$100.00 Website Look & Layout, Logo Design Contest with Feedback ***

Total Prize: $100.00
Design: Website layout, look & feel, logo design
Contest Ends: Monday, 28th March at 6:00pm Pacific (US)
Entries: Do NOT PM me with your entries - please post ALL entries in this thread.
Feedback: Every entry will receive feedback.

We are looking for a website layout, look & feel for a new community site, aimed at marketing professionals of all levels (corporate & otherwise).

Logo must have the three letters as illustrated, though placement is up to you. Name of site beside logo should be present in some fashion - incorporated into logo, underneath, alongside, etc.

Name to right should be in legible signature-style font.

Buttons for drop-down menus are labeled as in the illustration.

We are very open to colors, fonts and ideas for this layout, but theme must be consistent and professional, and appeal to business professionals.

The winner will be paid $100.00 by PayPal (or possibly another payment method) and will be announced shortly after the deadline.

Just to be very clear, the image below is only a guide so you can get the names of the logo and buttons and so forth. It is up to you to get creative with a site design incorporating these elements.

 

My entry:
Full view : http://i53.tinypic.com/281typs.png

 

Thanks for your entry. My only comment at this point is that I swear I've seen this exact header image before. Is it from a stock image library?

Jonathan

 

whats going on here? 2 contest holders? hhmm..

 

It isnt a stock image.. il change the image if you want me to.

 

good luck ....

 

Okay, that may have been confusing - it's not two different contest-holders, but rather more than one person involved in the feedback for the contest. Hope that makes sense!

Looks like we're off to a good start here and are starting to receive some feedback from other sources as well - keep them coming, everyone! Remember, the contest ends this Friday!

 

Should i change things on my entry or is it a complete no to my entry?

 

Hi - feel free to make any changes and resubmit!

 

the VCS is drawn, and can be changed in any manner. everything else was whipped up from scratch too, excluding the signature font. if you need any more details, i can give them to you. i tried my best to make it simple and straight forward.

 

Hmm...I really like the signature, but I'm not too keen on the VCS. It just doesn't seem to have a marke ting feel to it.

 

i'll look around for some examples, and i'll edit the original post when i make a change to the VCS.
is there anything else you'd like to see?

--Original post edited

 

Sorry for any confusion, I had thought this contest had been posted under my account and didn't check before I gave feedback.

As for editing posts, in the future it would be better not to edit the original post, but rather post a new entry. That way we keep the chronology intact in case we later see something we decide we liked about a previous version.

I like the logo in this version, but the tabs themselves aren't grabbing me. I'd prefer something with some softness to it, like rounded corners, etc. Something a bit more modern and "web 2.0-ish" to use a terribly tired cliche.

If you have any other signature fonts, I'd love to see some alternatives there too.

Thanks!

Jonathan

 

the tabs can be easily changed, and i'll submit the change into a new post along with a few signature examples.
i have a question, if you wouldn't mind answering it Jonathan. are you looking for an image to base your site layout off of, or are you wanting the html/whatever else along with it?

 

submission reentry:

 

Good question. We're really just looking for the design. Ultimately this is going to be incorporated as a Wordpress theme, so unless you have skills in doing theme design and really WANT to do it, just an image is fine (PSD of course so we can slice it as needed).

It's about 5:30am and I'm finally calling it quits for the night, so not really in a good frame of mind for feedback right now... myself or my partner will post something later.

Thanks again,

Jonathan

 

Click image for full size preview!​

Here's what I have so far. Black/white/silver

Not quite sure what you want content wise, i.e widgets/side-bars, main content... If you could provide a bit more information regarding your desired content layout/structure that would be great!

Thanks, Matt

 

Sure, good point about the layout especially since we changed it recently.

We're going with a 3 column layout, with sidebars on left and right, content in the middle. We actually have two rows of navigation, one above the header (not shown in the guide we posted) and one below. The nav at the top is single level and static, the nav at the bottom is more for specific content areas and some of them have rollover submenus.

I like the little glint on the VCS, but the black text gets totally lost on the charcoal background.

The signature font is pretty good too, looks just sloppy enough to feel "real" yet is still readable.

Not sure what else to say... Nothing about this one really grabs me, but there's nothing I think is just plain wrong either. Maybe try another spin on it, or possibly another take alltogether and see what happens?

Thanks!

Jonathan

 

OK feedback on this one now that I'm awake...

The rounded menus are an improvement but somehow they just aren't working for me. In particular I think the squared submenu against a round button, feels misplaced.

Of the new signature fonts, I quite like the bottom one... it looks very natural and real, and if I could remember how to write in cursive anymore my signature would probably look a lot like that! LOL

Now that I consider it, the color scheme isn't quite sitting with me either. The lime green and almost pastel blue... I think those colors work nicely as accents, like in the logo design. But as the main "anchor" colors of the navigation and footer, they aren't working for me.

Any other ideas you want to try out, I'd love to see them!

Jonathan

 

ill try to get an entry for this contest.. please wait for my entry.. thanks.. will submit in the next 12-24 hours.. thanks