consolejockey

Everybody’s favorite geek news site, Slashdot, is having a redesign contest. From the designs that CmndrTaco, Slashdot’s big cheese, has posted, it looks like he’s getting what he’s paid for. Most of the designs he’s deemed worthy of posting are outright terrible. And to top it all off, he’s actually critiquing them. It’s fun to play art director.

Design contests can be great, but they inherently put the designer in a subjugated position, making it nigh impossible for many, if any, real improvements to be made. It’s hard enough to get clients to listen to you when they are actually paying you, but when you volunteer to work for a “prize” you pretty much sign away any credibility you have.

I think it’s safe to say that whatever Slashdot ends up with will be better than what they had before, but if they really want an improvement they are going to A) actually hire a designer and B) give up on much of their current branding (if you wanna call what they have a brand). As part of the contest rules, designers must stick to the green/gray color scheme and use round edges as they are on the current site. So really this is more a a re-skinning than a redesign.

Have a look-see at what’s been presented so far:
First Batch of Slashdot Redesign Contest Notes
Slashdot Redesign Contest Continued
Slashdot Redesign Part III