Blog Redesign Contest
I read somewhere that you should really stick to your strengths, and if you can, hire someone else to do those things you're not good at. Ok, I made that up. I do still use a mechanic to fix my car, and I still use a dentist to fix my teeth, so why not use a blogger to fix my blog design?
With that in mind, I'm running a new contest here. It's a blog redesign contest.
I haven't had any luck coming up with a design I like.
If you'd like any images to use, I've got a set of them available here. No requirement that you use any of them. Any photo already posted on this site is also available, but finding them is up to you (until I install a search function...)
I can also pose for photos, and the sign can travel to you if you've got a brilliant idea for it.
The winner will be chosen by me, using my sole discretion.
I encourage you to email me to ask questions about me (if you haven't figured out enough about me already) and my hobbies/habits/whatever. Might give you a direction.
The rules:
1) My decision is final.
2) Your design, you code the HTML and MT templates. More on that anon.
3) I have no idea what I want.
4) I will set up a separate page on this here blog for every persons entry. I may even have voting. I still will make the choice on my own.
5) It should be designed so that I can easily add pieces to it (i.e. add and take away a blogroll, castlist, whatever)
6) I am available for consultation on any ideas you have. The more whiz-bangy you want the MT to get (i.e. adding plugins and what have you) the more excited I will be. For example - adding the mt-macro plugin to automagically convert castmembers names into castmember links to their popups? Bonus. BUT NOT REQUIRED EVEN BY A LONGSHOT. This is a design contest, not a coding contest. I used to code, I can do it myself.
7) The more ideas you have for the blog (like rollover-cast-links-that-autoload a picture and a description) the better. Implementing them is better. HOWEVER:
8) There can only be one winner.
9) All designs, once submitted, still belong to you, but may be used by me if I'm inspired by them. I won't rip them off directly, but I may like elements or ideas in them.
10) Winner gives the copyright in her/his design to me.
Required elements:
1) A homepage.
2) Archive pages (at least a daily one, and the framework for category ones. If you want to make a different header for every category, let me know, and I'll let you know what the categories are)
3) Comments and Trackback popups.
4) Castmember popups.
5) The code so that I can just dump the stuff into my templates fields in MT.
6) Must NOT be designed like the current one, with images that are the words (i.e. cast is an image) UNLESS you can provide me with the fonts to replicate it (in case I want to add on to it) in Mac OS X.
7) An ad button (to give to other sites) that goes with the design
8) Optional - a banner advertisement
9) OPTIONAL BONUS: A new tagline - Pretension has never looked so good is no longer really applicable.
Anything else is gravy. Want to try your hand at a fancy HTML/Flash hybrid? Bring it on.
Want to do something flat, simple, and elegant? Bring it on.
This contest is open to all (unless your local laws say that you can't do this sort of thing) and I will pay via paypal, so it would help if you had a paypal account.
(Note: some images subject to change if my friends see them and decide that they don't want their pictures used)
Castmembers: note - if you want your castphoto changed or updated or removed, you should email me.
Friends: If you have any photos of me over the years that are digital - please send them over.
(Note - if this one goes well, I will have another non-blog contest soon afterwards, as I've got other parts to this site that I want designed, including a splash page, a place for my professional life, and another non-swerdloff.com blog)
Posted by Swerdloff at January 10, 2004 08:52 PM
