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[IPS News]

We are happy to announce our first skin design contest!

With the upcoming release of Invision Power Board 3.0 we want to give all of the great skin designers in our community a chance to leave a permanent mark on IP.Board. This is your chance to design a skin that will be available to all users of IP.Board right along with the download of the software in the client area.

Our goal with this skin is to create another default skin option for clients to use as the base of their skin design projects. One key point to keep in mind is that we specifically do not want a simple redesign of the current default IP.Board 3.0.0 skin. While you can feel free to use our default skin as a starting point, we want this new skin to be its own work. Feel free to change HTML, CSS, images, JavaScript usage, etc. as you see fit within the goals of the project.

Skin Design Goals

• The new skin should be streamlined, light weight, and efficient as possible. The best way to go about this is to start with as little JavaScript and CSS as you can and add only as appropriate.
  
• Keep web standards in mind and cross-browser/cross-platform compatibility.
  
• While designing your skin keep novice skinners in mind. It should be very easy to change your default header, colors, etc. even for a novice with little to no knowledge of CSS and HTML's more advanced properties.
  
• Must include all functionality of IPB3 but feel free to present those functions in any way you see fit.

In summary, we are after a very professional skin with a nice, clean look and feel. Less is more approach in both the complexity of the design and the complexity of the HTML/CSS/JS is the key to keep in mind. Find a friend with minimal design experience and ask them if they are able to edit the look and feel. If they can you're on the right track!

Choosing Winners

We have created a special Gallery category on our company forums for submissions. Just create an album in that category with screen shots of your skin design. The more the better to give everyone a good look at your work. The IPS customer community will then be able to vote on the skins they like best. Submissions to the gallery can start at any time (and be updated as you go) but must be uploaded by June 15, 2009. Customers will not be able to vote until after the June 15 deadline to keep the process fair for all.

The IPS customer community will be allowed to vote for one week and the top 10 skins will be reviewed by IPS staff and management. You will be asked to allow us to review an export of the skin to see your code quality so keep in mind don't just go for looks: the underlying quality of code is important too! We may also wish to ask you questions on your vision, approach, and ideas for improvement.

The final choice will be made based on how well the designer has met the design goals specified here.

Prizes

Prizes will be awarded as cash with third place receiving $150.00 and second place $250.00.

First place will receive $2,000.00 and their skin will be featured along with IP.Board as an alternate skin choice!



We hope all the talented skin designers in the community will participate. Even if you are not chosen as the winner, all skins will have the opportunity for exposure and promotion during the contest. We look forward to seeing your great work!

[IPS News]

Notices

The first place skin design, images, style sheets, code, and all related creative elements become the property of Invision Power Services, Inc. By submitting work for consideration, designers agree to this provision and agree to turn over all copyright and creative licenses to Invision Power Services, Inc. if they are chosen as the first place submission.

While the intention of the contest is to include the skin with IP.Board, Invision Power Services, Inc. makes no guarantee that this will be the case upon IP.Board 3.0.0's initial release or any subsequent version release.

Invision Power Services, Inc. reserves the right to withdraw this contest offering if a skin of appropriate quality for inclusion with IP.Board is not presented. In this case, the second and third place prizes will remain the same but first place will be reduced to $350.00 and the skin will not be included with IP.Board. Also, in this event, Invision Power Services, Inc. will waive its requirement for ownership of the skin creative.

As Invision Power Services, Inc. creates commercial products, all creative submitted must be the original work of the author and/or of a public domain license which allows free distribution in a commercial product.

[Rikki]

Tips For Entrants

Here are a few tips for people wanting to enter the contest, which may lead to a better chance of winning!

• Make it easy to maintain. Skins shipped with IPB have to be maintained between releases. For this reason, it is highly recommended that you make as few template edits as possible in your skin - going so far as to make no template edits and using only css is even better! While making significant template edits does give you flexibility, it makes maintaining your skin between versions much more difficult.
  
  
• Discover the power of CSS. A lot can be accomplished just by using CSS to resize, move and alter elements on the page. Try redesigning the user box in the header, or the board footer, or topic view, with css changes only, and see what you can achieve. This plays in with the above point.
  
  
• Don't include words in your images. IPB is used by people all over the world who do not speak English, so putting words on your images (other than the logo) means they must be translated. Try and imagine your skin being used on a non-English forum, and remove any elements of your design that would prevent that out of the box.
  
  
• Be creative. We aren't looking for a slightly different version of the default IPB3 skin; we're looking for something fresh and different that will appeal to a wide range of users. Your skin can be fixed width or fluid, visually basic or not - it's up to you.
  
  
• Keep it simple. This has a couple of facets - first, avoid including lots of new Javascript (though small amounts is fine). Your winning skin may be used by millions of people so keeping filesizes as low as possible is important. Second, think about the actual design of your skin. Would it appeal to a wide range of people? Think about all the different types of people and forums that exist, and try and make your skin appeal to as many as possible. Your skin will be unlikely to win if it only appeals to a small niche of our users!
  
  
• Remember the applications. Your skin will have to work with IPB, as well as Blog, Gallery and Downloads. However, for the June 15 submission you only need to be concerned with IPB.

[Rikki]

FAQ

When is the deadline?
June 15, 2009

How many skins can I enter
As many as you wish, but remember it's quality over quantity.

Can we reuse items from IPB3 default skin?
Yes, you can reuse images, CSS etc. from the default skin (though bear in mind your skin needs to feel unique and fresh), and we highly recommend you use the default templates

Which IPB3 version should I work on?
You can start testing ideas right now, but I wouldn't suggest implementing your final design until RC1. There will be plenty of time to work on your skin between RC1 and the contest deadline.

Do I need to skin the Admin CP?
No, only skin the front-end of IPB.