Design Contest Questions

We just design a new site?
Yes, the design is completely in your hands. The forums obviously have to function in your design and we are limited with what we can do with the actual forum display pages but I'll work with the winning designer to mold the design and forums together.

Do we have to use the current logo?
No, not at all. The logo is a very critical part of the overall design. The logo is not however "branded" in any way so changing it won't make a difference.

Is this how the last design was chosen?
Not really. The current design was introduced back in Jan 2001. I was playing with the forums trying to update the look a bit and most didn't like the changes. I'm not a designer by heart (my area is programming) so I reverted the forums back to what we had and continued working on upgrading some other areas of the forum. I asked for help from the community on the design and Megan Jack stepped up to the plate and created this killer design. She sent me the design and I thought it was outstanding so we immediately made arrangements to make it official, though the community had no idea a change was going to take place. When members signed on the following day the forums were entirely different and the feedback was entirely positive. I am to this day really happy and impressed with the design. The only reason we are going to change it is to freshen up the site a bit. The current design looks and functions well but a change is in order. Having members involved with the design just makes sense. It's your forums after all!

Do we have to code it? Or will someone else do that?

No coding would be required. I will work closely with the designer to get all of the necessary graphics, color codes, and just general layout. We have a test site to play with so I'll uploaded and coded and than the designer will be able to look at it and make any suggestions or thoughts for changes.

Alright, I'm in

Should we maybe extend the deadline a little bit? I played with some stuff a little bit the other day but I know I won't have time to finish anything by next week. Maybe if we extend the deadline until the new year more people would have time to get something ready. I know I'll have more time during the holiday break. It doesn't seem like too many have decided to enter. Maybe with more time we'll get a little more participation.

Didn't we have a lot of discussion about a new design back then? I remember some other prototypes being presented and looooots of discussion aboout it (but maybe that was the design before that!). It gets really messy when half the community is putting their 2 cents in about what the design should look like.

Noooooo, if Megan enters we're all going to lose