This was recently announced on the openBC website:
openBC will be re-launching its website with a fresh, new design later this year. Beginning this week, you can have your say in the process that will lead to our new look & feel. Check out the Designer’s Journal and see how the new design evolves. The openDESIGN Challenge calls on designers to come up with better designs than ours for openBC’s most important page – the personal profile page – with €10,000 to be won for the winning entry!
Please see the About pages for more details.
The above was followed by this:
31/07/2006 | Full speed ahead for the openDESIGN project
The search for the new-look openBC has begun in earnest! A lively debate has been instigated where anyone who wants to have their say can join in. After all, it is about the future design of openBC no less. We are sharing our current “work in progress” in the Designer’s Journal, where you also have the chance to post comments on our various ideas. Your feedback will then be taken into account as our design evolves. Web designers and agencies are also invited to take part in an additional competition: They can submit their own design entries in the Challenge Galleries, presenting their ideas for a new profile page design, which the online community can then discuss and vote on.
We are delighted by members’ active involvement so far and are looking forward to the finished result we will come up with together!
The webpage where they are conducting the above is here – if you want to read more to determine for yourself whether this involves spec.
This is spec. Because:
- They are a business – meaning that they are a commercial, money-making venture and not a not-for-profit organization.
- They are targeting the design industry. When this happens, ask yourself, does this project call for a professional designer? If ‘yes’ then they should hire one.
If you are a talented web designer and think that you can do a better job than us, we invite you to prove it!
- They are asking for new work created for openBC, so yes, it’s working on the speculation of a return.
- And here’s the second carrot … a spec interview design.
Do you want to work with us? Great! Take a look at our job offer and submit a really great design as our first point of contact.
I am not going to give a link to the job. I applied for the job too – but did not take part in the above “competition”.
I had help on the above article from the people over at NO!SPEC – in terms of composing the text – I was not sure whether the “comeptition” was spec work so I wrote to them and they were kind enough to write to me in detail.
