What are your thoughts?

Originally posted on June 7, 2005 @ 11:51 am

I would like to introduce you to the 9rules Network Blog. The old 9rules blog has gone and past away so if you liked what I said on that one or are just curious to keep up to date on the 9rules network happenings then I suggest you give the new blog a ride.

For the design I asked for something minimal, but with a style of its own and Rundle delivered on this one. I could’ve given him weeks to work on a more detailed and elaborate design, but for what the purpose of the blog is, the design works perfectly in my opinion. Knowing him you will probably see some tweaks over the next couple of weeks, but the foundation has been laid.

This is the first of many new blogs that will expand on the WordPress platform. We have some crazy things in the works for the network that involve WordPress and RSS so all you WordPress fans make sure to keep your eyes open.

New sites for the network could start to appear any day now…

Originally posted on April 20, 2005 @ 2:41 am

I am looking for a designer to redesign some of the blogs on the 9rules Network. What about Rundle you ask? Well he is already busy working on some 9rules projects along with Business Logs stuff so either I can let him sleep or I can give him more work than one creative mind can handle.

What I am looking for:

• I have a high standard for design so would expect good quality from the designer as well. CSS-based design should be obvious.
• Being on the client-side for once I know this sounds ridiculous, but speed is important to me. I don’t expect a design in 2 days, but I also don’t expect a blog design to take 2 months.
• The first site will be Forever Geek. Most of what you see will continue to be there with some minor additions mostly to the individual entry pages.
• If you are interested shoot me an email at scrivs{AT}9rules.com with your portfolio (or links to your work) along with how much you would charge for redesigning the site.

Why not just do it yourself? Well I have been doing it myself for the past year, but I am in the management position now and understand how much of an impact top-quality design (along with great content) can have on a site. I am looking to take Forever Geek to a higher level and this is step one of that process. Also I have a ton of other issues that need my attention.

Again if you are interested then send me an email: scrivs{AT}9rules.com.

Thanks.

UPDATE: I have received a number of proposals that I need to go over and cannot except anymore because I would like to respond to everyone in a timely manner. Thanks to everyone who showed interest in helping me.

Originally posted on April 13, 2005 @ 9:57 pm

Hey guys and gals, I’m Mike Rundle and I head up the design of all things related to Business Logs and 9rules. You may know me from my personal weblog, phark.typepad.com, or maybe that negative text-indent image replacement technique. Now that we’ve got that settled, let’s get down to business.

The new 9rules Network will be launching soon with two primary goals. The first goal is to provide readers with a variety of well written blogs on a wide range of topics all in one spot. The second goal is to provide writers of well written blogs a chance to reach a wider audience and potentially generate some revenue along the way. This community-like atmosphere is the main focus of 9rules — to have many different kinds of weblogs on completely different topics all brought together under one umbrella.

We’re currently working hard on the infrastructure that will support this new network, but my immediate role in this entire thing is to design, design, design. We’re not only launching a new website, but we’re re-launching the entire 9rules brand as well. Since weblogs are the driving force behind 9rules, and Whitespace readers are some of the most well-informed bloggers in the world, we think that some design collaboration should be in order.

Working the Metaphor

I see the 9rules network as a living, growing community of weblogs, and as such, I wanted the logo to represent something organic and changing. Weblogs are categorized based on topic, and then those categories make up the full network. This reminded me of leaves growing on branches, then branches making up the entire tree. So now that I’ve got my metaphor, it’s time to start thinking about what I want to do with the logo.

The brands that come to mind when I think of “organic” design are Apple’s iLife ’05, BP, Jon Hicks’ new logo, Adobe Creative Suite, and of course, Organic. Before starting this project, I’ve definitely seen all of these brands before and I’m sure they all weighed in on my creative process. I wanted a leaf-like logo, and to tie it into the domain, Paul thought I should have 9 integrated petals. So here’s what I came up with:

I haven’t even thought about the typography associated with the logomark yet (probably another entry!) so right now I just have the symbol. For smaller applications of the logo, as well as print work, the logo can be monochromatic and still have the organic look:

The Process

To be completely honest, this is the very first time I’ve opened Adobe Illustrator to produce something relevant. The Pen tool and I don’t get along, so I was pretty reluctant to produce an illustrated logomark. Just like with all my designs, I rock them out analog style to start. I drew some concepts on my trusty Miquelrius notebook that integrated ‘9’ and ‘r’ into a leaf design, but those just didn’t cut the mustard. I started working with the logo in Illustrator, and just like all design work, it evolved into something different than what I started with.

I used the curve tool to make each side of the leaf, then used the Pathfinder palette to connect the two (thanks Mike!) into a leaf-like shape. From that I just duplicated, rotated, and re-colored to make the shape you see there. It originally was going to be completely green, but I thought adding color would help with the rest of the site’s color scheme. Plus, the “budding into a flower” analogy worked with the overall strategy, so I went with it.

Conclusion

I started with some line drawings on paper with an idea in my head, and it turned into what you see above. Now that you know what went into the design, you can give some comments and suggestions. We’re all ears.

Editor’s Note: Mike will be traveling all day today (Monday) so I will try my best to answer any question until he gets to where he needs to get to.

Originally posted on April 4, 2005 @ 12:24 am

Today is signup day if you would like to get your site in the new network. I must apologize for some of the ‘marketing speak’ I gave in the last 9rules entry, but that was only due to my excitement with this upcoming venture. Feel free to signup today as the form will only be up for 24 hours.

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me with their encouraging words. We are all very excited.

Originally posted on April 6, 2005 @ 12:02 am