Challenge Summary
Computing is going mobile. What are you doing about it? Here at TopCoder, we're ready to meet the demand for mobile application development. That's what our new marketing page is about, and it's where you come in with your fresh new storyboard. What you're designing will be simultaneously a landing page for marketing campaigns and a departure page for starting a new TopCoder project. Our objective is to present the benefits of the TopCoder process for mobile app development and motivate the user to initiate a project launch, including a new account sign-up if necessary.
Round 1
Milestone submissions are due four days after the start of the contest. Up to five milestone winners will be chosen for an award of $50 each. These winners as well as all other contestants with a passing submission in Round 1 are eligible to compete in Round 2.
Round 2
Final submissions are due four days after the end of Round 1. You must make a final submission in order to be considered for a prize.
Required contents
The page must include the following elements, not necessarily in the order given here.
- header
- headline
- three steps to mobile success
- call to action
- login/registration pop-up
- showcase
- in the press
- footer
These elements may be arranged in any configuration you like, except that by definition, the header must be at the top and the footer must be at the bottom. Each element is explained below.
Header
You should design a header to suit your page design. The only requirements are as follows.
- TopCoder logo at left, augmented with a graphic of your making to represent our specialization in mobile app development
- four links at right: start new project, blog, help, log in (or log out)
Headline
Greet the visitor with a short but conspicuous piece of text. You may write your own text or use one of the following:
- Your software wants to take a road trip
- If you love your application, let it fly away
If you opt for one of the suggestions above, please do not use stereotypical imagery such as highways or birds in your page design. Your design does not have to be related to the choice of headline at all. We would like your page design to inspire our headline, not the other way around.
The headline will be supplemented by a brief paragraph of explanatory text. You may write your own text or use dummy text, or you may use the following: "You've probably heard that TopCoder builds great software with its unique competitive process, but did you know that we're fully equipped for mobile application development? Get started today with application porting or new application development for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, or any other mobile platform."
Three steps to mobile success
We will explain the TopCoder process to the visitor by breaking it down into the following three steps.
- Tell us what you need
- Let the world compete
- Get winning results
Illustrate each step with a suitable graphic and supplement it with a brief paragraph of dummy text.
Call to action
The action that we want the visitor to perform is to start a mobile app project with TopCoder. You must supply a button for this purpose, labeled with suitable text written by you or with one of the following phrases.
- Get started now
- Start your new project
- Start mobile app development
Login/registration pop-up
If the visitor is a logged-in TopCoder member, clicking on the action button will redirect him to a special project flow in the Cockpit. If the visitor is not logged in, a login/registration interface will pop up. A registered TopCoder customer will be able to enter his user name and password. Otherwise, the visitor will be able to register for a new account within the same pop-up. Use the standard registration fields and design the pop-up to make registration as quick and painless as possible. It is important not to lose potential customers here.
Showcase
The page will illustrate three to five success stories of TopCoder mobile application development. Each will be represented by a graphic or a screenshot. Clicking or hovering will result in an enlarged treatment, including one or two paragraphs of explanatory text. We are interested in your ideas for the interface design of the showcase.
In the press
We will introduce this section with a brief piece of text, then link to six or so publications that mention TopCoder.
Footer
Your design should include a fairly large footer that lets us display several columns of links. For the time being, include links to several TopCoder sites (main page, community, Cockpit) and display dummy text for the rest. We would also like to see social buttons for liking/sharing/following with the usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Message
We would like to convey the following three points to our visitors.
- TopCoder designs and develops mobile applications for all mobile platforms.
- TopCoder operates a unique competitive process for building software.
- TopCoder crafts beautiful and powerful software products.
Do not state these points with text. Represent them with your graphics and page styling.
Style
Visualize what you would expect the marketing page for a mobile application development company to look like. Do you see it? Now think of something completely different. It's the completely different look that we want to see. We don't care if you're going light or dark, big or small, textured or smooth. Just make it different and make it awesome.
Target audience
The page should impress and motivate people who have software development needs. They may or may not know that they want to get a mobile app developed, but they should certainly want to after seeing your page.
Judging criteria
We are looking for originality, clarity, and completeness.
What to submit
Submission: PNG screens showing the page in its default state and with each interface feature in use.
Source: Layered Photoshop files.
Preview: A 1024 x 1024 representative screenshot of your work in PNG format.
Final fixes
If your submission wins, you may be asked to make minor modifications to your design prior to final acceptance.
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.