Reboot bbc.co.uk

Where do you volunteer to be a judge?

;-)

How about fixing the "Submit Prototype" link?

http://open.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/submit_your_pro.html

Should the link be this?
http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/submit_your_pro.html

...what the BBC has to call "MP3 Players"...

Yet you're giving away "a high end Apple laptop"?

On a different tack, why not have "redesign the Ten O'Clock News" or "redesign The Archers" competitions.

Or you could do all this yourselves, which is what I'm paying you over a hundred quid a year for.

Yeah, that is kind of funny... You can't say that you're giving away Ipods (oops), but you can say that it's an Apple laptop. It's good to see that the legal department is kept occupied.

As far as doing a redesign of the BBC site... Any half decent redesign of such a content rich site would take a lot of time. I would say that if anyone is planning to spend less than a week on it from beginning to the end they should not even bother. So if someone does submit something really good I think the main prize should be changed from an Apple laptop to say, a Creative Director position at BBC.co.uk

Maybe you could improve the faq a bit, tell some facts about how many services are accessed and encompassed via the homepage, a bit about user groups, legal accessibly requirements etc - it should help focus entries more.

As interesting as this sounds. What you are really asking for is numerous submissions of what is in essence a $million rebranding. Not a bad exchange for an apple laptop.

Increase the prizes and you may get some serious designers invloved.

Wow - so much negativity! How about looking at it another way. How about thinking about this as

1) a great opportunity to challenge yourself & get your head round the idea of how to organize the MASSIVE amount of content on the BBC's site into a coherent & cohesive structure

2) having the BBC in your portfolio wouldn't be harmful

3) sure it's a clever tactic.. . the win a laptop thing rather than paying God-knows-how-much for a redesign, but how many little fish would EVER get the opportunity to pitch to a client that big?

:o)

Thoughts of a little fish

Seems a little cheeky this, win a laptop for doing what would normally cost thousands. Hmm...

To those who moan about the BBC supposedly taking people for mugs and stealing their designs.

Stop complaining and see it as an opportunity to showcase what you can do design wise.

So what if the BBC decide to use your site and have done it for the cost of an Apple Laptop.

Think of all the publicity you could get, and the work that may follow.

My god this country loves a complainer eh?

If BBC can't afford to have their site properly re-designed then they shouldn't do it at all. A contest like this is taking the easy way out and setting a bad example. How many of you freelancers would accept ipods instead of cash for your projects from now on?

And for those talking about this being a good chance for publicity, go ahead. Redesign BBC and see how famous you get. I can re-design Google and put it in my portfolio, but that doesn't mean anything because they didn't hire me for my skills.

Hello, all i hear is "this prize is crap" blah blah blah.

There are lots of young designers / developers that have been searching for a chance to hit something big.

Now from a professional view i dont think anyone would build BBC site for £1200 or how much apple laptops go for, yeah i know.

So the people that dont want to do it and think its a cheap way of getting there site redesigned leave, stop flaming the site and let young inspired designers and others that would like to do this, do it in peace.

Thanks
Ricky Green

P:S Preview needs working on :P

Yeah that's right, so the BBC want me to take some more time to develop a lovely shiny new website for them AND I WIN A LAPTOP YOU SAY!

WOW! Got to be worth the license fee alone, I mean as long as this redesign helps pay for some of Jonathon Ross's salary of 850k a year for some Radio programme then who am I to complain.... thats ace in fact WOW YEAH really pushed the boat out, i mean Radion 1 gives out prizes like trips to New York and film premieres for people who can tell me which aftershave James Blunt wears, but if I design the BBC website I get a laptop.....hmmmmm.

And to the idiot who suggests the FAME will be worth it alone... no it won't .. money talks thats why we all work.

Ask Jonathon Ross...

A lot of negativity and suspicion about why the bbc is running this comp.

They're not asking us to produce the final design. They're trying to get contributions from the public about what they'd like to see.
A prize is the carrot.
It's called user involvement.
And a design agency may incorporate some of the more popular suggestions into the new layout.

Going off what you say there Tim you would be happy to work for nothing in coming up with ideas that a design agency would then use and get paid a massive sum of money?

Well, if you win Ash, you'll get more than you can ever buy. Forget about the prizes, think of your CV and all the rest that comes with ...

What pathetic comments.
Aunty decides to move with the times and lead the way for 21st century media. Putting the viewer/user/consumer at the centre and as an active part of content.
She is shot down in flames

The first step is this reboot malarkey, seeking viewer/user/consumer ideas and wishes. Fantastic. A true breath of fresh air.

Yes the prize is a token - but that is not the point of the exercise.

Finally a few cobwebs have been blown away. Keep this up please BBC.

I'm off to try and improve on the glass wall.

Knock off the pessimisim everybody and you'll live longer. As for BBC, I'd say great job of stirring up a storm about your site and on the shores of slashdot/. of all places, nice choice :)

It is refreshing to see this opportunity to express your creativity instead of lying on your back for hours on end wathing the tube or pretending like your schedule's got absolutely no free time. I would like to get paid for my creative input, but I also love the creative process on the other hand. I'd say good luck to the 'code monkey' that makes it to the top.

cheers,

Tim Dennell had it right. Those people who expect excessive payment should realise that £100 p/a is nothing. I know that I am not alone in thinking that the BBC website (at least the news subdomain) is one of the (if not *the*) best websites. I happen to think that it doesn't need much change but a competition like this should not be met with such criticism. I think that the BBC realises that it won't get a full site design from this competition and will still need to spend millions on the finished makeover.

Im definatly enter this competition, give me a few days

I think it is a great idea that the BBC are enticing new talent into its fold. There is a major consideration in the world of web design and development that it becomes quite stale quickly if you are using the same designers day-in and day-out especially when dealing with large portals that are used by millions.

The BBC could have put this out to tender and the usual larger web companies in the UK would have gone through the process of fighting tooth and nail for this project. Instead, what they have done is enticed talent from all quarters, whether a professional web agency or an individual designer. It's not a bad idea, at the end of the day they will get to see a lot of new talent and hire a lot of talent.

I'm surprised we didn't get a reality show out of this, or something similar to the Apprentice where they narrow it down to the final contestants for best web design and being a public company the public got to vote on the final design.

Now there is a concept…

All the posts are interesting. I agree the prize is a little less than appealing considering the market. However all our grass-roots stem for designing for design's sake. Not money.

Money helps pay the bills and it would be nice to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but we all want to see people interacting with our ideas. I think that would be pretty ace if someone picked up a design that I conceived and ran with it. This is an opportunity and whether you want to go with it then do so, if you don't then simply do not participate.