepared to have an entire student body of out-of-shape, too-many-jackie-chan-movies, spoiled rich kids? or conversely, a wildly variant enrollment of young/old, talent/no-talent, right-attitude/wrong-attitude students (are you ready to take on the responsibility of training middle-aged people? are you well-versed in sports medicine, injury prevention/treatment, and first aid?) ? by the way the site is structured, and honestly, just from the pictures of the program directors (= to 1,000 words and so forth), it looks like ATMS is a couple of twenty-something hardcore martial arts enthusiasts looking for people of a similar age, ability level, and drive to their own. (me for instance? i think it's an awesome idea, and i'd sign up in a second.) 2) which leads me to my next point. aTms -- the T stands for traditional. think about the implications this word has for most people, not just in the setting of martial arts or asian culture. "old", "studied", "proven", "strict"... "boring"(?) those are just a few synonyms from my own perspective. as any organization's name is kind of their "splash page", if you will, it's pretty important to get the feel of the program right in the name. do you think that the sort of people who are going to want to enroll in a crash-course in diverse chinese martial arts located half-way around the world are going to consider themselves "traditional"? i honestly don't know if that would be a turn-off or a turn-on to people -- it goes back to the question of target audience i guess. but it's something to think about. 3) there are more than a few typos and grammatical errors, you might want to play copy editor and go through each page to root them out. not that they're a big deal, but details count in business (so i'm told). i remember "renown" instead of "renowned" on "Our Philosophy" (the whole sentence is a little funny though) and "head-over-heals" instead of "heels" in the sanda section on the Styles page. that's getting nitpicky though. also, a minor detail, do you mean for the grey elliptical line around the navbar to be connected? as it is on my version (pc IE5.5 1024x768) it appears as 4 disjointed images. 4) okay, i lied, this isn't all criticism. i like the site's setup, and i think you're quite thorough with the explanations of how the program works and what it offers. its look and feel are very appealing to me -- demure but authoritative color scheme, and a nice mix of symbolic art and concrete imagery. i guess i'm keeping most of my compliments to myself though, since i'm a bit biased (as a martial artist who's headed to china to experience exactly what you want to offer with ATMS). and like i said, we can talk more about it when i get there. good luck. andy