John Anderson <anderson.jo...@gmail.com>

Hear ye, Hear ye:

Whereas the Cake sites were designed in an afternoon, and

Whereas we need a nice, clean, updated look,

The CakePHP Development Team calls upon aspiring designer folks in  
the community to submit some hip designs so we can work together to  
create a more beautiful world for all things Cake.

//----------The Down Low:----------//

This little program is a mix of a design contest and a design  
collaboration. Once submissions have been gathered, the our team will  
pick the top 3-4 submissions as "winners". Those selected as winners  
will form a design group tasked with using the best elements of the  
top designs to create the most totally-awesome Cake look and feel.

We feel this is a good approach, because everyone has something to  
offer, and disregarding a good idea just because it didn't come from  
a single submission is a bad idea. We want to take the best of the best!

//----------Deadline:----------//

March 30, 2006.

Send submissions to d...@cakephp.org.

Because that's kinda soon, we're only asking for visuals. No markup  
needed at this point. Just send us a 72 dpi image, in a common image  
format.

Please realize that by submitting an image, you grant the  
CakeFoundation ownership of it (along with your current residence and  
firstborn child).

//----------Guidelines:----------//

In working with some advertising marketing gurus, we've decided that  
Cake needs a genre or metaphor it can fit inside of. Something grand  
that communicates simple, easy, solid, yet up-and-coming.

The american 1950's really exemplify this to us: the simplicity of  
the gadgets of the time, and most people consider things made during  
that time to be rock-solid. Something futuristic set in that genre is  
what we're looking for. Think Jetsons. Think fifties era sci-fi.

Now, we don't want www.cakephp.org to look like the inside of a  
fifties diner, nor like the inside of Mr. Spacely's factory, but give  
your visuals a flavor that hints in that basic direction. Make it  
feel fifties-like, but don't take it too far.

Another note of caution: there will be a tendency for you to take  
inspiration from other web 2.overboard sites' looks, especially those  
from RoR's site. We need to stand on our own, so find your  
inspiration from the past, not from the present.

Desired Ingredients:

- A global navigational element that includes all the cake sites
        (cakephp.org, foundation, cakeforge, manual, schwag, trac, wiki, api)

- Some way to sub-brand the above mentioned sites.

- Spot for a global search box.

- Fifties flavored visuals, in moderation.

- Go slim on web 2.0 fads (like pixel stripes, squares with two  
rounded corners, etc.). We want hip, but our own hip.

- Keep the cake icon. We like the icon, but you can play with the  
words. The icon right next to the word "cake" is a little redundant,  
so try to solve that problem.

- The layout needs to be flexible. Some of our sites are information  
heavy, and are better suited to wide, liquid layouts (like the API  
and manual). That said, other sites can fit inside a sexier, thinner  
fixed layout for easy quick reading. Top submissions would include  
ideas for both wide and thin layouts.

//--------------------//

Ready, set, go!

John David Anderson
d...@cakephp.org
Resident Image and Doc Monkey