Breaking Free
Experiments in tech entrepreneurship
A New Design For UniversityTutor.com
In: Updates By: Brian Armstrong
18 Jul 2010I recently put up a project on 99Designs.com to get UniversityTutor redesigned.
I put up a $795 prize and got 46 entries from a half dozen designers
Most of the designs weren’t very good, but one designer stood out and I awarded him the prize. His name is Jack Herbert and he is in the UK. Below you can see the screenshots of his final design which I selected.
These are just photoshop images right now, so I’m spending the evening next few days turning them into CSS on the real site. It should be launching soon.
Main takeaway: there is just no reason not to have a decent design for your web business these days. For a reasonable price you can get some great design work done.
Until next time, keep breaking free!
Brian Armstrong
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Breaking Free is a collection of articles on tech entrepreneurship, business, and life written by Brian Armstrong. You can read more here »
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J bishop
July 18th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Beautiful mocks. Great choice!
Brian Armstrong
July 19th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Thanks Jim!
J Bishop
September 22nd, 2010 at 12:29 am
My buddy used Jack for his site – firecore.com. Looks pretty sweet, so thanks for posting all the info for UniversityTutor.com
Brian Armstrong
September 22nd, 2010 at 9:11 am
Sweet! I’m sure he appreciated the referral.
Jason Demant
July 18th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Hey Brian,
The new design looks great! Was there any reason you chose $795?
It still seems a little off to me that so many people did work without getting paid, but it’s great that you had so many options to choose from.
Jason
Brian Armstrong
July 19th, 2010 at 6:54 am
When I went through the setup process at 99designs this is the price they recommended to get enough designers interested, so I went with their recommendation. Seemed to be about right.
Agreed – it’s a controversial idea in the design community right now. I think it can make sense for a designer who is just starting out and needs to build their portfolio, or as a way to get your foot in the door for longer term clients. I’d use this guy again in the future. He was good.
Mar
July 19th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Look on the bright side, these sites, like 99designs / getacoder / elancer, are mostly populated with freelancers (and the occasional design agencies), but mostly individuals looking for means to earn that extra cash. Sure its hard on designers who don’t get their designs chosen, and not getting anything paid, but on the bright side, they’ve just added one more to their portfolio. That’s a good thing still, I know, cos I’m speaking as one of those guys. = )
Perhaps anyone who mentions it as controversial are finding it hard to adapt to change, like how traditional CD Stores look at online MP3 distribution with a queer eye. Just saying~
striker
July 19th, 2010 at 2:28 am
Just curious, what’s wrong with the current design.
It looks simpler & cleaner, atleast the first couple of pages I looked at.
striker
Brian Armstrong
July 19th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Interesting – definitely nothing wrong with the current design. It’s functional. I just thought it felt a bit dated and amateurish (since I designed it myself). When starting out with a new site I don’t focus too much on design and just try to get it working, but as a site matures it’s another way to stand out from the competition.
Frank Denbow
July 29th, 2010 at 5:47 am
How are you doing with the PSD to CSS? As a backend coder, I know a very minimum about CSS and it is frustratingly difficult to make everything work the way I want in every browser especially. There is a startup I know of called Stiqr that could be helpful if they didnt charge so much up front. How has your experience been?
Brian Armstrong
August 4th, 2010 at 1:02 am
I think paying someone to convert it to CSS can make a lot of sense. The new design is up, but it sure wasn’t easy to get it working correctly in all browsers!
Dave
August 15th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
I think it looks rather nice. Very good choice on the designer. This makes me want to redesign my website over at Organo Express.