Small Scale Competition for Blog Banner - Prize = Place in Indian Cookery Class

Kavey

New Member
This is one for the foodies, if there are any amongst you.

My food blog is long overdue for a redesign. I'm going to be moving it from blogspot to self-hosted Wordpress, and have nailed down my layout, navigation and so on.

But I've been struggling to come up with a look, centred around a beautiful banner image that conveys not only the title and tagline but a bit about me and my blog. From that will flow the design of the rest of the site, including colours, buttons and everything else.

So I've decided to ask for help.

As an IT Trainer, I know how frustrating it is to be expected to help out for free just because you work in the kind of job where that's possible (who'd ask their surgeon mate to just come over for a couple of hours and do a quick operation on their dodgy knee?)...

So I'm offering a small prize.

My mum and I have been running cookery classes through her very successful Indian cookery website, Mamta's Kitchen. The classes are small in size, and take place in a domestic kitchen, in mum's home in Luton. They usually run from late morning to about 8pm during which time students learn how to make lots of delicious dishes, which they enjoy for lunch and dinner, along with snacks and drinks during the day. Thus far, classes have focused on cooking Indian meals, but we're planning future classes on pickles and chutneys, on Indian breads and more.

The prize is a (single) place on a class. Travel/ accommodation not included.

The classes retail for £95, though similar classes offered by professional cookery schools are far more expensive, especially when you factor in the inclusion of lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks.

You can find out more here:

Kavey Eats: Design a New Look for Kavey Eats & Learn to Cook with Mamta's Kitchen

I hope some of you may choose to enter!

Kavey
 
I hope some of you may choose to enter!

Kavey

Can't you just pay someone £95?

I can do you a banner probably for less, but in all honesty I have zero interest in the competition offer.

It's like offering a painter and decorator a chance to learn how you make cream puffs in exchange for them painting your lounge. Kind of absurd and insulting.....

This is a profession and professionals don't trade for cookery classes.
 
We may have some designers here who happen to love cooking. In which case, this'd be perfect for that 1% of people.
 
Thanks, Arrivals, much appreciated.

I would not have expected the majority of designers to be interested, but was looking for the subset who would be. I am pleased to say I found a few who were happy to accept this form of payment, and have chosen one to work with, she sent a few draft options and is now finalising a design following my feedback.

The point of bartering services is that it costs both participants less.

When running the courses, the cost to us is not £95 - that is the retail price we charge in order to make a profit. As I am currently cash poor, it seemed a good way of getting a small subset of food-loving graphic designers to enter.

I am a self-employed IT professional and am certainly not insulted when someone approaches to ask if I have any interest in the services they provide and am willing to look at a bartering arrangement. Of course, I'll say no if the product or service offered is not of interest or doesn't strike me as commensurate value, as is my prerogative.

But insulting? I don't think so.
 
Not insulting but a little low on the swap side maybe cooking classes for two.
But you found some people so all is well :)
 
Thanks MoominBaby!

The class covers several hours of lesson time, all hands on and includes a full lunch, a full evening meal, snacks and drinks during day and drinks/ wine with dinner so actually, I think it is a good value swap.

I asked a few friends working in this field and got feedback that a small design job would likely add up to a maximum of a day, possibly a day and a half of time, in total hours, if not less. The course is full day plus two meals so I think they equate pretty well.

But thanks for confirming you don't feel it's insulting to make the offer.

I figure it's for each individual to decide whether the offer is a) of interest and b) of high enough value to be something they'd accept or not but to suggest it's insulting to even put it on the table, I felt that was unfair!

:icon_smile:
 
I asked a few friends working in this field and got feedback that a small design job would likely add up to a maximum of a day, possibly a day and a half of time, in total hours, if not less. The course is full day plus two meals so I think they equate pretty well.

I can only speak for myself but £95 would not cover a days work at my cheapest rate. You have to understand that some designers will cover you for that fee but it's a case of you get what you pay for. It all depends what quality of outcome you are expecting.

You will find a whole host of designers that will gladly do work for you for that, but if you want a professional with experience that will give you a completed job to be proud of then expect to pay a lot more.

All the best with your project.


:icon_thumbup:
 
I can only speak for myself but £95 would not cover a days work at my cheapest rate. You have to understand that some designers will cover you for that fee but it's a case of you get what you pay for. It all depends what quality of outcome you are expecting.

You will find a whole host of designers that will gladly do work for you for that, but if you want a professional with experience that will give you a completed job to be proud of then expect to pay a lot more.

All the best with your project.


:icon_thumbup:


My point was that I didn't need to cover the day rate of every single designer out there, I was reaching out to those who felt it would be a fair exchange. For those who felt it was below their margins or not worthwhile, I'd not expect them to respond.

I was able to find someone who was very happy with the deal, so it's all good.

As all things, all individuals must decide what is worthwhile to them and what is not.

£95 is well below my day rate too, in terms of what I charge for my own freelance IT services, however, were someone to suggest swapping a day of my services for a cookery class that interested me, as that's something I'd value, I'd be happy to consider it.
 
I was able to find someone who was very happy with the deal, so it's all good.

Good. I'm happy you've found someone and hopefully you are happy with the result. You sound like a fair person and thats great. I'm sure you can understand there are posters that come onto the forum looking for a professional, experienced designer at graduate prices.

I believe that it's a good place for designers learning the trade to find their feet and as long as the client understands this, as you seem to, then it equates to a good job and will help the student in the long run.

All the best.
 
Good. I'm happy you've found someone and hopefully you are happy with the result. You sound like a fair person and thats great. I'm sure you can understand there are posters that come onto the forum looking for a professional, experienced designer at graduate prices.

I believe that it's a good place for designers learning the trade to find their feet and as long as the client understands this, as you seem to, then it equates to a good job and will help the student in the long run.

All the best.

Yeah, completely understand. I'm a bespoke IT Trainer, now moving into Business Analysis. I charge by the day and generally work for commercial clients, nearly always medium to large businesses who have the budget for external consultants.
But I do occasionally get calls from people who are looking for a personal home tutor, but they balk at the prices, even after I explain that's not really what I do. Their budgets are more in line with those very cheap classes at their local higher education college...
So yeah, I totally understand.
:)
 
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