$175 *Wordpress Theme Design Contest* Examples Inside - Also Bonus Opportunity!

[shamus]

So here is a chance for a budding designer to rake in a quick $175 (paid via Paypal).

I have a blog which is in dire need of a makeover. I've come to a point where I absolutely need a makeover for motivation purposes. Fellow bloggers will know what I mean when I say that. There is nothing more inspirational that a fresh, impressive looking design!

The blog you would be designing the theme for can be found here (http://ryanshamus.com/)

Better yet, I'm going to make this simple for you designer types. I know designers like to have as much creative control/least amount of restrictions as possible, so I'm going to leave a majority of the design in your hands.

All I ask is one thing - take a look at these 3 themes...

Here (http://darin.cc/)
Here (http://www.johnchow.com/)
Here (http://www.shoemoney.com/)

I am looking for something that looks like these. The same designer did all of those above, and while he is a great guy, I just don't have the $800 it takes to hire him. I figured running a contest on DP would bring out some of the creative types if the price was right.

Also - I need this packaged like any other theme you download, I want to be able to upload it and make it live. This would be a design I keep for quite some time, so make it good! Help me brand my image!

Bonus - this is a contest, but if someone posts a nice looking design within the next 48 hours that I like and want, I will throw in a $25 time bonus (which would make you a total of $200).

I hope this contest will bring out some decent designs (very excited!). Please take inspiration from the example blogs posted above, and show me what you're made of.

Thanks and best of luck to all!

Note - I have a steady following of readers, and you'll be able to have a link in the footer of course, so this could help get your name out there!

[MoonlightxSonata]

Count me in. I just got done with another WP theme (the anime WP theme contest down the list).

How would you like it to look like? 2 or 3 sidebars? Color scheme? Any specific logos or images?

[shamus]

moonlight - thanks for the response!

Like a couple of the example blogs I mention, I like the wider right sidebar, so I guess you would call that two columns. Color scheme, while I'm leaving that in your hands, I like blues, greens, reds, grays, whites, blacks (not all together of course!) Surprise me.

As far as a logo, I was hoping that whoever did the contest would design one for me. Just make my name look cool or something. Something like what they've done on darrin.cc

Again, I just want it to look good, like the other sites I mention. Be creative, give me a new look and feel. Set me apart from the rest of the "cookie cutter" themes and brand my image.

Thanks!

[MoonlightxSonata]

Got it. I'll start working on it tomorrow. I have a good idea as to where to take this design. =)

[shamus]

Sounds awesome! I'm pretty pumped to see some results. Thanks!!!!

[shamus]

So far, only one entrant in the contest. I thought for $175 I would get a few more by now! Come on Wordpress freaks, let's see what ya got!

[freakitude]

Cool contest.

I was also very much inspired by new johnchow and shoemoney designs. I asked my favorite designer guy to design something similar.

He made theme named Freaky Green, available for free at my site (http://www.freakitude.com/wordpress). He charged me $110 for this.

I will keep an eye on this contest and see how it goes. :)

[neme12]

is this contest still open?

[MoonlightxSonata]

I'm working on something right now, although progress might be a little slow since I'm fighting the flu. Sorry if it's taking a while.

[shamus]

freakitdude- thanks for your tips

neme12 - yes, the contest is still open, thanks!

moon - thanks for your hard work, hope you get better with the flu!

[xmedia]

Just a psd design or does it need to be coded?

[shamus]

Definitely coded. Like I said in the OP, I would like to be able to get theme, upload, and go live.

Thanks.

[neme12]

ok then i'm in:p

[bsklep]

I'm interested.

Count me in.

[shamus]

Anyone have any sneak previews yet? I'm pumped!

[MoonlightxSonata]

I finally finished the overall look for it. I still want to work on the header but if you're ok with it then let me know. Since I saw your site held a couple of different ads I made a couple of spaces for it. You can put them under the 'Welcome' header (just take away the header), the first header on the sidebar, inside the second sidebar (example image), or the bottom of the posts.

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7914/002yg1.jpg

Like I said, I'm not done just yet but this is essentially where it's heading. If you want any colors or fonts changed let me know. =)

[shamus]

Wow Moon! Thanks for being the first preview, much appreciated!

Okay, from here I have some ideas that would make it a winner:

Header - interesting design, where it says the name of my blog (ryanshamus dot com, I'm looking for a more "brandable" logo. Something that perhaps stands out a bit more?

Colors - This is funny - being formerly enlisted in the Army, I'm a huge fan of the color combo you have there, but I don't think it's the right combo for my blog. After staring at this for a while, I'm leaning more towards a blue theme. More blues, whites, silvers would get it looking especially attractive!

I like the sidebar for the most part - but like the example blogs I listed, I would like a section dedicated solely for 125 x125 ads. I would like enough room for 4 of them in a square fashion (2x2)

Also taken from the example sites, I would like, if possible, a 3 column thing under the header (one section for popular posts, another one for maybe announcements, the other for widgets, stats or whatever - I would like the ability to put whatever I want in them...)

I really like the navigation menu and how it's integrated. Looks nice.

I know this sounds a lot like John Chow's (http://johnchow.com) layout, but I like his so much, that's what I'm looking for, but with a twist that makes it unique to me. I hope that helps move you in the direction I'm shooting for.

Thanks so much Moon, you have a definite leg up in this contest. Utilize the advice above, and I may name a winner sooner than later.

For the rest of the entrants, you now see where I am going with this....please take the above ideas and implement them.

Thanks all!!!

[Blogsip]

I'm going to give this a shot. Expect a preview from me within 24 hours.

[shamus]

Blogsip - sweet! Can't wait to see it. Thanks for participating :)

[Blogsip]

Here is my entry. (http://seket.com/preview.png)

[shamus]

Blogsip - holy sh**!

Do you have a mind-reading device? It's almost exactly what I want! Very, very nice work.

Would I be able to move the sponsors box under the "get reviewed" box?

Folks, I'll give the rest of the participants a little while to adjust their entries, but it looks like a winner will be called soon.

[MoonlightxSonata]

This is a small update:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/876/002fm6.jpg

As you can see I had already made the navigation wide enough for the ads, I just hadn't placed them. That's why I had the "Main Header" on top that went across, so you can fill it in with any information that couldn't be fit within the 2 sidebars.

I also added in the 3 rows below the header and am now working on the changing the colors, logo, and adding buttons. The top 3 rows only fit 7 lines of text (that way it would look cleaner and easier to read) so let me know if you want it to be longer since the background image won't stretch.

I'm trying to stay away from the initial image of John Chow's site since to me personally it looks like any other site I've seen (and rather plain). There's no originality (to me) in trying to make it look like another person's site.

I should be done in a couple of hours, give or take. =)

[Blogsip]

Blogsip - holy sh**!

Do you have a mind-reading device? It's almost exactly what I want! Very, very nice work.

Would I be able to move the sponsors box under the "get reviewed" box?

Folks, I'll give the rest of the participants a little while to adjust their entries, but it looks like a winner will be called soon.

Thanks for the compliment.:) You will be able to order the sidebar boxes any order you want and add more sidebar boxes if you want.

[shamus]

Blogsip - I'm loving the concept so much.

The only thing I'm not sold on is the color scheme...I'm not a huge fan of orange, green, and blue in the same general area.

Could you preview me a couple different schemes? Like blue and gree, or blue and orange, silver and blue...combos like that. Thanks!!!

[Blogsip]

Blue and Green (http://seket.com/preview3.png)

Blue and Orange (http://seket.com/preview2.png)

Blue and Silver (http://seket.com/preview4.png)

[MoonlightxSonata]

Alright, here's the finished theme. This is the top part:

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/8463/002ac5.jpg

And this is the commenting page with the bottom half (footer):

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8492/003lj8.jpg

[shamus]

Wow!

First, let me say - great entries! It came down to Moonlight and Blogsip. The other couple of people who said they were in never posted any previews or contacted me with questions, so I guess they gave up.

Anyway, this was tough, to say the least. Two different designers, with two different styles.

Moonlight - the updated theme is a major improvement to my tastes. Looks 50x better than the green. Very nice work!

Blogsip - Like I said before, you must have read my mind - especially with the updated color combos. I think I like the blue and orange the best, as that is the color my blog originally started with, and I'm going to stay true to those colors. My readers would definitely appreciate that.

After staring until my eyes bled - I'm going announce that the winner is:

Blogsip!

Pending transfer and completion, this contest is closed. Thanks guys, I really appreciate your hard work. I wish I could pick more than one winner, but that's the nature of the beast.

Best of luck Moonlight, I hope you are at least able to market that theme in all of the popular spots, I think it will go over very well!!

[MoonlightxSonata]

Thank you shamus! It was a fun contest while it lasted. :D

Congratulations on winning Blogsip! The color combinations are really nice too. I especially like the blue/gray with that 2.0 silver badge! =)

[Blogsip]

Thanks, it was fun.:)

[freakitude]

Congrats Blogsip. Amazing design.