David on 12/2/2009 at 16:59
We have a tremendous amount of talent here on the forums and think it's about time that we
expolited made use of it!
I'm currently in the midst of writing a brand new shiny content management system for use on all the sites we cover, and it seems a good time to redesign The Hub (ttlg.com), as it's in dire need of one, and we've been trying and failing to do it for a couple of years now.
We'd like to see if any TTLGers would be interested in producing designs for us. Unfortunately we can't pay you for your work, but we could probably sling a few forum / site perks your way, as well as a design credit and a logo / link to your website, should you want one, on the bottom of every page. This could be handy as we're ranked pretty well on search engines. On top of this you will have our gratitude, which is worth its weight in.... um... something.
The brief is fairly simple:
* Keep our signature colours. We're certainly not opposed to other 'main' colours, but our signature colours must stay, at least in some aspect.
* Keep the logo. You can play with it, as we have on the new forums logo, and the various mini-area logos, such as (
http://www.ttlg.com/online) TTLG Online
* It needs to be recognisable as TTLG
* Either a liquid layout, or for a screen width of 1024 (a working width of 990/995 to allow for a vertical scrollbar)
* Designs should be supplied as a layered PSD. Any fonts used should be freely available, unless they are already in use by us.
A couple of points to note:
* We may combine elements from multiple designs
* We may 'manhandle the hell out of your work' (to quote Digi) which is to say we may only use it as a starting point
* TTLG will own any of the end designs used.
If you wish to submit a design and would like a copy of our standard fonts and logos, send me a Private Message and I'll get a zip file over to you ASAP.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what the community can produce! :)
Digital Nightfall on 12/2/2009 at 17:05
Some useful advice(tm).
* Don't look at the current site when figuring out a design. Try to think of what you'd like to see and use, rather than just taking what we have now and shuffling it around. Add new things. Throw most of the current stuff in the dustbin. It needs it.
* Ignore conventions of what is expected or normal for a gaming site, but don't ignore the daughter sites.
* Keep in mind that we're giving webspace to donors. If it's on our server, then ttlg.com can interface with it. Think integration.
* Function function function function. I like to get fancy with the graphics on the daughter sites, but for ttlg.com let's keep it clean, simple, and functional.
* I'll add more if I think of more... and, I need to sleep.
Kolya on 12/2/2009 at 17:30
Quote Posted by David
Keep all the elements that are already there.
Quote Posted by Digital Nightfall
Throw most of the current stuff in the dustbin.
So it's like any other job with more than one person on the client side. I'll give it a try.
Digital Nightfall on 12/2/2009 at 17:48
Yes, I am encouraging people to be more experimental.
David on 12/2/2009 at 17:50
Yeah, I initially wrote that in and meant to remove it, but forgot to before I posted.
Oops
Ghostly Apparition on 12/2/2009 at 18:52
so to sum up
* keep all the existing elements but be bold and experimental
*We may take your beautiful design and all your hard work and combine it with some boneheads work because we like that better
* We may take ur design and just change it around ourselves on a whim
* We can't pay squat
I think we got it! LOL
David on 12/2/2009 at 19:28
Well, not in so many words. But yes. Aside from the first point, which I said I had accidentally posted, and it no longer appears in my post or the announcement.
We want to build up TTLG and get the community more involved, in a couple of months, when everything has settled down we'll be looking for a handful of contributors for various things.
One of the reasons I posted this is because I wanted to see what the community could come up with. We are capable of coming up with a design that would look good. We're just a little too familiar with it, and are constantly in danger of coming up with something a little too formulaic and by the numbers.
And, despite outward appearances, we aren't stupid. We won't take someone's lovely design and combine it with something I've done, for god's sake. We may take someone's design as a base and add some elements from another.
At the end of the day, if people do not like the terms and brief we have set out, then they don't have to come up with a design, nobody is being forced to.
Renault on 12/2/2009 at 20:25
First, give us money for hosting.
Second, design our site for free.
Next...Pick up your dry cleaning? ;)
jtr7 on 12/2/2009 at 20:31
:mad:
theImmortalThief on 12/2/2009 at 20:47
I have some experience with doing graphic design and web layouts. I think I could give it a try.
Immortal :)
