Logo and Website Design for DeveloperTV.com

DeveloperTV.com will be similar to our other video screen-cast tutorial website, LearnVisualStudio.NET (http://www.learnvisualstudio.net) but geared towards other developer/programmer technologies like JavaScript, Java, C++, XNA (Using C# to create XBox games). We want a fun logo & design that looks clean, fresh, colorful, professional and denotes that we're all about "video training".

DeveloperTV.com

Tagline:
(Not sure about this yet ... doesn't need to be part of the design)

Desired Color Scheme:
In the color families of our other sites ... please see examples in the description.

Desired Style:
To reiterate, the style should somewhat follow our existing designs, which are loosely based on popular web 2.0 / css-themes you see out there:

http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/co…oint/1.gif
http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/co…/sitepoint

Accepted File Formats:
Logo: High Fidelity Bitmap ... Website: Layered PSD or PNG, please

Logo - We want some personality ... so it should be fun. Needs to denote "geek" or "developer" somehow, plus media ... I personally love the idea of an unholy mash-up of http://www.jinx.com and http://www.tivo.com ... without blatantly stealing elements from either. Extra points for originality! We need two versions: a full color version and a "gray scale" version.

Website - Again, we want to denote "developer video training". It needs to have similar characteristics to our other sites that are both "live" and "in development" ... here are some screen-shots that might help (sorry they're so dithered ... I screen-capped them quickly) :

http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/co…oint/1.gif
http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/co…oint/2.gif **
http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/co…oint/4.gif

** Homepage redesign we're deploying next week

Here are two other sites that have our "style" ... they are quite a bit different in scope and business model, just wanted to add them for reference sake ... maybe there's an element or idea that could be helpful:

http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/co…oint/3.gif
http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/co…oint/5.gif

Specifically, the home page needs:

- A large area explaining our "unique selling proposition" with a big red "Start Today" button.
- An area where we can call attention on the right that has a "sale" or calls attention to a feature of the site (ex. "video tour")
- An area where we can feature "freebie" videos
- An area where we can collect email addresses
- An area where we show a partial listing of the titles of the videos we offer

The home page's "chrome" ... i.e., everything outside of the main white area, including the header, the navigation, etc. will be used on multiple pages. We'll be using this in a "template" so there shouldn't be anything so specific to the home page that we can't use the outside framing/design on multiple pages.

We're always cooking up something new, so we're anxious to meet the winner and establish a longer term relationship.

Thanks in advance to all entrants! Good luck!

EDIT: Oops ... two additional things:

1) File output -- should be in layered .psd so that we can more easily split it out into transitional XHTML (and since I like to pretend I'm a designer occasionally, having a .png version helps a lot so I can load it up in Fireworks.)

2) A "content page" -- Design for a fictitious "FAQ" or "Contact" or "Video Detail" page so we can get an idea of the typography, colors, boxes / shadings, etc. that we could use throughout the site.

EDIT ... AGAIN:

3) Changed the file type requirements again ... sorry, hope this doesn't pose too much of a problem for anyone. Now accepting EITHER high quality bitmap OR Adobe Illustrator file format for the logo. (Per my graphic designer, who explained to me the error of my ways) ALSO, changed the website design to either layered PSD *OR* PNG.

Thanks!

This contest was originally listed in multiple categories:
- Logo Design
- Web Page Design