CALLING ALL WEB DESIGNERS!

Posted by Zack on October 26th at 6:59 am in Appetizer,Design

GrapeShow is built and ready for beta testing, with only one minor drawback…

IT HAS NO SKIN!

Other than a logo, the sign-up page, and some other basic pages, it lacks any decent CSS style whatsoever. This is a bit backwards for me, but brains were scattered and deadlines had to be met, so what are ya gonna do?

It seems as though a second wind has surfaced, because I’ve decided to throw a web design contest! So buckle up because it’s about to get very interesting around here. What better way to kick off a video contest app than to have a kick-ass design contest? I can picture it now…

Awesome designers from across the globe submitting U.I. samples; amused visitors voting for the winner and providing feedback; Zack sitting in his cube feeling like he may actually have something to live for.

It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. From this day forward, the contest shall be known as Grape Skin.

So what’s in it for the winner, you ask? Well in addition to a great publicity opportunity to show off their talent and receive feedback from the public, I’m also prepared to offer 20% of all future profits earned by GrapeShow! Here’s a banner that the talented Lakira made for the contest:

Grape Skin Banner

Do you need cheap server?

The designers will be provided with “chicken-scratch” sketches of some of the U.I. screens to work their magic on and the public will choose the winner. More details about the contest (including rules, start date, and duration) will be released after sufficient interest is received. Designers and other interested parties are encouraged to sign up to participate or vote in the contest.

In addition, if you are a talented developer, entrepreneur, copywriter, marketer, reporter, angel, potential sponsor, or just interested in the project and want to get involved or provide feedback, I would of course love to hear from you as well.

You can all reach me by leaving a comment on this blog or sending an email to: zackjenks@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Home Page Design

Posted by Zack on October 21st at 6:30 pm in Appetizer,Design

As you may recall, I hired the talented Scott Wills to design the logo and U.I. for me. He did a great job on the logo and sign-up page and he tolerated my obsessive-compulsive tendencies quite well. Regretfully, I was unable to continue on with the project and we had to go our separate ways.

To give you a better idea of what GrapeShow is all about, I would like to present to you now, where we left off with the Home Page design. Thanks for your help on this Scott, it rocks!

Curtains Please…

1. Alternate Header (Click To Enlarge)
GrapeShow Header

2. Home Page (Click To Enlarge)
GrapeShow Home Page

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Sweet Dreams Host

Posted by Zack on October 19th at 2:30 pm in Chit Chat

For those of you who had to sit through unbearably long wait times to view this blog, I want to thank you for your patience and apologize for the inconvenience.

I am going to do my best to remedy this problem tonight! Transferring from a DreamHost basic shared account to an InMotion VPS account should do the trick.

With a little luck, SomeVenture and GrapeShow will be blazing by sun up.

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What The Heck Is GrapeShow?

Posted by Zack on October 17th at 2:12 pm in Appetizer

As promised, it is time to reveal what GrapeShow is all about. To sum it up in two words: Video Contests.

These would be very creative contests mind you with exciting prizes and connected video. It’s sort of like YouTube meets Google Maps meets Worth1000.

Below is the original about page I wrote for it some time ago. I have also written a help page, a sponsor page, and a winner’s guide.

About

GrapeShow was conceived and built by Zack Jenks and designed by Scott Wills. It is the first of what Zack hopes to be many exciting web apps from his new start-up. We officially launched the show on November 28th, 2006, just minutes before Zack’s 30th birthday. The build process resembled something out of the hit show “American Chopper” as we worked very long hours and struggled to make our launch date. In the end though, just like the TV show, we pulled it off. We are currently based in a cozy little apartment in Portland, Oregon USA.

The application was built around one very simple idea: everyone has a story to tell and every story is in some way connected. We wanted to demonstrate that in a fun and entertaining way. It began as a simple Neverending Story contest and grew from there. Our ambitious goal is to connect the world’s Grapes (videos) to one another using our unique blend of Vines (contests). Here your Grapes compete against a bunch of grapes to be part of the timeless Grapevine.

We want to reward our users as much as possible in the process. The application is community driven and keeping you, the heart and soul, happy is our number one priority. There are many reasons why we think you will love GrapeShow and want to be a part of it; here are just a few:

1. You can win money and other cool prizes.
2. We pride ourselves on having creative contests that allow you to compete and connect.
3. You are the writer, director, and star!
4. It’s like tagging with videos, a reverse mash-up, playing video scrabble, watching a choose your own adventure, joining hands across the world (w/ video). Whatever your take, it’s a lot of fun!
5. You might learn something in the process.
6. And, the Grapevine is calling your name.

So register today. It’s free, fast, easy and allows you to take advantage of this site’s full potential. You can check out our help page for assistance getting started. Also, for more information about the building of GrapeShow, check out our blog, Something Ventured. If there is anything we can do to make your visit more enjoyable, please let us know.

Bon Appetite!

So there you have it. What do you think? In future posts, I’ll show you a screenshot or two of where we left off with the home page as well as the possibility of a design contest? So stay tuned.

Update:
To get a better idea of what this app is, take a look at the aforementioned Help Page. There is alot more to it than what’s described in the About script above. Here’s one of the sections that sums up how GrapeShow is different:

So how is this site different from any other video hosting site?

Well, first of all, we’re not a video hosting site per say. We specialize in contests and bringing video together around a common theme or purpose. You can’t just submit video to us, you need to submit it with a purpose in mind and ready to compete with fellow videographers/editors to achieve that purpose. The videos on GrapeShow are not standalone products they are each part of something bigger, the Grapevine they competed for and/or the Bunch of Grapes they competed against. Whereas most video hosting sites are about a place to store your videos online, we are about connecting them. You could say that we’re where your videos come to connect and compete with one another, away from home.

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