[REQ-TEMPLATE] - Music Chart Site

[RLW]

Type of Contest : Template Design for Music-Chart.info
Prize : $100 US to the design that I use - If I don't get a design that I like (in which case I won't be using any of the submitted designs), a $40 US prize will be provided to the best entry. Payment will be made by Paypal. You'll also get a permanent backlink to your design business or portfolio website (if you have one) for as long as I use your design as the template on my site.
Contest End Date & Time : Exactly 10 days (240 hours) from the time of this post
Size Requirements : Design width should be approximately 990px. Your design can be wider (e.g. to accommodate a background image that would be seen on larger screens), but the content must fit within that 990px width.
Color Requirements : I do like dark backgrounds, but you are free to use your creative licence
General Requirements : To be honest, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for- but if anyone is interested I can surf the web for a while and post some links to designs on other sites that I like and you could use these as a guide. I like simple designs, that have a hint of artistry to them. You can include space in the design for some advertising, but it's not essential. You should be designing for the content on this page and your design should incorporate all the information you see there now. If possible, a simple mock up with data from this page and this page should be included in your entry
Additional Information : You can use the logo provided here or you can design a new logo - the choice is yours, but the prize will remain the same either way. You are not required to code the layout in CSS/XHTML - I can do that myself, but if you still want to do the coding you can. The winner should be able to provide their design in a format that supports layers (that will help me slice and dice for the coding) such as Gimp's .svg or Adobe's .psd. If you want to submit your design using a different format, please let me know in advance. I encourage you to consider the bandwidth usage of your design, but for the right design I would probably ignore any bandwidth issues anyway.


I think thats everything!
There's a reason that I'm running a design contest, and it's because i suck at design. So despite what I've written as the requirements, please feel free to break out of them if you think the design will be better by doing that.


If you have any questions, please feel free to ask...


READY.... SET.... GO!!!

 

[adarshnet]

Well,
Could you give some sample websites on which you would like us to base the template on?
Thanks

 

[RLW]

I wouldn't say base the design on them. I haven't really come across any websites with similar content so it's hard to ask you to base the layout on any of them. These are more of a guide so you understand what kind of design I like.

So here are a couple of designs that I like so you can gauge the styles I like.

 

[adarshnet]

Working on my Entry Now,Will post it soon.

 

[RLW]

I look forward to seeing it.

 

[KJdesign]

Working on it

 

[adarshnet]

Sent my entry through a pm.

Edit :
Posted it again down here

 

[KJdesign]

My design.
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/6588/wbzp.jpg
adarshnet, why did you send design by PM? Please explain, thanks. I saw people do this but never understood why

 

[adarshnet]

My Try :
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6359/draft4y.jpg
Feedback Appreciated

@KJDesign : People normally send their results via pm so that others dont rip their designs and use it in their portfolio.

 

[KJdesign]

My Try :
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6359/draft4y.jpg
Feedback Appreciated

@KJDesign : People normally send their results via pm so that others dont rip their designs and use it in their portfolio.

Aaah, good point :D, why didn't i thin about that

 

[RLW]

Thanks for the entries.

Adarshnet - You should take a look at the design contest forum rules at NamePros.com - Announcements in Forum : Design Contests . All entries should be watermarked so that nobody can steal them and entries shouldn't be sent via PM.

Your design is ok. It's not as professional and 'shmic' as I would've liked, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. I did say I like simplicity, but I feel that your layout looks a little too bare with not enough technique. Thanks for the entry and please feel free to re-submit.

KJdesign - This is the best entry so far. There were a couple of things that I would change if I used this layout. First of all, the 'special offer' bar across the top - Rather than running across the entire page, I would probably give it curved corners and make it only as wide as the content. I'd also want to make the title of the page (in this case 'Australian ITunes Top 100... 28 July 2010') more noticeable - theres many different ways that could be done. At the moment it just blends in too much with the normal text. Finally, I'd do something with the footer, the line across the bottom doesn't seem to work. Thats not a major problem, but if you have any ideas please feel free to share them.


Something that both designs could've used is a splash of a different colour here and there. With KJdesigns entry that could've been done on the rankings and movement. Just thought i'd mention that in case anybody else is working on an entry. It's not major, but it's something entrants should think about.

 

[adarshnet]

Thank you for the feedback,
Was working on this one before you posted :
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2038/draft2.jpg

It is the same as the first one just that I added some buttons.

My design's purpose was to show the visitors the information they wanted and not distract their attention to the rest of the page.You said it is too simple so I am working an newer entry with a different style.

If possible please give feedback on the above entry.

Thanks

 

[RLW]

Thanks for the new entry.

Unfortunately, its still not the same quality as KJdesign's entry. There's too many dropshadows, the text is too big, and it seems a little unorganised.

Not distracting the visitor is a good aim to have, but a design also needs to be attractive so that people want to stay, and certain elements have to be present to allow visitors to navigate.

 

[KJdesign]

Hi. Made a few variations. Tell me what you like or dislike best from witch design and then I can combine or change.
first. http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/2899/86166478.jpg
second. http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7636/69143280.jpg
third. http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/1619/72802150.jpg

 

[RLW]

Thanks KJdesigns,

I like what you've done with the special offer bar. It's much better that way.

The title on the first one could work better (in my mind anyway) if it looked more like a tab that was sticking up from behind the chart box. I guess it wouldn't take up the entire width of the chart box and could have some colour to it's background. If you're not sure what I mean, I can put something together as an example and post it here.

The title on the second one would look better again if it had a little colour to the background that distinguished it from the content more.

As for the footers, the last one is the best. I think I'll be changing the contents of the footer when I code the layout, so don't worry too much about it.

The 'About this chart...' text doesn't appear on all the pages, only the ones that actually have charts, so I wouldn't include it in the footer. It would be included at the bottom of the 'chart box' area of your layout, after all of the songs on the chart have been listed.

 

[KJdesign]

Again, lots of variations and when/if you want, ill be able to combine parts that you like the most.
About the tab, if it is not like you wanted, show me that example.
1 http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/298/95378700.jpg
2 http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/6104/88204654.jpg
3 http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/2760/22991741.jpg
4 http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/7019/w1a.jpg (low color tab)
5 http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6026/w2ar.jpg (low color too)

 

[RLW]

Thanks KJ.

The blue tab is perfect, but I prefer the low colour one in the file w1a.jpg. If you can widen the footer to match the width of the content & sidebar then it will be perfect for this layout.


Roughly 6 days to go. It would be nice to have another couple of entries... It'll be open all weekend which makes it the perfect opportunity for students with a flair for design to throw together and entry.

 

[dimedesign]

I will be working on an entry, look forward to it later on tonight.

 

[RLW]

Will do...

 

[dimedesign]

http://i31.tinypic.com/2zgsuuh.png

Willing to work on the logo a lot more and can easily add to the sidebar.
Let me know what you think!