Joined: 14 Feb 2003
Posts: 11945
Location: Harbinger, NC, U.S.A.
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 8:13 pm Post subject: iFroggy Network Redesign Contest - Prize: Ads Worth $5,000+
The iFroggy Network homepage is going to undergo a complete redesign. Beyond the network home page, this also includes the network bar, shown on all of our 20 (and growing) sites as well as the launch of our new blog, which will serve to broadcast iFroggy Network related news and features to interested parties. So, that is what this contest is for. The design of these 3 main elements:
iFroggy Network Homepage
Put much of what is on the site (http://www.ifroggy.com) now out of your mind and come up with something fresh. The site will have the following sections, in addition to the index page: About, Advertising, Blog, Contact and Sites.
The index page will give users a brief overview of what the iFroggy Network is. The About page will give them a more detailed look. The Advertising page will contain general information about our advertising solutions. The Blog link will be linked to http://www.ifroggyblog.com (more info on that to follow). The Contact page will feature a form and basic contact info. The Sites page will give users a breakdown of all of the sites in our network, including a logo and a description for each site. For the sites page, throw away what we have now and suggest a new means of organizing our sites and displaying this info to users in line with the new design. All of the pages listed here must be styled in line with the overall design.
There will be no advertisements served on this site, so do not design to accomodate them.
iFroggy Network Blog
This will be a new site (http://www.ifroggyblog.com) launching on a new domain, but I want it to be in the same basic design, so that blog appears to be a "section" of the iFroggy Network site. An example of such a setup would be 9rules and the 9rules blog.
The only differences between this design and the iFroggy Network homepage design will be in the logo (adding "blog" to the logo - we'll take care of that) and the content (this is the part you will have to design for). By design for, I mean you will have to make it so that there is a left menu that fits in seamlessly and looks like it was part of the original design and so on and so forth. The blog will be powered by Nucleus CMS and so you should design for the elements that it has. You are designing a blog, in other words, that is designed to be consistent with the iFroggy Network homepage design.
When I say designing a blog, I mean it... you should lay out how the entire blog should look. Here is are a couple examples of blog designs (to give you an idea of the elements contained therein):
You should include in your design all of the elements that the blog has. From the left menu (or right menu - your design, your choice) to the area for the blog buttons to the format of the "title" of blog entries, how the comments link should look, how the posted by link should look, etc. Basically, you are designing a Nucleus CMS template without having to actually integrate it into Nucleus, as I will take care of that. Also, pay close attention to the item page (an example of one can be found at http://www.yanksblog.com/item/156) as you should also create a design for how that page should look. As I said, think of it as designing a blog template.
As with the network homepage, there will be no ads on this page. So, you do not need to design to accomodate ads.
iFroggy Network Bar
This is the bar displayed across the top of all of our sites (you can see it on this page if you look up). The new design of the bar should be consistent with the new design of the site and blog. The frog can be cut off (as he is now), if you would like, but the text must be visible. It should include a drop down menu of some sort enabling users to surf to all of our sites. It should also include room for a readable, random text message (that we'll be randomizing through a .js file). I like the height of the one we have now, but we could get away with one a little bit taller, if you feel it is necessary.
General Notes
I don't want to limit you too much, hence my general vagueness. However, I'm looking for something professional, sleek, crisp and visually stunning. Yeah, I'm sure that helps. lol Good luck. Feel free to ask me if I like something or not.
The logo text color may change, but the logo text will not. The color of the face of our frog does not change. It will remain the same green and the designs should be made so that he blends in and doesn't look out of place. I have attached a large version of our logo to this post. The size of the logo in the design is up to you.
We will retain full rights to the designs to do with as we wish.
Please use freely available fonts. You will be expected to send us any and all graphic source files (.psd, etc.) and fonts as well as .html (slicing required) and .css files for the layout.
Standards compliance is nice, but not required. What is required is that the site look great in the major browsers.
Adjustments may be neccessary after the winner has been selected. If so, these will hopefully consist mainly of finishing touches/final tweaking.
Benefits
This is very visible work. Your design will be seen by approximately 8,000 people every day. We serve over 2,000,000 pageviews across our network every month and we are continually growing.
You may display the work in your portfolio.
I will be glad to write a testimonial for your use as well as a letter of recommendation once we're all set, if you would like it.
We will also be able to include a link in the footer of the iFroggy Network homepage (http://www.ifroggy.com) and the iFroggy Blog (http://www.ifroggyblog.com) in the form of Design by _____. These two text links would go for $50 each per month if sold. We will leave them for as long as we use the design. So, if we use the design for 2 years, the advertisements will have been worth $2,400.
We will include 3 months of text link advertising (1 text link advertisement for 3 months) on every site that we sell text link advertisements on in our network (as detailed on our advertising page). These include SportsForums.net, KarateForums.com, MAWarehouse.com, MarianoRivera.com, YanksBlog.com, phpBBHacks.com, PhotoshopForums.com, WebDevReviews.com, DeveloperCube, WebDevBooks.com, CommunityPromotion.com, QuickZip, BuyBlenders.com, BuyCheeses.com, DrGregHouse.com and MicrosoftBlog.com. This represents an overall value of $3,300. You will be able to specify which link you'd like on each site, meaning that you may specify different links for each ad, if you so choose. Once set, you will not be able to change the ad on a given site. The ads will not go online until the work outlined above is completed.
Finally
I would recommend that you show me your concept (either in this thread or privately) before you go ahead and design everything that is outlined, so that you do not waste your time with something that I don't feel has promise.
I reserve the right not to pick a winner... although I'd really like to pick one and that is my full intention. But, I just need to say this just incase. I don't really have a deadline in mind, but I can set one if need be. I'll post at least a few days in advance of when I decide to close it. It will be open for at least a week though, if not more.
This contest is being held at PhotoshopForums.com, DeveloperCube and WebHostingTalk.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reply to this thread or send me a PM here at PF. You can also e-mail me at patrick@ifroggy.com. We can also talk via AIM (iFroggynet), MSN (patrickokeefe@hotmail.com) or Skype (patrick_okeefe), if you would like.
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Feel free to ask me if I like something or not.
