Hi Everyone, My name is Zach and I am a web designer / developer from the UK. I am opening this competition today for a re-design of my main business website. Ofcourse, i would do it myself, but I am just way too busy with work, and you know how it is- people always neglect their own website somehow. Its something that I have been meaning to do now for quite some time, but I keep getting to busy , so I am opening up this competition today so that I can find someone out here in the community who can do a kick-ass design for my business site. The winner will receive $50 and will likely be used again in the future for additional design work on the website as well as other projects I may want to outsource. I currently am turning down 5 or 6 design projects per month as the moment due to being too busy, so in all likeliness, if you win, you will get some more work from me too. My Current Website You can view my current website at www.zdncomputers.com – as you can see, its quite quite out of date. This site has been online for about 20 months now, so its in dire need of this redesign. What am I looking for? Main Page only (possible more designing work on the website if you win) in PSD or AI Format. NO CODING/PROGRAMMING! Web 2.0, should incorporate my current logo and matches its colors. But im not sure if blue should be the main color, in my opinion website looks way too ‘closed up’ at the moment. I think I would like to see some lighter colors as well in design. Should have focus areas on the main page (bellow main manu) for “PSD>XHTMLâ€, “WordPressâ€, “Websites†and “eBay†(check template 3th to see what i have in mind). Live Chat Button somewhere and buttons to follow me on Twitter and Connect with me on Facebook. Make it so its somewhere visible, maybe right side of Homepage. Also, I would want to put ‘Hire me on Odesk’ and ‘View my VisualCV’ and maybe some other button, maybe make place for that in footer (or you can make place for Chat, Twitter and Facebook and this all on the left side.) I want something that stands out, that matches my logo, that gives a really good first impression when clients or potential clients visit the site. I like how some of the following templates stand out as something unique (though not nessesarily the layout) 1) http://www.templatemonster.com/website-templates/24299.html (i dont like it very much, i put it here mostly because its not 'usual' looking. 2) http://www.templatemonster.com/website-templates/23317.html (like the showcase of work on the top) 3) http://www.templatemonster.com/website-templates/22857.html (like the colours on this one and items bellow the menu) 4) http://www.templatemonster.com/website-templates/22097.html (even though its dark i dont think its very ‘closed up’. But, I think amount of dark color is too high.) These are 4 fairly different designs, but they all have something about them that makes them stand out. I am not looking for a carbon copy of any of these designs, but something that incorporates what I have said above. They aree all very nice but if i had to choose i would say that 3rd is my favoriate. One thing that I definetly DO like on the 3rd is, is the 4 cateogires under the main menu. I would like something like this somewhere on my design, where I can display my latest works. Hope thats enough information, if not, feel free to ask. But please, keep everything here in this thread (its only fair if everyone get more informations). LOGO: Here is a link to my logo in PNG format on a transparent background. Resize as needed of course http://www.zdncomputers.com/zdn_computers.png Timeframe: This competition is going to be open for 10 days from now, and I will NOT close the thread before. If i found entry I think its going to be winner, I will say it, so other designers know what they should beat, but i will NOT close the threat before 10 days. I live in GMT+1 time zone and I am online every day from 10am-20pmso Feedback for every entry is going to be provided. Contact: I will contact winning designer via PM, to increase security (i heard for some nasty things scammers did and still do). Winning designer will tell me what design service (only graphic,NO CODING) s/he can offer (logos/banners/ecovers/flyers/buttons/etc.) so I can know for future what you can do and ofcourse, at what price. DISCLAIMER: If there are no suitable entries after ten days, I reserve the right not to choose a winner or extend the deadline. (That said, you guys are all pretty talented so I am sure there will be something I like) ps. Its 20:25 here, so I believe i will check this thread within next 15-16h (hopefully i will have atleast 1 entry to leave feedback for). Good luck all!
My "2 cents" - if you don't mind If what you say is true and you're a successful web designer/developer from the UK, I would like to think that you'd be willing to invest more than £30 on the design for your website/portfolio. After all it's the first thing potential clients are going to see. I think the average 'prize' here on DP is around the $100/150/200 mark. Would you be willing to increase your prize to generate a bit more interest? I know I certainly won't be taking 2 hours out of my busy schedule to design a mock-up.. for the chance to win £30 quid. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread but hopefully that's some food for thought! Good luck with your contest
Sorry, I think $50 is good enough price for contest that: -runs 10 days (so people are not in hurry), -have very much informations (so it easiest possible for designers) -have chance of future work -no coding/programming required If i am in the hurry, and need design in, lets say 2 days, my price would be higher 2/3 maybe even 4 times, but because I am not, i think people will appriciate long timeframe and this contest even if price is lower. Thank you for opinion.
Sorry, price doesn't cut it. 10 days usually means 20. Most contests that run for 72 hours turn into 9 day affairs...
I put 10 days so people dont say 'Huh, i cant rush, its too short'. I guess being polite and thinking about other people dont cut on DP.
Note: if in the next 15 hours i dont get any submissions or post/s to say that someone is working on design this thread will be closed. If someone already started doing design I will ofcourse wait for them, but only if they post it in this thread.
Sorry, do you mean you are working on design or...? I am thinking of closing this thread in a few hours, so please tell me if i should wait you. Thanks
You see Matt, you just showed your 'professionalism' to all of us......potential clients are everywhere here. With that attitude, I wouldn't want you to be designer of my website, who knows about other people. Anyway, moving on, I'd just like to say thanks to everyone that is working on an entry right now, I am happy to let this contest run for the original time period I mentioned.
You're assuming that I would want to work with you in the first place. You claim to be a successful web designer/developer from the UK yet you are outsourcing the design of your own website/portfolio. For peanuts, too! I think that says quite a lot about how "successful" you are. If you would like to continue this discussion, please drop me a PM or email me. I don't want to mess up your thread any further. Cheers Like I have already said, good luck with your contest.
austin-G Thank you for your entry, but i am afraid your design is not what I am looking for. It seems like you didnt really read my whole first post (i said i think so much blue on my website is too 'closed up', I said i wanted to have 4ish foruses on diff. areas like http://www.templatemonster.com/website-templates/22857.html , to have Twitter, Facebook and some other thing where people can see my CV visible). Things i dont like: Too much dark blue Design is too much like one i have now Lack of visibleTwitter,FB,etc. Thing i like: I absolutely LOVE showcase of work! Note: I forgot to say in 1st post, please dont include 'Google solved' in your design. Instead, you should put Testimonial, something i really wanted but forgot to mention. ps. You can just use Lorem ipsum text if that makes it easyer for you. You can even leave field blank or put big TEXT sign in it. pss. Will provide feedback for 99star design within next 3 hours.
@ 99stardesign Generally, i like your design. Its not dark at all, its more 'open' just how i wanted, but im not sure if i like 100% white color on the main text field... But, you design is very good, best of 2 till now. Things i like: Visible Twitter (FB and other things i mentioned can be put under) Search thing Focus on some services i offer look of the menu Things i dont like: 100% white background (maybe it should have some patters, on atleast some part?) Note: In menu, tabs will be: Home, About, Web Design, Web Hosting, SEO, Portfolio, maybe 1 or 2 more+ Contact (if someone wants detailed info)