::FIRST PLACE ENTRY::

Designer: Kyle Jones

Designer’s Description: Jighawatts, the trusted name for time travel. A company that has conquered time travel and brought it to the masses with its time travel vacation packages.

Links:
Kyle Jones 1
Kyle Jones 2
Kyle Jones 3

Review: Gorgeous entry in the competition Kyle! The balance of colors is perfect. Your design does an excellent job of drawing attention to the crucial details. There’s a logical path for the eye to follow. Your attention to detail is apparent in the “scratched” edges, thematic font faces, and complimentary dust imperfections. However, be careful with some of your rounded corners. A few are lacking the anti-aliased edges, making them appear a little jagged. Great choice in stock images as well. They add to the overall design without diverting too much attention. Even though your design is for a currently-impossible company, it was immediately apparent what you were designing for! I’d love to see this site actually come to life, at least as an example of quality design techniques.

::SECOND PLACE ENTRY::

Designer: Said Ketchman

Designer’s Description: Precious Memories Inc., a place for people to store their photos. Other features include offering photographers for special events and creator printer photo albums for members. This company differs from flikr or photobucket type sites because it is more family-oriented and professional. It also costs money to become a member.

Links:
Said Ketchman 1
Said Ketchman 2
Said Ketchman 3

Review: Very nice entry Said. I like the subtle background. It helps establish the mood of the design. Font size, placement, and color are near perfect on everything except the logo. “Precious Memories” should utilize some other font-face. That’s the name of your company; you want it to standout and draw attention; you want it to be recognizable. Companies need to have an established identity and web presence, so a unique font-face for the logo may be a nice identifying subtlety. As with Kyle, you’ve made a nice choice in stock images. They compliment and emphasize the “euphoric” mood of your design. Overall, very well done. There are a few small changes that might help, but you’ve put a nice site together.

::OTHER FINALIST ENTRIES::

Designer: Mattia Viviani
Design: http://www.mattiaviviani.com

Designer: Joey Primiani
Design: http://www.liquidluau.com

Designer: Marcel Baauw
Design: http://www.franssturkenboomarchitect.nl

Designer: Karthik Subramanian
Design: http://blazedream.in/test/kenriche/enine/

Designer: Karthik Subramanian
Design: http://blazedream.in/test/kenriche/ziganof/home.php

Designer: Jessie Su
Design: http://www.huidesign.com

Designer: Court Rye
Design: http://www.abstractmall.com

We’re here again after a long absence to announce a web design competition we’re hosting through our group on facebook. The winners will recieve tickets to the Future of Web Design conference in New York City. Not only that, but you’ll be recognized in front of countless industry leaders as the winner of the competition. What’s required, well basically… you design a site, submit it to us and then enjoy the win. For the full details, go here… and don’t forget to check out our group on facebook.

Anyway, we hope you all participate in this amazing opportunity. Sorry for the long absence from this blog, we’re moving to a new location and we’re working on more opportunities for you to capitalize on.

We’ve been searching for funding as of late… going to friends, family and various investors.  Although we haven’t put out an amazing effort on this front, we’ve raised a few thousand dollars with other investors hinting at investing a few thousand more.  We’re going to be presenting our ideas to a few more prominent names soon in an effort to score the “big bux”. In reality, we don’t need to raise too much more as much of the work being done is being done by our own team of supporters. However, if we can pull a few hundred thousand dollars, then we’ll be able to jump-start our advertising campaigns and push the site to a wider audience.

Our main goal right now is to get enough money to secure a steady growth from the time we launch to the time we begin our first major advertising campaign.  We would also like to have enough people backing the project to develop a strong pre-launch community.  We’ll probably allow a couple thousand people to join the site prior to the main launch, something we’ve discussed publicly briefly before.  We’re doing this because we’d like to have a somewhat large amount of community-submitted content prior to the influx of users.

With all the support we’ve seen in our groups on facebook, we’re confident we’ll catch the eye of a few prominent venture capitalists. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.com and Wikia.com has already shown some support by gracing us with his presence on our group. We appreciate his support and yours!

That’s it for now, but thanks again!

We just wanted to let you all know what has been happening recently. We’ve been looking for a few developers to help with some of the backend work to ensure a higher quality of work. I, Jonny, have been in personal talks with several developers in my region. I am looking for some more individuals that I can work with face-to-face. This should aid in the speed of production tremendously.

Also, a little side project we’ve set up is located at http://www.shaneswish.com. The site is devoted to Shane Bernier, a 7-year-old boy with leukemia who has made a wish for his eighth birthday. He would like to set the world record for the most birthday cards ever received. The site is nothing too special and it has a few problems here and there, but it’s designed to help Shane in his effort. Please take a look and take a moment to write a card to him.

As always, thank you all for the support!

Lates

The WDI Labs are something we’re really excited about. They’ll be a place where new web trends and standards are started. We’ll be running all sorts of experiments and the details will be published for everyone to see.

The most exciting part is how it will work… Not only will WDI be running it’s own experiments, but we’ll be funding and supplying the resources for our members to run their own. However, not everyone will receive funding. There will be an application process and we’ll select the ideas that are the most unique, innovative and relevant.

There will be limitations on what experiments we’ll accept. The most important ones are as follows:

1) They must relate to the internet and it’s progression into the future

2) They must be unique

3) They must be headed by someone who is willing to work

That means that the experiments can be just about anything! If it’s a cool idea for a website, an idea for a new MMO game, an idea on how to optimize web statistics or anything else you can think of, it doesn’t matter, we’ll support you in developing the idea.

If you’ve ever had a great idea you wish was a reality, then tell us about it and we’ll help you finally make it one.

When the site goes live, we’ll give you the details on the application process, what’s expected of you and what we expect in return.

We will be setting up new businesses through the labs, so legal details, business information, etc. will need to be established during the development process.

We have already begun work on Experiment 1. We’ll let you know when it goes live and is ready for use. We expect it to be live within a month, so keep checking back to hear more details. This first experiment is relatively simple in concept, but it is extremely powerful in application. It’s brilliance is in it’s simplicity and it’s versatility.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Thanks again for all the support everyone. WDI is coming along extremely well. We couldn’t do this without you.

Lates

To kickstart WDI, we’re going to offer a special member category called “Birthright Members.” The first X number of people to sign-up will be given “Birthright” status. These members will always be known as the first people to capitalize on WDI’s features. They’ll be given some priviledges that NO OTHER member can have.

We’ve spoken a little bit about the revolutionary on-site monetary system WDI has, but we haven’t given you many details yet… and you’re still going to have to wait for specifics, but here is a little information. Everything, literally EVERYTHING you do while on the WDI website will earn you “credits.” These credits can then be exchanged for various services and features on WDI… things like advertising, networking features, storage space, etc.

So how does this tie in with the “Birthright Members?” Well, one of the things our Birthright Members will be receiving MONTH AFTER MONTH is FREE credits… just for supporting us in our early stages. We want to show our appreciation to those who helped make WDI possible. So, keep checking back regularly to find out more details about the launch of WDI. Make sure you’re among the first to join!

WDI will revolutionize how the web progresses into the future. This is your opportunity to beat the crowd.

Alright everyone, we now have the donation system setup. It is run through PayPal so you know the system is secure. If you don’t have a PayPal account, don’t worry, you can still send us a donation. If you have any questions or if you’d like to support WDI in some other way, feel free to contact us. You can also check the “Support WDI” links from the Main Menu. We’ll add any other options we come up with there.

The donations will be recieved by our EclipseTriad PayPal account, so if you notice “EclipseTriad” on the page, don’t worry, we’re still receiving the donation. EclipseTriad is Jonny’s current design company.

If you choose to donate, please send at least a $3 donation. Due to the fees associated with the donation process, if you send us less than $3, we’ll recieve almost none of it. If you send $3 or more, you can be assured it’s helping WDI.

To donate now, click on one of the links below…

QUICK $10 | QUICK $20 | QUICK $50 | QUICK $100 | QUICK $500

CHOOSE THE AMOUNT (Donations should be $3 or more)

As always, thank you all for the tremendous support! WDI is well on it’s way to becoming a reality. We look forward to seeing all of you in our community. Take care!

Well, it’s about time we update everyone on the progress of WDI. This’ll be short and sweet, but it’s been a while since we’ve given you anything to go on.

The design process is 100% complete! The basic site construction is also finished. What we are left with is… the most complex portion of the site… much of the programming. The backend work is yet to be finished, although it is already on it’s way. That being said, we are still looking for some programmers to help finish it off. We mostly need additional php developers, but if you have talents in other languages and would like to help on the project, just let us know. We might have use of you.

Now, on to my next point. We are going to start pushing a little harder for funding. To see the success we want to, we’re going to need to start advertising fairly soon AND we’re going to need to be able to have some cash to pay the true talent that develops WDI. We’ll probably give you a way to donate to the project soon, but in the mean time, if you would like to help us out, send an email to and information will be sent back to you on how you can donate to WDI.

Anyway, keep sending us emails… keep letting us know your thoughts… keep giving us more ideas. We LOVE to hear from you!

’til next time…

The Web Designer Index is a new project being developed by several web designers from around the world. Most of us are freelance designers, although some do hold jobs in major design firms and still some of us own our own design companies. We’d love to hear what you have to say about the project… or if you would like to participate in the development process, feel free to email Jonny, the Project Head, at the address below…

Our major goals are as follows:

1. Develop a networking site for web designers, developers and the like.
2. Standardize the “Web Deployment” process.
3. Organize web standards and trends.
4. Provide a “one-stop-shop” for web designers, developers, clients, businesses, etc.

To accomplish these goals, we’ve developed plans for a website that will link designers with designers, designers with clients, designers with employers, and any other combination of the aforementioned. It incorporates many of the classic networking website elements like forums, tutorials, news, profiles, etc. However, our concept has a very unique linking system that pulls all of the various elements together. Sparing the details, our design has an on-site monetary system that guarantees continual contributions from designers and clients and it also guarantees that those contributions are high-quality. We are doing everything in our power to avoid the spam wars frequently found on networking sites. We believe that if we design a system that works properly from the get-go, we’ll avoid most of the problems.

Our site will be exactly what the name describes… an index of designers and an index for designers. We will be providing countless resources for designers. Things like legal advice, advertising, design tips, tutorials, a bottomless source of potential clients, pre-established development-to-deployment processes, convenient interfaces for business opportunities, etc. etc. etc. and so on.

The biggest question among skeptics is probably, “How are you going to develop a user-base?”

Well, simply put… we already have a user-base of 2,000+ anxious designers awaiting the launch of the website. This number is growing by the minute. Many of these designers are already participating in many of our competitions, meetings, and other various pre-launch events. Also, our immediate cost for advertising is almost nothing. On top of that, we have several influential individuals who are pulling strings and working to spread the word quickly. With friends in YCombinator, the top 1% of digg.com, Slide Inc., in countries around the world and anything else you could possibly think of… we’re set. Don’t get me wrong, just because we have connections doesn’t mean we’re going to see success, but it does mean we have a better chance. And of course, we do intend to spend a fair share of cash on advertising.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. We’ll update you on various details later on. Thanks for all the support thus far!