ColorlabsProject Design Contest - Win $3500!
Posted on 10 January 09 by Michael Hutagalung in Blog 102 Comments
Designing a dream Wordpress theme?
Anyway, what do you believe in designs? We believe that great designs are designs that speak and function. They were developed through insightful inspirations and born to convey an important message to the viewers. Although designs are always eye-candies, we do believe that awesomeness lies beyond.
Talking about Wordpress, what do you think an awesome high quality Wordpress themes should look like? Should they have vivid colors? Clear typography? Great content readability? Or perhaps something that conventional graphic design theories forget?
Well, we guess this is your time to decide. Express your insights by designing a theme concept for us. Show yourself off, gain some recognition, and not to mention, there is a total prize of US$ 3500 available for you, talented designers.
How to participate in the contest?
To participate in the contest, you must submit a theme concept to ColorLabs Project. It’s not a theme, it’s just a concept. Here are some technical requirements of the concept:
- The theme concept is intended for Wordpress. That’s rule number one. But the great news is: there is a broad possibility of amazing stuffs we can create with Wordpress.
- We believe that there are numerous ways to present a theme concept, but to participate in the contest, your theme concept must be created in Photoshop format.
- The theme concept must cater the 1024 X 768 user’s screen. Therefore, considering the margin and borders, the maximum width of the design is 980 pixels.
- To participate in the contest, you need to publish a blog post and tell a bit of your story about the contest. You should also give a linkback to this post. (optional)
- Designs must be submitted in JPG or PNG format to contest [at] colorlabsproject [dot] com. You also have to tell us the background story of the concept: what inspired you, how you designed, what the design is all about. Designs are not only about shapes, colors, or patterns. They should have insightful story that complete the whole as one. In the story, please also mention your full name and any URL you would like to be linked to if you win.
- If you use any stock/source images in the designs, please submit them as well and mention the URLs in the story above. Please make sure that those images have extended usage licenses that allow the distribution of the design.
- Designs must be submitted before 14th February 2009, midnight (GMT+7).
The competition is divided into two phases:
- Qualification Round: ending February 14, 2009.
In this round, participants are only required to submit the front-page of the theme concept in PNG/JPG format. In the end, there will be 12 theme concepts that will be selected to compete in the final round. - Final Round: February 14, 2009 - February 21, 2009.
In this round, finalists are required to submit the inner pages of the theme concept along with the source files (PSD files). Source files will be assessed to determine the core quality of the design.
The contest is divided into 3 (three) categories:
- Category A: General Blog/Lifestream and Photo/Videoblog
Theme concepts participating in this category should include general elements for standard personal/lifestream blogs or photo/videoblogs. - Category B: Business Blog/Portfolio
Designs competing in this category should include several basic elements of business/portfolio blogs. They should be able to market products/services or function as a showcase site. - Category C: Newspaper/Magazine
Theme concepts participating in this category should include main elements of an online newspaper/magazine, particularly: headline, featured posts, multiple post listings, and ad spots.
The winner from each category will receive US$ 1000 and additional US$ 500 will be awarded to the best of the three. So it’ll be US$ 1500 for the best of the best and US$ 1000 each for the rest two winners. All winners will be interviewed and featured in ColorLabsProject. One contestant may submit more than one design and he/she may win more than one category as well.
Designs are assessed by a special team from ColorLabs Project and a number of Wordpress enthusiasts that we invite as guest judges. Three main factors that we will put into considerations are (1) the background story of the concept, (2) how well the theme concept presents the site’s content to the viewer, and (3) how far it transforms Wordpress into something stunning yet well-functioning as a website.
We will then make the winning theme concepts available as official ColorLabs Project themes and we will credit the contestant for the design.
Terms and Conditions
- One contestant may submit more than one theme concept, he/she is also able to win more than one category.
- Theme concept has to be completely new, never been published anywhere, and never been used to compete in similar contests.
- Theme concept must be originally developed by you and it must be entirely your own work. If it contains any stock images, it must be certified that they have an extended usage.
- You understand that by participating in this contest, your theme concept is possibly used by ColorLabs Project and may be made available for purchase on our site. Winners will be awarded a cash prize for their work. Any other theme concept will only be made available for purchase after a once-off fee agreed by both parties. Sales generated off the theme will be kept by the company.
The Judges
ColorLabsProject Design Contest will be judged by Jason Schuller, Jean-Baptise Jung from WPRecipes.com, Alexander Frison from WPEngineer.com, Jeff Chandler, Michael Castilla from WPCandy.com, Michael Dobler from Smashing Magazine and Michael Jubel Hutagalung. Additionally, we are still waiting for confirmations from several other guest judges and we’ll put it here as soon as they become official!
So, are you in?? Submit your theme concepts now!
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[...] web designer are indeed very talented. His company, Colorlabs Project, recently created a Wordpress theme design contest, which “unfortunately” also won by Indonesian [...]
[...] There are two things behind it…first, today is a final day to submit a theme concept to ColorlabsProject Design Contest and steal US$3500 (*if winning in all three categories + best of the three ) from them. And now [...]
Oh! the contest just ended. Will just come back to find out who the winners are. Thanks.
[...] zaczynałem pracować nad tym projektem, znalazłem informację o konkursie organizowanym przez ColorlabsProject i zdecydowałem się zgłosić udział w kategorii Magazine/Newspaper. Czas zrobił się nagle [...]
so little time so much to do
Looking forward to see the contest result. May the best wins.
to join this contest, i should send the concept in PSD or JPG??
It’s written above. You should send the concept in JPG/PNG. If you are selected into the final, then you should send the PSD.
If I find a web developer, in the future for the theme, and let’s say I had won the contest in a certain category, will I be able to sell the theme on my blog, or use it as my main blog theme?
If you won the contest, we would give you the prize and that would be the once-off fee. We automatically get the ownership of winner theme concepts. Therefore, you are not allowed to sell the design to anyone else.
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i’m in!..
is that enough??
nice contest….!
what does ‘u need 2 publish a blog post’ means?
what if i have no blog in wordpress?
it’s optional, afifah. Basically we want you to help us to promote the contest. But, that’s optional as written above.
Wooww, it’s a great chance. I think I will spare my time to participate in this contest!
Nice contest Michael! Thanks for the heads-up! I think I’m IN!
Yeah?? =) yeah!!
[...] will try to participate in this contest. Is so that I will learn to design themes for WordPress, and have as their goal is $ [...]
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Why it is not allowed to use other license types (i mean for the photos), like standard for example?
Because there is a possibility that the theme concept will be transformed into working WordPress themes and made available for purchase. We don’t want to have any copyright issues about the image usage though.
we must have blog in wordpress to take this contest?
Nope. You can enter the contest with or without a blog.
[...] Judges ColorLabsProject Design Contest will be judged by Jason Schuller, Jean-Baptise ?Jung from WPRecipes.com, Alexander Frison from [...]
what happens to the themes entering the contest and which are not selected.
means if a theme has entered the contest and not selected, can the designer resale it somewhere else.
If a theme concept is going to made available for purchase in our site (other than the winners), there will be a once-off fee agreed by both parties. But, if a theme concept is not selected, the designer (the contestant) has the full ownership of the concept. Therefore they can do anything with it.
[...] in joining the contest? Just head over to http://colorlabsproject.com/blog/contest to read all the rules and how the contest [...]
[...] For more detail information visit ColorLabs Project website >> No Comments, Comment or Ping [...]
[...] Design Contest - Win $3500 I forgot to mention this after Wordcamp Indonesia 2009 that ColorlabsProject has aWordpress theme design contest, which is awesome. The design contest itself is pretty simple, in terms of rule; (I’m just [...]
How can contestant be assured that the “.psd” that they have been submitted to you guys is/are not being used?
Out of the 12 theme concepts that are able to make their way into the final, three of them (the winners), as stated above, will be awarded the prize and made available for purchase. For the rest of the designs, there will be a once-off fee agreed by both parties before the theme concepts made available for purchase. We hope this will give you a clearer understanding about the term: “submitted .psd files” as we stated above that we will at least use three of the submitted designs.
Moreover, there will be confidentiality agreement papers that must be signed digitally by both parties. We’ll be using EchoSign (http://www.echosign.com/) and this binding agreement will be sent to all of the finalists.
[...] I recently stumbled upon a WordPress theme design contest being hosted by colorlabsproject.com and was pleasantly surprised at the prizes that were being offered — quite generous for a theme design contest; and the fact that are few really compelling ones going on right now makes it a perfect motivator for me to submit something. In fact I think I would have registered for the contest immediately, but I decided to read some of the rules and regs (mostly because I’m a Canadian citizen and there are often stricter rules surrounding international participation).To be clear: this post is not announcing a new contest. [...]
I think i might give this a shot!
While I would really love to participate in this contest, I have to admit that I am a little skeptical about the notion of reselling premium theme designs, as implied by the last item in the T&C — more specifically that the designers rights are respected and upheld.
Is there a binding agreement in place that prevents colorlabsproject.com from modifying a theme and reselling it without the consent of the designer? What about limited usage licenses?
In any case, I seriously suggest that people start asking these questions before the submit valuable designs to any contest — 3.5K (not including this “one-off” purchase fee) might seem quite nice at first glance, but the regs have changed once already; how much more is going to change between now and the end of this contest?
Hi Chris,
First of all, thanks for such a valuable question. And about the blog-post-requirement regulation that have been changed recently, as we all know, posting a blog post regarding this contest is just a matter of back-link and SEO stuff that is intended to make this contest well-known as soon as possible as it has already been started. We want to spread the information quickly and make everyone able to enter this contest before it’s too late. In the other hand, we realized that many developers do not personally have blogs and in fact, additionally, we are doing several methods of promotion that the information about this contest can be spread out in several ways. We’ve been doing some offline and online promotion about the contest and that is the reason why we stripped out the “blog-post” requirement and set that as an optional thing to do. For example, sponsoring WordCamp Indonesia 2009 was one of the ways and you might also be seeing our ad campaign for this contest running at smashingmagazine.com.
And, second of all, we would never modify the theme and resell it without the consent of the designer. For your information, we only sell themes via colorlabsproject.com and there is no way that designers cannot “realize” that their designs are made available for purchase in the future. It’s quite easy to see, though. We have a product list, we have demo sites, and we always leave designer’s credit in the CSS templates. The information about the designers can be tracked down easily by everyone. Thus, we would never ruin our own company credibility by doing such a disrespectful activity.
And anyway, thanks for your concern. I believe that it’s a sign that you’re entering a design which is incredibly amazing!
Ultimately my only concern as a design is to ensure that work I might submit to this contest is properly compensated if used for other purposes beyond this contest. Quite frankly I may still reconsider participation, and I think it would really help (not only myself but other designers) build more interest and trust in this contest if the details were more clear.
I appreciate the fact that you didn’t axe my comment btw.
Axe your comment? Well, we guess that will totally be a sign of incompetence. We do believe that talented designers, like you (yes I’ve seen your website, it’s awesome), need some kind of assurance that their designs will be appreciated and credited as supposed to be. And we really put our concern on that.
We’re ourselves designers, we design themes (free and premium), and we understand perfectly how bad it feel to see our designs used in illegal manners. We’ve been there before and perhaps you have ever had the same experience. Therefore, we’d never do anything like that as we hate it when anyone do the same thing to us.
And if you have any question about details, please don’t hesitate to ask. You can drop a comment here or reach us at contest [at] colorlabsproject [dot] com. We’re on our way to build more interest and trust in this contest. We realize that throwing a big amount of prize is one of the factors and we also believe that inviting competent and credible guest judges would be another advantage, that’s what we’re currently working on. We surely will post about that soon after the list become official.
It’s official. ColorLabsProject Design Contest will be judged by Jason Schuller, Jean-Baptise Jung, Alexander Frison, Jeff Chandler, Michael Castilla, and of course ColorLabs Project. Additionally, we are still waiting for confirmations from several other guest judges and we’ll put it here as soon as possible.
Thanks Michael, count me in.
I have a great wordpress theme concept, but I haven’t got a blog. So I can’t participate in the contest…
that’s so stupid.
Whoops, we’ve just got similar questions recently. It seems that web developers are not always a blogger. We’ve just stripped that rule out, thanks for the suggestion!
Hey Michael, hope this not distract your thesis project
by the way … hope on your success, nice contest!
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[...] WordPress designs, if you are interested in trying to win $3500.00, you may be interested in a new design contest that is being run by ColorLabs Project. Here is some information about the [...]
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hi,
i guess i have missed it, can we still submit any design??
Missed what? The submission deadline is February 14th, 2009. And it is going to be next month. See yaa!
[...] diseño, hasta ahora se dice, igualmente será distribuido libremente. Toda la información aqui | Concurso 2009 Share and [...]
look interesting..
..
spare the time in weekend project to try on it
See ya in Wordcamp, Jubel
[...] http://colorlabsproject.com/blog/contest/ Posted on January 15, 2009 | No Comments | Filed under : Lifestyle [...]
Salam,
hmm….can i use indonesian language to explain the concept and anything that required to enter this contest? because my english isn’t pretty good.
Trims.
Please only use English. The judges are located in different parts of the world, though.
[...] http://colorlabsproject.com/blog/contest/ [...]
[...] http://colorlabsproject.com/blog/contest/ [...]
can I use these images in my theme for the contest?
http://demo.colorlabsproject.com/arthemia/
i guess it’d be better if you use your own images. there is a broad choice out there.
my whole theme concept is ready in image format.
just waiting for images to slice into psd.
look at the below image pricing
http://www.123rf.com/photo_3340169.html
please answer my query.
are we supposed to use the images we want from royalty free sources.
do we have to pay for the images used in the contest theme? or you will pay for the images of the themes selected in the contest?
extended licenses cost nearby 25 to 30 $ per image.
wot to do.
please allow me to use images from here.
http://demo.colorlabsproject.com/arthemia/
Hi, there are a lot of free stock images available out there and you have to use the ones that have extended usage licenses that allow the distribution of the design. And those images at the demo pages are not ours so we don’t have the right to give you the right to use them. But anyway, those images are licensed under Creative Commons and are allowed to be used for commercial usage. Technically, you are allowed to use them but please don’t ask us for that because it’s not ours to decide. Anyway, we can’t wait to see your wonderful designs!
[...] like there is a WordPress theme design contest going on over at Colorlabs for money, if you’re into that sort of thing (I’m not). Reminds me of a related [...]
will the designer get a link in the footer when the themes are distributed?
from where to get stock images? do we have to pay for the licences?
Blogged about the contest at http://www.submityourcontest.com/colorlabsproject-design-contest-win-3500/
SYC is a contest blog posting about various blog contests on a daily basis. Hope SYC sends you a few more entries.
Regards
SYC
[...] Contest URL: ColorlabsProject Design Contest - Win $3500 [...]
You know i’m gonna be IN ON THIS ONE!:)
A cool contest! It is a great contest with complete and detailed information. Well explained by the host. Thanks for sharing:)
[...] in joining the contest? Just head over to http://colorlabsproject.com/blog/contest to read all the rules and how the contest [...]
Sounds like fun, I’m not that good of a designer but what the heck. Life is suppose to be fun right? I’m all in.
[...] Michael Hutagalung with his team from ColorlabsProject announced a contest for those passionate of designing WordPress Themes, called - ColorlabsProject Design Contest - Win $3500! [...]
Woho! ikutan donk!
thank you…
Nice one Michael, I’m particularly interested since the terms state that the themes that doesn’t make it to the prize, will only be available for purchase after paying the designer. It’s the first contest I see that puts it that way. Other contests simply state that all the themes submitted are property of the company that helds the contest. Maybe I’ll be entering, gotta see my schedule. Good luck to everyone, I hope to see some inspiring designs!
Elliot, that is seriously a cruel way to treat talented designers. We can guarantee such thing won’t happen here in ColorLabs Project. Anyway, we’d love to see you here entering the contest!
Michael, I’m entering the contest. Wish me luck!
ok, I’ve sent my stuff, good luck to everyone.
AKu coba ikut bro
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icreativelabs will be joining your contest
Great! Can’t wait to be dazzled by your designs!
Looking forward to this one!
[...] [...]
I think this competition has the biggest prize amount among others. Cool!
And if you can prove that you’re goddamn talented, you can steal away that US$3500, only for you, and pamper yourself with it!
hahaha =)) i wish, i’m that good so i just can steal that US$3500 out from your pocket, mate :d great contest by the way.
wow, it’s will be great btw. jauhari and daus, u’re both here??? great! do you wanna enter the contest????
I will and I hope I can steal the money for my baby
[...] ColorlabsProject Design Contest - Win US$3500! [...]
let’s we play again bro!
It’s Show time my friends
You didn’t mention about the judge(s). Who will be the judges? only you?
I really hope that i can join this contest. Thanks for the information.
The judge for the contest will be ourselves, ColorLabs Project, including me. We are planning to invite several guest judges but we’re still waiting for them to confirm their participation. We’ll post about that soon!
ColorLabsProject Design Contest will be judged by Jason Schuller, Jean-Baptise Jung, Alexander Frison, Jeff Chandler, Michael Castilla, and of course ColorLabs Project. Additionally, we are still waiting for confirmations from several other guest judges and we’ll put it here as soon as they become official!
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Worth to try! Thanks guys!
Good luck to all participants
Is it 3500$ the total prize or do you have the detailed prize list?
There is a detailed info about that up there. US$ 1000 for each winner from each category and additional US$ 500 for the best of the three. So it’ll be US$ 1500 for the best of the best and US$ 1000 each for the rest two winners.
It’s Woo more than Woo Contest
Really cool contest!! im not a designer but i will be expecting the final result of this!!
Greetings from Cancun!