The Goblin Market $150

[mmora]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 62152W)

Site name: The Goblin Market
URL: http://www.The-Goblin-Market.com
Date of completion: August 1st, 2003
Concept:
An art site dedicated to unique, dark pieces of original art. Almost all will be replicated works by contemporary artists. Formats will include photography, paintings, digital art, and a number of other types of printed mediums.

I've always been a fan of open-book quizzes. As such, these are the things that will win this contest for you...

1. I’m looking for a design that lends itself to a non-traditional (ie, I’m not too keen on a navbar) easy to use browsing that might allow a user to move quickly between categories, artists, price ranges, etc. Because this will happen at the GUI, I leave it up to you, the designer. :rolleyes:

2. Although kind of "spooky," I'm going to completely avoid mainstream symbolism and trying to stay away from clichéd elements. No crosses, skulls, snakes, ankhs, etc. No death-related images, nothing that could be affiliated with witchcraft or Satanism. No paganism, Buddhism, or other. Think “general aversion to religious iconolatry.” I’m going for more of a ‘corporate goth’ look without the cheese.

3. There will be nothing crass or obscene on this site. No nudity, excessive violence, racial nastiness, etc. Moody, but abstract; intimation and allusion. Nothing obvious.

4. I’m looking for a sharp, easy-to-look-at site that goes along well with the logo. Sharp, good contrast, something florid without being garish. Something simple but visually impacting.

I don't know if it matters at this level, but the backend apps and programming will happen using Macromedia Studio MX (Flash and Dreamweaver), Photoshop Illustrator, and a lot of Cold Fusion.

Here are some links to artists currently being considered for publication:
http://www.usefilm.com/browse.php?mode=port&data=10107
http://www.bajema.com
http://www.dreamline.nu/theparticletarot/
http://www.eyesofchaos.com/gallery/mindste...em_innerset.htm (http://www.eyesofchaos.com/gallery/mindstem_innerset.htm)
http://www.industrialangels.com/art_digital.html

I'm having some issue uploading files. I will email the logo upon request.
If you have ANY other needs, please let me know.
I will be checking my email a lot. Just drop me a line.

Looking forward to getting this thing off the ground.
Martin B)
Director
Expertise, Inc.

[Michael]

As Martin mentioned he's having uploading problems so if you want the files (zipped) download it from here (http://www.2square.co.uk/contests/gmlogo.zip)


Michael

[mmora]

Been doing some thinking.
Although I am fond of that logo, if one of you has something better in mind, have at.
I trust your judgement.
Martin
:)

[marengo]

i'm in. :)

Btw, i'm sure you'll like also these sites:
http://www.alessandrobavari.com/
http://www.polushkin.ru/

[BrianDove]

Hi mmora,
Here are my questions:
1. Are you looking for a particular color scheme ?
2. Do you have any other websites you like to show us your taste graphically ?
3.Are you planning to use frames ?
4. Could you "guide" us on some of the content we could include in the template ( main page.. )
5. Can we use one of your artist paint as "webpage theme": Use the painting in several pages forming part of the design,like the one at http://www.polushkin.ru/news.php?lng= ?

Thanks for your guidance!
Brian
:tup:

[mmora]

Koolbrian,
1. I don't have any thoughts regarding color schemes. (Unless you're using the logo, in which case black/grey and shades of red, on white, would be nice.)

2. I just know I really want to stay away from a navigation bar. Links are ok. Dropdown menus are ok. Thumbnails are ok. Popup windows are ok. (One of the main things to affect design will be how we present the thumbnails, and that's up to you.) I want to display 3-5 random pics to inspire browsing (most viewed, others in category, newest uploads, etc) in addition to the current artists' thumbnails. Here are some sites that I like, as far as how they present their info:
www.sothebys.com www.saksfifthavenue.com
Here are some I do not like:
www.art.com www.posters.com/Drawings/Art.htm
I like to think of the browsing experience as more of a private screening, and less of a "Here's everything." They should be able to move back and forwards easily.

3. I have no idea. Again, depends on the design. I have a strong enough group of CF developers and Dreamweaver people that whatever we want it to do, it can do.

4. Good idea. Sorry about the lack of guidance. I've created a guest account you can all share at my site. There are two visio docs up right now. Login, read and agree to the disclosure agreement, click "View Projects" and you'll see the link.
www.iwilladvance.com/login.cfm
Login: gmproject
Pass: g0bl1n38 (g [zero] b l [one] n [three] [eight])
The page mockup is Very rough. Basically just me messing around. Don't feel bound by it.

5. As to using the other artists' work, I'd rather not. My contracts aren't done, so I don't have permission on paper to replicate the art yet. It would suck to get all the way through this and then have an artist bail.

Thanks for the questions. Again, if anyone needs something, just let me know.
Martin

[BrianDove]

Thanks mmora!
I'll work on a template soon for ya :tup:

Brian

[Hypnosis]

I can't wait to see that man! ;)
Hyp!

[Raja]

Hi!

This sounds intersting. I can't really nail down what you envision for this but my initial feel was something along the lines of on of my favourite artist's websites.

conclave obscurum (http://cmart.design.ru/)

If this style is short of the mark, please point me/us to perhaps another design that is more inline with what you want for this.

Thanks!!

[Palmer]

:o

[marengo]

Originally posted by ondarox@Jul 24 2003, 01:43 PM
Hi!

This sounds intersting. I can't really nail down what you envision for this but my initial feel was something along the lines of on of my favourite artist's websites.

conclave obscurum (http://cmart.design.ru/)



Thanks!!
he is Oleg Paschenko; i'm his great fan (real). See my link's page "sites for inspiration"
http://marengo.neopages.net/links.htm
:D

[mmora]

Ondarox,

Very neat site. Not too far off. Easier to navigate would be good.
(I've never been a huge fan of horizontal scrolling, but if you can make it work well I'm open to the concept.)

I expect that eventually, someone who is not internet savvy will come to the site and they need to be able to use it. :) That's my primary concern.

If you look at www.saksfifthavenue.com, it's almost what I'm talking about. Big pic, little pics, browse above and on the right. Very close. I wish they'd squeeze in another set of thumbnails (current artist pics and a random selection.)

That site is as close as I've seen to the idea that's wandering hazily through my mind. (If this was not helpful, let me know.)

Martin

[marengo]

hello,
www.saksfifthavenue.com , famous http://zazzle.com/ , http://deviantart.com/... are you looking for something like these sites, right?
Thanks.

[mmora]

Not so busy.
And I'd like everything to be on 1 page, with no page scrolling.

I don't expect to have more than a hundred pieces at any one time, so there will never be very many categories.
(When showing what buttons will do, feel free to use "category1, category2, category3...", or whatever else you feel will get the message across.)

Martin

[Raja]

hi!


Here's a screen capture of something I've been working on for you today, I figure I'll be the guinea pig here :)

I am planning for the popup approach and a list box for any additional nav.


scarum (http://webfellaz.com/clients/goblin/)

[mmora]

Ondarox,
Very nice work. :)
Sorry about the slow reply. I saw this last night, but wanted to sleep on it.
All, please forgive if I come up with stuff I should have mentioned before hand. Not only is this the first time I've messed with design, but it's a pet project as well. God only knows what I'm gonna say between now and Friday. :bash:
Likes:
The format looks good. It looks like it will be very browsable.
I don't see any serious problems with the layout. (What is that picture of?)
I'm not sure I want my goblin to be small and fat. :whistle:
I don't suppose I could see what it looks like with my logo up there. (You could nix the horizontal lines at the top of it and the little twisty thing at the bottom.)
If it looks decent, I'd like the red to match that color (Can you get a decent color sample in photoshop, or do you need the color scheme?)
I like it. :)

All:
I'd like to see samples of the following pages so I can get a real feel for what customers will be looking at. Not with your first submission, just before friday. (This is one of those things I should have mentioned earlier. ForGiveaness, please. :ninja: )
1. Main page: 4-8 thumbnails of random art, 3-4 thumbnails of featured artist, 1 central pic.
2. Specific artist / Featured artist page: same as main, but with mini-bio (we will have the option to have artists pics on the artist bio page, but not the necessity. The pic box just won't show up if there isn't an object there. So in theory this page could have a thumbnail pic) and link to artists bio page.
3. Browse by _____ (category, subject, whatever)
All: Again, if there are specific questions you have that will help, please ask them. I'm approaching this in all humility (love that karma quote) and would appreciate your expert input.
Martin

[mmora]

Ok, just talked to my CF/Dreamweaver person. I'm it trouble. :)
We are not using frames, and text should be done using CSS (cascading stylesheets.) If you are unable to it isn't an issue, just let me know what kind format the files I'll get from you are and we can talk at that level.
It also needs to be cross-browser compatible with Netscape 4.7.
Martin
(Basically what this means is that she'll have to recreate everything, which would be good to avoid but worthwhile for the right design template.)

[Palmer]

Actually that's great news. Non-frames and css are much easier and what we're used to.

[lang]

I'll have something for your contest very shortly. :)

[BrianDove]

Hi,
Sorry but I can't "unzip" the zip file/logo file... ( It appears to be an unvalid file )
Could you please give me another link ? Or easier, just post the logo in gif format, so i just "save as"
Thanks!
Brian

[lang]

Here you go, Brian. :)

[BrianDove]

Thanks lang!

I will try to post something soon,

Brian

[Michael]

Hello,

Had a quick play but this may not be what you are looking for.

Goblin (http://www.2square.co.uk/contests/goblin.html)

I've shown an example of a rollover on the gallery link.


Look forward to your thoughts.

Michael

[mmora]

2square,

Very nice submission. You guys aren't going to make this easy for me.
Likes:
The format looks good. Those trees are very neat. I'm not certain about the frame, but I don't dislike it, either.
A few little concerns with the layout. I like the way the moons are arched at the top, but I'd like more space to present pics first. Could I see what this would look like with the moons in a straight line? Then you could move up the thumbnail strip (I like that) and make the main pic box a little taller.
Also, if you ditched the little swirly tail at the bottom of the logo you could make the text box a little bigger.
Could you widen the boarder? Again, space for presentation is important.
Are you thinking of popups for the main pic, or another page?
Martin

[Michael]

Very nice submission. You guys aren't going to make this easy for me

Thanks, with the quality of designers at DO even I would find it hard to choose :D

The format looks good. Those trees are very neat. I'm not certain about the frame, but I don't dislike it, either.
A few little concerns with the layout. I like the way the moons are arched at the top, but I'd like more space to present pics first. Could I see what this would look like with the moons in a straight line? Then you could move up the thumbnail strip (I like that) and make the main pic box a little taller. Also, if you ditched the little swirly tail at the bottom of the logo you could make the text box a little bigger.
Could you widen the boarder? Again, space for presentation is important.

That's no problem.

Are you thinking of popups for the main pic, or another page?

I was thinking of popups for the pic's, but you mentioned that were may not be keen on the boarder so I was thinking of a popup on enter of the site for the main page fitted to the bkg image (trees), but then you don't want to many other popups you have that so main pic's could go to another page. I will have a think on it.



Michael

[mmora]

2square,
My CF person suggested the following:
As you noticed, most of my issues were with use of space.
If replace that border with a 6 pt. red box and had a plain black backgroun, increased the space available on the inside and left the arched moons (I did like them, but space is an issue) that could fix a few problems.
Martin :)

[Raja]

hi, the goblins back, and he's still fat.

Here's a second comp for you. You can click the "pop" button to see what the window would like. The colours have been matched to your logo using the eye dropper (good suggestion btw).


small fat (http://63.138.150.196/clients/goblin/v2/)

[mmora]

Ondarox,

A very good step in the right direction. :tup:

I'm going to have to take issue with that teal/turquoise color. :blink: My CF person suggested you use that gray blue color at the top of the stained glass window (the limestone or whatever it is.) It's a grey with kind of a blue hint to it. (Almost the color of the default text background in these forums. ---------> <------- that color)

I'd like to see the white page borders on the main page, above and on the sides, to be about 2/3rds that size. The bottom border looks good (I like the way it opens into the pic.)

The popup looks good also. :) Exactly which page is this? Is this an individual piece that someone is considering buying, or is it the artist bio page?I figured it was the first, but the title confused me.

I'd like to see that orangish color something closer to gold. (If you look at the light gold color in the hairline of the girl in the sample pic, that's about it.) If you can nail that color down, I'd also like to see it used in the rollovers. (Same background, gold letters.)

Lookin good. :)

Martin

[Michael]

Originally posted by ondarox@Jul 28 2003, 05:47 PM
hi, the goblins back, and he's still fat.

Here's a second comp for you. You can click the "pop" button to see what the window would like. The colours have been matched to your logo using the eye dropper (good suggestion btw).


small fat (http://63.138.150.196/clients/goblin/v2/)
Looking good Rox (damm :furious:)

[Michael]

Am I getting closer?

Raja is small 'n' fat (http://www.2square.co.uk/contests/goblin2.html)


Michael

[BrianDove]

Here's my entry:
Note: You will notice the image a bit "flu" or "blured" it's because of it's format. Dont worry, if you ever use this template, i'm gonna make it perfect :)
Note: There are mouse overs effects, and the text is controled by CSS external style sheet, fully customizable:

Goblin Template Entry (http://www.brianstudio.com/Designoutpost/goblin/template.htm) <_<
Regards,
Brian

[Michael]

Page not found Brian!!

[BrianDove]

Strange... Because it's on my server, and I can view it..
anyways,
http://www.brianstudio.com/Designoutpost/g...in/template.htm (http://www.brianstudio.com/Designoutpost/goblin/template.htm)

[Michael]

Its showing now how strange..

Very nice Brian love the paper effect bkg.


Michael

[BrianDove]

Thanks!
I tried to:
- make the webpage VERY browsable
- make the webpage EASY to navigate
- emphasis the art works by putting a rather white background
- Add a "pen" effect on the whole website
:lol2:
Brian

[mmora]

koolbrian,

Wow. Right on the money. :tup: Nothing jumps out as being off.

I'd like to see those other page samples (artist bio, featured artist, and the popup.)

Great work. :)

Martin

[mmora]

All:
Since we're getting on towards Friday, I'd like to know how you would prefer the rest of the week to happen.

I just recently realized I have a few questions and some things I'd like to see before Friday, and since you are the experts...

I have two basic concerns:
1. Giving you all too much work, and then having someone (more than 1 someones) not get paid for putting in a bunch of time.
2. Getting through Friday and selecting a winner, then having work that I haven't had done yet (this isn't a really spookie problem, as I have people who fill in any holes.)

I can placate these concerns with three basic questions:
1. How much more work do you all expect to do?
2. Will the winner continue to finish up detail work and page templates after selected, or do I need to have whatever I want done done before Friday?
3. How much work would seem fair to you, with the knowledge that at least 2 people aren't getting paid for the effort.

I'll have more stuff I'd like to see up shortly. I just want to make sure this happens in such a way that we're all basically happy.
(I expect to be using this service quite a bit, and would like to have good involvement from everyone in the future.)
Martin

[Michael]

I can placate these concerns with three basic questions:


Fire ahead

1. How much more work do you all expect to do?

Well I can't answer for everyone but I will continue working until you are happy with the design, but if you prefer another members design and think that's the one for you then I would like you to say so just so I know not to put to much work in I know that’s sounds harsh but hopefully you understand being a business man.

2. Will the winner continue to finish up detail work and page templates after selected, or do I need to have whatever I want done before Friday?


I think it's normal practice to continue after the contest with the finer details until you are happy with the end design.


How much work would seem fair to you, with the knowledge that at least 2 people aren't getting paid for the effort.

Hey that's what a contest is all about we all know there can be only one winner but it doesn’t stop us putting in 110%, as I mentioned I will continue with your requests until your are happy.


Hope I've helped but as I mentioned I can't answer for everyone.


Michael

[BrianDove]

Here's the artist bio page

:ph34r:

[Palmer]

Nice picture Brian :D

[marengo]

Here's the artist bio page
Is it you there, Brian? :)

[BrianDove]

yeah its me :)
Brian

[mmora]

All:
First I want to thank everyone who participated. All of the submissions have been very strong, and my CF developer and I still aren't in agreement about who should take the cake, as it were.
However, in the interest of getting things done I'd like to be the first to say congratulations to Ondarox. It was a close decision, but I think the right one.
Please keep a close eye on my future contests, as I hope to have a few of them up here shortly and look forward to your submissions.
Martin B)
PS. If anyone has feedback for me in regards to how I've run this contest, or suggestions for future contests, please let me know. As experienced users and contestants I would value your opinions.
Hope to do a lot of work with you all very soon!

[Palmer]

Congrats Raja :tup:

Thanks Martin, personally I think you did just fine :)

[Michael]

Well done Raja, nice birthday present..


Thanks Martin for the contest I look forward to the others just make sure Raja (rox) is on holiday but then again Brian put up a good fight.


Michael

[Raja]

yayhoooray!

This one was alot of fun and very competitive! Great efforts my colleagues :)

Martin, thanks!

I'll carry this over to email...


:tup:

hmmm, now how to spend this moolah? :drink: