This came up because I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out ways to graphically contribute here (other than my silly icons), so I posted the following Backstage and thought I would bring it up here as well to see what folks here in the Community thought of it:

After a little encouragement, ranting continued:


Any thoughts? (Oh and sorry for pointing certain super designers out, I know there are more than those, but they are the first to came to mind that morning).

This is a great idea actually, One of you hott shots can teach me how to make a layout or vector. lol. Though I guess there'd have to be guidelines on how much the "star" can help out and such...

Aw this is such a good idea

This is a really good idea!

Aw man, this is such a cool idea.

I so WISH I could be apart of this. Really. This would be *so* cool.

that sounds pretty cool? would the "stars" be limited to mods, or what?

anyway, it sounds very entertaining.

^ Oh DEFINITELY not limited to mods. :)

I love this idea! I have no idea how to make layouts.

So would there be more than one pair? Or is it just a "lucky winner" thing?

No fun in limiting it only to one pair. :) Perhaps there could be some length of time where the "star" helps the "starlette" and then all pairs showcase their layouts in one place (or separate threads, wherever).

I really like this idea, since the person who can't design, will probably be able to make some great stuff by the time this ends. I know I'd like to learn.

How would we teach them? It's hard to do that remotely... and the programs have to be compatible.

Is it a "choose your partner" thing or is it randomly chosen by the contest-holder? If so, then I want to join.

That's if I have time.

If this goes through, it'll have to be set up so that both in one pair have the same programs to work with. By teaching, I guess helping them come up with a central idea, colors, navigation, graphics, etc. And helping with the coding since the "stars" shouldn't be doing the work for them. I guess guide them by telling them where to find particular resources, and how/why to modify codes based on what they want to achieve.

Hasn't been decided yet. Feel free to support whichever idea.

This is very much still in the 'thought' stages. :) So please provide any suggestions and ideas you'd like. ;)

My first thought was over some kind of messenger, and a lot of file transfers. That'd be kinda rough though, huh.

^ That's what I was thinking. We'd have to be on the compy at the same time to produce the best result...

Right, so you'd have to grab some really active people, or plan it together.

And besides an instant messenger, I guess there's cell phones or Skype.

count me in and...

I CALL MIKE!

which i need to talk to you btw

On the partner choosing situation:
Oddly, I think it would be more exciting if the partner wasn't chosen. That way everyone has a partner and no one has to go through the trouble of finding one. Plus I find it to be more exciting that way.

Yeah, random partners sound good. I'm up :)

AAAH! EEEK! I totally love this idea. I'm definitely in for this.

Oh right, I think it'd be awesome if we got paired up randomly. Only because it's for the fun of it; we get a person we might not know so well & teach them all we know :]

What about people like me that can only design and do little/limited coding? There's no line to really split down teh middle between designer and non designer.

A coding part is going to be added? . That might be a little hard for people. But if a coding part is added:

Well I think that if it happens a list of resources can be added to help you guys out with the coding. Resources as in sites with css stylesheets (if you need it), sites with table tutorials, div tutorials, etc. To make it easy. Or templates can be made. (Without the image ofcourse) with a basic stylesheet and tables , or a basic stylesheet and divs, etc. Different combos.

But I find that part might be a little hard. About the split between no designer and non designer. I think the design should count more over anything. So you guys should atleast be able to split the design in half? or atleast help each other out. Then maybe you guys can discuss how you want it coded (if coding is going to be added as part of the contest.) , and the person that has the most experience could do the majority of the stuff and the person that has limited knowledge can do simple things like css (adding colors etc. Which can be learned pretty easily).

Thats just an Idea if coding has to be done.

Well coding was actually a big part of the idea. Several decisions would have to be made. One major one of course would be what type of site. My Space? Xanga? Blogger? Etc.

I think if certain stages would be good -

Stage 1 - Concept
This might be where the contestants are given a theme and in this stage they would create a header and/or background.

Stage 2 – Design
This might be where the contestant and the mentor would come up with a site ‘blueprint’, which hopefully, to the luck of the mentor will not be something completely ridiculous to code.

Stage 3 – Code
This I think should be the most team-y effort of all. What might make it easier is to make sure the designs are as simple as possible, and then sort of having the mentor give templates out and the rookie coder will then need to sort of put the pieces (scripts) of the puzzle (site) together.

Again, just some thoughts and please, those with experience tweak this idea especially since this is coming from someone with a considerable lack of coding experience. ;)

well... would all our layouts follow general guidelines then? I know that some designers like to go...outside the box. During the concept stage, would there be limits to the design, for example, a 2 columned layout?

^ Maybe per round there can be a diff style. Like 2 column one time and change it differently.

I think it sounds like a great idea. Maybe it can be website coding over xanga, blogger, and myspace.

Doesn't sound bad, is this only going to be for like xanga layouts, or any?

i dont know if this is what toya was getting at, but from my limited knowledge of the show, every round they perform a new dance. now, i know not all the "celebrities" of cB know how to do a layout/coding for every type of blogging network, but that could be the challenge. it probably can be assumed that the actual dancers on the show aren't familiar with every type of dance they do, but they still do it, which is why i thought about the different blogging systems..

Why don't you do a pair for each site?

I mean, some people just excel at Xanga and others MySpace, etc.

EDIT: So can't you just start with say, graphics? And then each round make it higher so that by the time it's the final two couples, they would have to create an ultimate layout or something like that?

That would get boring though

Can we have a title ?

uh...designing with the stars?

Aww.. I'm a 'celebrity' designer? *Feels special* This is cool. I'd feel bad about letting people down, but if we start in January or something, I should be okay.. since all my college applications would/should be done. Uhh.. and personally, I'd be more comfortable with doing MySpace, Xanga, and Blogger.. I'm not as comfortable with websites (although I can do them).

I'm thinking we tackle this one aspect at a time since this doesn't sound easy in terms or organization.

Let's start off simple.

All one blog site or several at one time? If the former, pairs would be set up to make a layout for a specific blog. Then, it would be another blog. If the latter, many pairs would have to be set up so that one does MySpace, another does Xanga, another does website, and so on.

I like having all/several at one time.

Please please provide feedback and/or ideas! :D

I like the idea of having multiple sites, however, the problem is I see is that how then would they be judged against eachother due to the differences in complexity of designing each type of site?

^Yeah.While reading this thread I thought that idea doesn't really seem possible..

but I love the sound of this contest.
i know i'd like to learn graphics and coding better..


perhaps, when the contest is over, the partners could team up and write a tutorial explaining how they made their graphic/layout.


The step concept is a good idea..
Perhaps during the whole thing, we could making a certain type of layout.
For example, website.

For the first round, just have the learner show what they can do.
sortof like a pretest kind of thing.
No judging in this round probably..

For the second round, make a series of basic things. Such as writing out css, making/finding/uploading brushes.
Judging would be based upon how they've improved through those simple steps.

For the third round, design a header and learn the coding to 'place' it into the layout. This round can also be for placing div's and such..
Judging could be based on the learner's capability to figure out div's and using brushes, etc etc.

For the fourth round, a background could be designed.Preferable a more complex background.
Judging could be based on how much knowledge he/she has gained from the header phase.

For the last round [if doing a website layout, as suggested], integrate wordpress, cutenews, etc.That'd be a nice challenge.Maybe music players could go along with this too?Probably anything interactive that would be a little challenging.
Final judging could be based upon who's improved the much, gained the most skill, overall performance, etc.

Thoughts?

edit//
perhaps administrators can provide a temporary subdomain with cbstaff if we go with the website idea.?
geocities or freewebs or something with the same likeness probably wouldn't perform very well...

I agree. If you guys are judging coding too, it'd be difficult to judge the layouts if everyone's doing different blog sites.
I think it should be a different blog site for each round. It'd be easier to judge.

^I would love to participate whenever this whole "contest" begins.

Whoo I wanna be your partner Ricky :]
do you remember mee?

First off, sorry I haven't returned to this thread -

I'm thinking maybe we could kick this off late mid-late January? Let people get back to their normal routines after all the holidays and such.

Still need to work out the kinks, of course.

Also (and I'm looking for coder input here), after a proposed "Stage 1", lets say people come up with something like this (I'll use my silly mediocrity as examples):



How would you, the mentors, think you could proceed? Like, perhaps have the rookie outline where they want things to go (like, put squares or what not where they want the contact information, etc) then help them code?

^It would be rather difficult, but not extremely impossible. Of course, half of the design isn't going to suit either partner because of style or taste differences, but keeping in contact and sharing ideas with each other helps a lot. I suggest to everyone, know who your partner is going to be and plan ahead, preferably someone who you keep in contact more than others, also someone who shares common aspects of designing/coding and is going to be responsible for their share. Even if the design isn't extremely pleasing to either partner, it's the cooperation and effort that made the difference of a finished to an unfinished product.

^I agree. Some might not want to do anything as simple as that. But if people are coding/graphic-impaired, maybe they can start with that and go up from there.

Sorry Spencer.

wow. that would be really cool. i know i'd love to get help =D & that way you can get know other cb members... anyways yeah. sounds cool.

i SO want to be one of the novices!

I think that, if this is going to happen, you should wait a couple of rounds before y'all incorporate coding.

First Round: Creating Basic Headers
---> Basically, learning to manipulate the pictures into a proper header that COULD be used on a website
Manipulating: Blending, changing colors, adding textures, adding brushes, and how NOT to go overboard. Teach dimensions, resolution, basics.

Second Round: Creating complex Headers
---> Involves lots of pictures and focuses more of picture placement. Lessons taught in round one will most certainly come into play here. Basically, making more complex headers that you spend more time on. Teaches proper repetition. How can repetition be proper, you ask? Oye. Much to learn you do, young weedhoppa!


Future Round: How to incorporate the headers into a site
---> Making it flow with the rest of the webpage, figuring out if ONE COLUMN or TWO COLUMN code would fit best. OH! Color scheme. Making sure the site has a great color scheme that flows with the header and isn't too bright or tacky.


Uhm. Yeah. Discuss. My head hurts. :D

^i like the sound of that

in webmastering, we started off with a logo, then a header, and then our personal websites (which did not have to use the previous logo or header). many personal webdesigners use logos, so maybe one of their first tasks could be to design a logo.

YES OMG. id love this. having a coach. and learning from them :dances:
great idea and itll help a lot of members if they join this.

This would be awesome, Good idea. I would love to work with another member. Can share ideas :).

Yeah we did that!



Lots of people are showing interest. but we still need to get this up and off the floor and onto the drawing board.