Design the Cover of SitePoint’s Next Book!

By Matthew Magain | November 15, 2007 | Web Design Tutorials & Articles

In case you missed it, last week SitePoint’s co-founder Mark Harbottle let slip some big news about the new series of reference books that SitePoint will be publishing in 2008.

Guess what? You have the opportunity to design the first book’s cover!

That’s right, we’re eating our own dog food, and running a design contest for the book cover to be used not only for the first book, but across all titles in The Ultimate Reference series. From the brief:

The desired outcome is simple, elegant, well balanced design that will make our books stand out in a bookstore … On top of the prize, if your design is successful then you’ll receive acknowledgment in the book, as well as copies of the final product.

There are some great designs that have been submitted already. You only have a few days left to get your submission in though.

Good luck to all contestants. I can’t wait to see the final result!

Written By:

Matthew Magain

Matthew Magain (@mattymcg) is a user experience designer and former Creative Director of SitePoint. Nowadays he runs Useractive, a UX design consultancy in Melbourne, Australia. When not designing beautiful user interfaces or speaking at conferences, he can be found regularly ignoring his blog, m-dash..

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{ 8 comments }

Simon Mackie November 20, 2007 at 10:10 am: I’m really pleased with the quality and variety of designs on display here.
ahmed November 19, 2007 at 7:10 pm: i think this is great news.
simsim November 18, 2007 at 2:14 am: Terrific!
I thought these were only online wiki-based reference sites; just knew there are books from this blog post!
I’m really eager to see what you folks are coming up with for a reference book! Definitely a completely route for traditional SitePoint’s books’ genres.
ShayneTilley November 17, 2007 at 8:51 am: The first title in the ultimate series (CSS) will be availible on our site through a new wizz bang reference site we’ve been working on. If you want to be one of the first to use it, I’d make sure you’ve got yourself a forum account before December 1. Something about a closed beta … but you didn”t hear it from me :-).
The printed book will follow early in the new year – and from what I’ve seen so far, it’s going to be an awesome book…
Sojan80 November 16, 2007 at 9:29 pm: Definitely I think dogfooding the cover design is the way to go. Looking forward to the “Ultimates” coming out. Are these going to be available under the professional bundle as well?
andrew.k November 16, 2007 at 8:51 am: jeff: No, we have a full-time designer who could easily put together a cover design we’re happy with.
We’re trying something different this time. It’s called eating your own dog food and is generally considered good indication of confidence in your product.
Graham November 16, 2007 at 2:58 am: I think its a nice idea.
Im sure they can afford to pay a designer – what with a successful range of books.
Jeff – its called a marketing strategy. Go back to school
jeff November 16, 2007 at 2:35 am: Taking the piss. If you can’t afford to either pay someone or design the cover yourself don’t publish it.