=>~ $300: WordPress Design for PaddyBloggit.com ($150 for .psd & $150 for coding) ~<=

No problem, I give you the choice to recieve a P.M though.

 

Before I continued working on it, I wanted to know if you liked it so far:
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8793/laywaterhj0.jpg

 

hehe that thread is very familiar Tetragon. ... it's cool now.. things have changed for the better .

entry will be forthcoming mate.

 

Scarlet Edition
No .... it wasn't you! I was referring to another submission by PM. Our posts just clashed as they appeared on the thread.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To all:

It's late here so I may not comment on submissions tonight .... I want to think through my comments fully before I post so it will be tomorrow before I start giving feedback.

I'm going to look at all entries from the beginning and give as detailed a commentary as I can ....

 

A list of all entries received:

missdanni
15challenger
zinruss
designX
Thiagoo
andrej
rupertValentino
Scarlet Edition
Sevenheartz

Entries pending from:
coolwanz
mmmariap?
tfusion
DaveyBoy


I will go through all submissions tomorrow .... and I will post both my negative and postive comments for all. I will also review my initial design brief in line with received entries.

I'm not making a decision on a design tomorrow ... so all those working on an entry needn't start panicking to put a rushed entry together!

If you have questions before you start a design feel free to post your question here and I'll do my best to answer it!

Thanks to all who have taken an interest in this thread/contest.

 

Well said buddy. To be honest, i like you. I believe you are a honest, great and responsible webmaster. This is the main reason why i submit my first try without watermark.

The main reason a lot of great designers refuse to post their entry lately because they suspect a lot of ppl are trying to do some "shortcut". Sending pms to contest holder, offering superb low price for cloning or anything is not a good business practise and not fair for those who submitted their entry into the thread. Contest holder should post all those "private offer" into particular thread to be fair with everyone ( Tetragon, you did it and i appreciate that ). Posting those private submittions via pm can bring in more quality submittions because designers can compare those design and will try their very best to improve. As a result, you will get more responces and quality submittions.

 

So very true, that's why I usually don't like contests as this is going on all the time, and when you spend hours making an original design for someone, and a unknown who spends 5 minutes illegally downloading one off the net wins has got to be annoying.

 

zinruss/rupertValentino:

Thanks for the comments ...

re. the watermark .... it's better to protect all concerned both buyer and seller.

Watermark your work .... then you have complete control over it .... a buyer can't hijack it and neither can another designer!

My philosophy is simple ..... I have high standards ... I expect alot and I demand alot but I try to be fair to all who enter. When I choose a design it will have to be 100% right for me .... prompt payment is always guaranteed!

Lord Bloggit is an example of a site that took time to get right but when it did it turned into a site I'm 100% happy with!

Paddy Bloggit will be my way of commenting on all things happening in my country .... we have an election coming up here on the 24th of May and I will be voting.

Freedom of expression is a priviledge .... and I want to use it on Paddy Bloggit ........... so the design I choose has a high level of expectation attached to it! I could have chosen may of the free WordPress templates on the net but I didn't. Paddy Bloggit will be about expressing an opinion .... it's not a site that I'm expecting to earn money with .... that will be a bonus .... but not the priority. I have alot to say and I want Paddy Bloggit's home to be a nice place to say it!

 

rupertValentino, i second that. If you review my contributions of this thread, you will notice something.

1)http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=3086313&postcount=26 ( Yesterday, 11:11 am ), without watermark.
2)http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=3091456&postcount=51 ( Today, 12:13 am ), design already coded

There are few reasons why i post my design here
1) I would like to enter this contest and contribute my ideas
2) Off course, i would like to win
3) I would like to protect my design. Use watermark is not a good option to protect your design and usually "seniors" can clone it within an hour or even less than that. Posting the design here can show the time a design was born and ppl can report it if they see a stolen design in future.

The main reason why i make the template coded because i can contribute it or sell it later if i lose in this contest.

 

A list of all entries received (and I'm going to comment on all of them again):

missdanni
15challenger
zinruss
designX
Thiagoo
andrej
rupertValentino
Scarlet Edition
Sevenheartz

Entries pending from:
coolwanz
tfusion
DaveyBoy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok here goes:

missdanni

Submission 1:
Too simple a design for me, it needed character. The flag is too defined/too rectangular and I'd prefer a 3 column layout.

Submission 2: Still too simple a layout, flag still wrong and I wouldn't use the flag as a text box.


15challenger

I may have been too quick to judge when I said it did nothing for me. What turned me off was the colour .... the blue and grey doesn't suit the look I'm after. Second time round I like your use of menu tabs down the left side and your 3 column layout. The placement of adsense on the header is totally off for me .... it's too obvious and I want the header to be a feature of the site that will flow into the site. Saying that I don't want half the page covered with the header.

Please try changing your submission .... I apologise for my 'quick reaction' initially.


zinruss
Any chance you'd try to put more of my design brief into your entry? The shade of green is a little off for me. Your 'header' is non-existant! See what you can do to tweak the layout and colour layout.


designX
Same comments as before -
* The quotation and 'Voice of the People' are not connected.
* The minimalist web 2.0 design here doesn't appeal to me. (I know I said web 2.0 in my initial posting but I'm beginning to think it doesn't work for me. Web 2.0 colours may be too in your face for this site.
* I'd prefer a 3 column layout than a 2 column one.


Thiagoo:
The use of the flag is better (too many creases in it - it looks as if it needs to be ironed), the shade of green is wrong,and it's too minimalist. The site will have lots to say so it needs to look busy although not cluttered.


andrej
First impressions - not bad, but colours are too far removed from having an Irish feel about them, header is lost in the sky, flag too small for the area, the quotation is a totally seperate element to 'Voice of the People', the 3 column layout is too similar to Lord Bloggit (my fault for giving abad example in the initial design brief. Ppl could go more for a 3 column layout/structure like the ones in 15challenger and zinruss' submissions.


rupertValentino
Colours are wrong,too dull, and the site has no 'wow' appeal to me, the celtic design over the eye of Bloggit shows innovation so I think there is a better design in you waiting to come out.


Scarlet Edition
I'd prefer you'd use more elements of what I'm looking for in the header, pink doesn't work for me, the whole use of colour in your entry is a contradiction to me - green/pink/black/white etc.


Sevenheartz
Header has too much going on in it, too many images with the quotation and 'Voice of the People', and the Irish flag probably needs to hang on the left as it gold(orange) is always closest to the flagpole, it also looks drawn in paint etc. With the border around the site it would probably crowd it out a little, colours don't work for me, too much happening with the green(s)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(As before)

Note to all:

The header is to be a special part of the site and should include:
* Irish flag - The flag needs to flow rather than look like a rectangular box.
* The quotation: 'Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people' W.B. Yeats
* 'Voice of the People' (indicating that Paddy Bloggit champions the cause of the common man etc.)

The header up on Paddy Bloggit at the moment is good ... it reflects Irishness without being too over the top. It has errors on it; the flag is turned the wrong way, the quotation is badly placed, the title 'Paddy Bloggit' doesn't work for me. The use of familiar Irish buildings/monuments/statue is an innovation that designer of that header has to be applauded for.

The rest of the design would have to reflect the colours of the header throughout. Don't use the actual green and gold (orange) of the Irish flag as the main colours for the site .... they are too bright/garish for my taste.

I will know the right design when I see it. It has a different focus to my ' Lord Bloggit ' site but it still demands the same amount of work/design/innovation. Don't use the same 3 column layout as Lord Bloggit!

If in doubt ask questions .............

 

If I was asked to choose a 'layout' (not a colour scheme) from the submitted designs I would choose:
15challenger's one and zinruss' one.

I like the 3 column layout by 15challenger, his side menu, but not his header.

I like the layout of zinruss' footer and some of his design has elements that have potential .... but his site needs alot more before I could call it a serious contender.

15challenger - even though I dismissed his submission out of hand initially it is starting to grow on me! Where his two narrow columns meet - that doesn't work for me - they look to be doomed to being joined forever especially the top of the 'Search' box and the 'About' box. I like the way he has allowed for an avatar in the 'About' box ... he did read the design brief! Even though I love blue (as can be seen on Lord Bloggit), the blue doesn't work for me here because Paddy Bloggit is different.

At the moment I couldn't pick anyone of the submitted design that I would pick for good use of overall colours, header, etc

 

I suck at choosing colors. So someone give me some tips. Little change in sidebar menus. Color change on tabs and also placement on adsense.

 

15challenger:
You were one of the first to submit an entry and I was too quick to dismiss your entry.
I was coming from a Lord Bloggit design and that had clouded my judgement a little.

Thanks for the revision but it still needs to change more ...
* colours are wrong
* the header needs work
* Just wonder if the 2 narrow columns are too sharp i.e. straight edges .... they just stick in there . I wonder if the header and footer needs to pull the design together more?
* I don't like the two wavy lines between posts

Other than that I don't know what more to say to you ..... the blue is definitely wrong for this site .... if the 'new colour(s) could pull the whole design site together it might work.

Side menu would work if the header was a feature .... if not the menu is probably better back as a top tabbed area.

Positives
* adsense moved from header area looks better
* I like the little images for the date of posting

Don't know if the above makes things any clearer ....

 

One more try.

 

Sendt you a pm.

 

Tetragon, please review ( the design is not fully completed yet, still have to tweak the color to meet your requirement ). Please note that i have make part of the graphic gray, white and black instead of watermark it. Hope that you don't mind. I have monitor a lot of contest in the past few days ago and i notice something - a lot of ppl submit the entry via pm without contributing anything into the thread. This is not fair for those who contribute their submittion.

 

w w w.img501.imageshack.us/img501/6360/paddyblogitvc5.jpg

 

What about this one?:


Larger Preview

As for the header, can we use the graphics from the current Paddy Bloggit header? If so, then I'd like to use the 'Voice of the People' picture and put it on the right side of the header.

 

Yes .......... you can use graphics from the header on www.paddybloggit.com

State here that you want psd and I'll PM a download link to you. I'm offline for about 2 hours now so I'll not be able to respond for awhile to questions/give feedback etc. I may appear to be online but my connection is on ......... I'm just not at my machine. I'll post a message when I'm back.

 

Got this when I pasted the link:
Your search - www.img501.imageshack.us/img501/6360/paddyblogitvc5.jpg - did not match any documents.