Challenge Summary
Welcome to the contest to design the new TopCoder Home page! Its time to change things up again.
For this contest we are looking for a new design direction and overall look and feel to the site. We are looking for a professional and attractive look - more corporate, inviting, friendly.
The goal of this contest is to produce a new Storyboard design that accurately captures the website requirements and user flow.
Requirements - Create something new! - DO NOT COPY the current topcoder.com design - The homepage is geared towards customers and prospects - We want to simply state what TopCoder does on the page. (This should be the main focus of the design.) - We would like to include a revolving banner (carousel) with good visuals of past client information/projects. - Remove the people/saying from the current site - No crowdsourcing terminology - We are looking to include a new "global" navigation - At the very top of the page would be preferred. - Include the Member count on the page but add it in a new exciting manner rather than just simply stating the numbers. Navigation items - Compete at TopCoder (links to /tc) - Compete at Studio (links to Studio) - Launch a Contest (links to TopCoder Direct) - Contact Us (links to contact us page) - About Us (links to /home page) - TopCoder Press Room (links to press room page) (any additional links you suggest are important?) Keep the page clean! Also make recommendations of what you think should be on the page. How do we make TopCoder.com attractive and useful to our Members and our Clients? This is the beginning of some new changes for 2010 so please provide us with your ideas or suggestions. IMPORTANT - WE ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW - Consider typography, white space, layout, design user experience, etc. when working on your enhancement. Get creative. Design Requirements - The page must fit comfortably in a 1024x768 browser with minimal vertical scrolling. - Use the TopCoder Logo attached to the contest. - The TopCoder corporate colors must be used (red, black and white). They are found in the current home page (www.topcoder.com). You are free to include any additional colors of your choosing. Design Considerations - The page should be simple and not cluttered. It should be open with a lot of white space. - The user needs to quickly understand who they are with respect to TopCoder (customer or competitor) and decide which path to take. Depending on who they are, it will lead them down a different path. - Repeat... Keep it simple. Target Audience When a user comes to TopCoder.com, they are either: 1. Potential Customer 2. Potential Competitor Judging Criteria You will be judged on the following: - Quality of design - How the design met the above requirements and considerations - Innovation, creativity and originality - How well the target audience and messaging was met. Stock Photography Watermarked comp photography from istockphoto.com is allowed in this contest. You must follow these instructions or your submission will fail screening: 1) You must include a completed Third Party Content worksheet. It belongs with your Submission folder/zip file -- NOT your Source folder/zip file. 2) Only use photos, and only use them from iStockPhoto. Other iStockPhoto artwork is not allowed. 3) Be sure to keep the watermark intact. If the image is cropped in such a way that the watermark is not visible, please be sure to include the entire image in your source files so we can see that it is a comp image from iStockphoto.com. Submission & Source Files Preview Image Please create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024 JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it. You are free to resize or crop your submission to fit this size, but do not add any filters or elements for dramatic effect, such as drop shadows or reflections. Submission File For this contest, you will be submitting three (3) files: 1. 2010-TopCoder.jpg - Your new design 2. 2010-TopCoder-Hovers.jpg - Your new design with any Hover states we need to review. 3. Notes.jpg - Any comments, suggestions or notes that you want us to review about your submission (image file) IMPORTANT- If you are submitting "small updates or changes" with multiple submissions please include in your notes file what is different or changed - this can be confusing to the client sometimes when they can't tell what is different. Source Files All original source files. Original source files should be saved as layered Photoshop PSD files. Final Fixes As part of the final fixes phase you may be asked to modify content or overall color/graphics.
Round 1
At the end of Round 1, TopCoder will choose five (5) Round 1 winners, each will win $50 and a Design Review. These winners and any member who had a passing submission in Round 1 will be eligible to compete in Round 2 for the additional $1250 in prizes.Round 2
Round 2 will start with the announcement of the Five (5) $50 Round 1 winners and their design review from TopCoder.Requirements - Create something new! - DO NOT COPY the current topcoder.com design - The homepage is geared towards customers and prospects - We want to simply state what TopCoder does on the page. (This should be the main focus of the design.) - We would like to include a revolving banner (carousel) with good visuals of past client information/projects. - Remove the people/saying from the current site - No crowdsourcing terminology - We are looking to include a new "global" navigation - At the very top of the page would be preferred. - Include the Member count on the page but add it in a new exciting manner rather than just simply stating the numbers. Navigation items - Compete at TopCoder (links to /tc) - Compete at Studio (links to Studio) - Launch a Contest (links to TopCoder Direct) - Contact Us (links to contact us page) - About Us (links to /home page) - TopCoder Press Room (links to press room page) (any additional links you suggest are important?) Keep the page clean! Also make recommendations of what you think should be on the page. How do we make TopCoder.com attractive and useful to our Members and our Clients? This is the beginning of some new changes for 2010 so please provide us with your ideas or suggestions. IMPORTANT - WE ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW - Consider typography, white space, layout, design user experience, etc. when working on your enhancement. Get creative. Design Requirements - The page must fit comfortably in a 1024x768 browser with minimal vertical scrolling. - Use the TopCoder Logo attached to the contest. - The TopCoder corporate colors must be used (red, black and white). They are found in the current home page (www.topcoder.com). You are free to include any additional colors of your choosing. Design Considerations - The page should be simple and not cluttered. It should be open with a lot of white space. - The user needs to quickly understand who they are with respect to TopCoder (customer or competitor) and decide which path to take. Depending on who they are, it will lead them down a different path. - Repeat... Keep it simple. Target Audience When a user comes to TopCoder.com, they are either: 1. Potential Customer 2. Potential Competitor Judging Criteria You will be judged on the following: - Quality of design - How the design met the above requirements and considerations - Innovation, creativity and originality - How well the target audience and messaging was met. Stock Photography Watermarked comp photography from istockphoto.com is allowed in this contest. You must follow these instructions or your submission will fail screening: 1) You must include a completed Third Party Content worksheet. It belongs with your Submission folder/zip file -- NOT your Source folder/zip file. 2) Only use photos, and only use them from iStockPhoto. Other iStockPhoto artwork is not allowed. 3) Be sure to keep the watermark intact. If the image is cropped in such a way that the watermark is not visible, please be sure to include the entire image in your source files so we can see that it is a comp image from iStockphoto.com. Submission & Source Files Preview Image Please create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024 JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it. You are free to resize or crop your submission to fit this size, but do not add any filters or elements for dramatic effect, such as drop shadows or reflections. Submission File For this contest, you will be submitting three (3) files: 1. 2010-TopCoder.jpg - Your new design 2. 2010-TopCoder-Hovers.jpg - Your new design with any Hover states we need to review. 3. Notes.jpg - Any comments, suggestions or notes that you want us to review about your submission (image file) IMPORTANT- If you are submitting "small updates or changes" with multiple submissions please include in your notes file what is different or changed - this can be confusing to the client sometimes when they can't tell what is different. Source Files All original source files. Original source files should be saved as layered Photoshop PSD files. Final Fixes As part of the final fixes phase you may be asked to modify content or overall color/graphics.
Please read the challenge specification carefully and watch the forums for any questions or feedback concerning this challenge. It is important that you monitor any updates provided by the client or Studio Admins in the forums. Please post any questions you might have for the client in the forums.