Animated software demo

We are a growing web services company offering exciting, leading edge solutions for automated publishing. Our customers include large and small companies in a variety of sectors, but especially industrial manufacturers and distributors. We specialize in tools that facilitate production of high quality catalogs, flyers, direct mail, and other marketing materials that are rich in database content. Some of our tools support the creation of documents that are 100% rule-driven and can be fully automated with no human intervention. Other tools ??" based on QuarkXPress ??" are intended to streamline the creation and updating of hand-crafted publications which are rich in database content. We are also developing solutions which blend these two models. One of our most pressing needs at this time is to develop animated, online demonstrations of how our tools work. We need these presentations for both sales and training purposes. Our goal is to eventually create dozens of animated demos to explain the broad range of functionality provided by our web services. We are seeking one or more graphics professionals with a strong technical background who have the ability to simplify complex subject material for non-technical users. At a minimum, you must have the following qualifications: * Extensive experience with QuarkXPress for Windows (v4.1 or 5), particularly including the use of style sheets, libraries, and other advanced features. * Strong technical aptitude for complex subject material * Excellent communication skills * Access to a high-speed Internet connection (e.g., cable modem) Preferably you will also have these qualifications: * Experience with databases, preferably for handling detailed product information * Experience with catalogs and flyers, particularly for industrial applications * Experience with creating on-line animated demos using one of the tools listed below ## Deliverables We are not yet decided on the best animated demo software to use in order to create our demos. Among the candidates are Robodemo ([login to view URL]), ViewletBuilder ([login to view URL]), and Instant Demo ([login to view URL]). We are completely open to your suggestions and ideas. We would prefer using something that is pretty easy to maintain. At this stage, ViewletBuilder seems like the best bet. We do not expect the developer to have to buy the software for creating the animated demos. Instead, you can download the trial version of whichever tool we agree upon, use that to create the demos, and then send us the completed demo files. We will then compile the demo for posting on our website using a licensed version of the software. The first project will be to create two introductory demos. We expect that it will require about 20-40 hours for you to learn our tools well enough to create a demo. We will teach and support you as well as we can via phone conversations (overseas is ok), chat software, remote control software, data, and targeted layouts. Actual production of the demos will probably take 10 hours or so. The demos should run about 5 minutes each. Depending on the quality of this work, we will then invite you to create more demos on advanced topics. Other opportunities may arise for you to create customized solutions and/or training demos for some of our customers. We will retain complete ownership and distribution copyrights to all work purchased. ## Platform The development must be on Windows, preferably NT, 2K, or XP.