Sidebar Redesign: Contest Results

The results are in for my Sidebar Redesign Contest.

Although the response was a little under whelming, I like a lot about each of the three submissions (a bonus for each designer: there are three prizes, so everyone wins :-) and have decided to incorporate parts of each into the sidebar of this site (each winner will get a mention in the source of the sidebar, and the Grand Prize winner will get a link in the sidebar).

Without further ado, I proudly present:

• 1st Place (Grand Prize) | Brad Smith ( homepage / view entry )
  Brad’s design is clean, and (to me) feels like it adds just what I felt the sidebar was missing. More visual separation for the section headings, as well as the indentation for each list item, adds structure to the sidebar. The Recent Comments section is also nicely done.
• 1st Runner Up | Kjell Olsen ( homepage / view entry )
  Kjell’s entry is a mostly behind-the-scenes reworking of the sidebar content, allowing control of each section via MovableType. I really, really like the way this is put together — this is top-notch in my book.
• 2nd Runner Up | Hadley ( homepage / view entry )
  Hadley’s submission does a terrific job of reorganizing the content, combining items like the contests into one section, along with more descriptive naming for each section. This design also features more separation between section headings.

Each winner has been notified via email of the results, along with their TypePad 20% Discount Codes. I plan to implement the changes throughout this week, and possibly into the weekend, and will post a short note when the new sidebar is live. My guess is that regular readers will appreciate the changes, especially the extra separation of the section headings (as seen in two of the entries).

A big thanks to Brad, Kjell and Hadley for entering, and not allowing the contest to slip by unnoticed. Your entries are terrific, and will make this site even better than before!