So, following up my post on what is a good prize, I would like to announce a competition to redesign the way weblogtoolscollection.com looks and feels. The competition will last for 30 days starting this Sunday, 9th of April.
- Since there is not a whole lot of time, entries in non-working or presentation formats will be allowed.
- Prizes will be sent out when a working copy of the design is in my posession.
- First Prize is a Microsoft XBox 360 Premium system or equivalent cash
- Two consolation Prizes 2GB Flash Drive or Shuffle 1GB or equivalent cash
- The three top designs will get a link from the front page to their site of choice for a month
- All entries must be emailed to mark @ wltc . net with a subject of “weblogtoolscollection.com redesign”
- All decisions regarding the competition are at my sole discretion.
A few things about the design
- Entries must include a design for all the pages in the top menu (beside the forums, wiki and the news sections)
- There will have to be a space for “WordPress News”
- Entries must be written for the latest release version of WordPress
- Designs I have liked in the past include
- Subtraction’s Boxes and Arrows Redesign
- Anything designed by 37 signals
- Hemingway
- A lot of 9Rules sites
- A lot of IconBuffet
- More will be added soon …
- Usability and simplicity is important
- The focus is WordPress, blogging, the news and the information, not the flashiness of the blog, the graphics or the ads.
- Entries do not have to focus on PHP code. I will fashion it to my liking.
- Last but not the least, Valid and Compliant markup is essential.
Please let me know if there are any questions and I would appreciate it if you would pass on the message.
“the way weblogtoolscollectiol.com looks and feels”
you spelled your site wrong…..
Good luck with the design!
I assume that you just mean blog, archives, news and not, for example, the wiki or the forum; otherwise, that’s a significant amount of work, especially it being a 30 day competition.
Yes, I agree with you. I should redefine that statement.
Is there (or will there be) a more workable logo (plain or transparent background, PSD file, …)? Or is the creation of a new logo part of the contest?… 😉
I guess “re-creating” the logo would have to work. I do not have access to the original.
A question that your response to João brought to mind. Do you want a new logo, or do you want a re-do of the existing one?
Also, though I think it’s probably obvious I’ll ask anyway. The winning theme belongs to whom? Can the author also publish the theme to the public?
LOL perfect timing, today I was thinking “when will that ugly wbtc site get redesigned?”
No offense, of course.
And thanks for posting what you like, it helps on such short notice. I still might not have time to participate, but I’d like to.
I would like to apply to the contest. Just a question: could the whole thing be done with a wordpress CMS so that the items in the menu are WP pages? Thanks
Sorry to be rude but I have a big problem with “contests” like this. It’s a great deal for you if you can get people to do it. But it’s most certainly not a good deal for the designer.
Why? Well, you’re not only getting a brand new site redesign (mockup & XHTML/CSS) for around — what — $500-$600 (which in this ‘web 2.0’ economic client is Bangladore-cheap)? You’re also getting to pick through all the entries and choose your favorite — which is spec work, which good designers don’t do (http://www.no-spec.com).
I would encourage designers not to contribute to this. A link on the frontpage of a slightly popular blog for a month and a new Xbox is not how good webdesign is done. Would you hold a contest for architects to design your new house for you? No you wouldn’t. This is no different.
Adam, I think it could be no serious, but it’s funny to make, is not that a professional webdesigner has to be serious all the time!! 🙂 I would LOVE LesCorbousier to build my own house :PpPp
I’ll second that (if I got the gist of it right). Most professional designers will probably ignore this competition.
Competitions like this aren’t a business model, they’re something fun to do. They also might be an ok way to get exposure and/or build a portfolio. Or even to do as a hobby. But I wouldn’t take it too seriously.
I’m not sure if this was answered. Who owns the final product? I’m sure you wouldn’t be crazy about the winner redistributing his/her design but what about the runner-ups or non-winners? Thanks.
Thats a good question but hard to answer. I am not against re-distributing any of the designs (beside the weblogtoolscollection.com logo and/or color scheme). If other people benefit from this competition beside theme authors getting their name out, then that outcome is even more benefitial for everyone.