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Showdown Series (Season One): Week 3
20. Jul, 2009 by Adii Rockstar in Interactive
So after massive blowouts in the first two weeks of the Showdown, we really hope that we can get a very close battle this week around… I mean – how much fun would a nail-biting 51% vs 49% Showdown actually be!? Especially if the winner finally takes the last 10 votes before we close the poll, to snatch a very-late victory… So here’s to hoping that this week will be just that kind of Showdown…
For Week 3, we have thus called on our best-selling theme ever – Fresh News – to hopefully provide a close battle. In the one corner, we have a very recent awesome modification in WhatFest, which will go up against probably the first-ever, great modification of Fresh News – GoMediaZine.
WhatFest – Link (Tom Denton & Tom Dent from Double D Creative)
WhatFest
When first looking at the WhatFest design, I’m immediately struck by the very prominent (and extremely well-designed) red logo, which really stands out well due to the lighter blue background it’s been placed on. The fact that the logo is very professional and relevant to the kind of website it promotes, immediately gives one the impression that the rest of the design is going to be amazing.
Moving further down the site, it is evident that the designers didn’t want to change too much in terms of the layout of the content, as the default Fresh News layout already works really well. What we however like about WhatFest is the minor tweaks made to the content (such as the slightly contrasted light blue border around the content edges), along with the custom graphics placed in the sidebar to promote certain sections of the website / festival. Another detail we like is the custom graphics they have used to illustrate and emphasise the content a little more – for example the graphic on this post.
Reaching the bottom of the design, you arrive at a little camping terrain, which is reminiscent of music festivals such as WhatFest. The imagery has been integrated into the overall design in such a way as to give you a consistent “festival-vibe” throughout, whilst the camping terrain (with the open skies above it) also adds a little bit of personality & quirkiness to the site.
Our verdict? We’re sure that the website is helping them sell festival tickets like hotcakes. Great design, which is most definitely contributing to the organizers achieving their goals relating to the festival.
GoMediaZine – Link (Jeff Finley from GoMedia)
GoMediaZine
Compared to WhatFest, GoMediaZine features a design on a totally different spectrum and geared towards another audience all-together. GoMediaZine are designers at heart and this is completely evident from the vivid and colourful background imagery they have created. Beyond the visual beauty, those who know their CSS would also appreciate what the guys have done to code that background almost perfectly! 
Similar to WhatFest though, the GoMedia crew has kept some of the default Fresh News elements in place in their recognition that the default theme is truly amazing. The header has been slightly customized and has been giving a lick of grunge paint to “dirty things up a little” and move closer to GoMedia’s overall brand identity. The same kind of minor grunge elements has been added to the posts styling, just to keep the styling consistent throughout. Again though, the content adheres to the default layout and it works perfectly for what GoMedia are doing with the site.
The custom graphics that are created to support each post is simply amazing and in a world where “content is king” this kind of attention to detail goes a long way in enhancing the readers experience. It has to be said though, that GoMedia has the benefit of being designers themselves, thus making the creation of custom graphics much easier and viable.
We also like the fact that the background used for the sidebar elements has been made much darker, thus contrasting it completely compared to the main content areas. This contrast thus also creates a kind of separation between primary & secondary content, which we think is vital.
Then, before we end off, the footer on GoMediaZine really does a good job of “completing” the site well and ending off on a high note. The grunge style is evident much again, whilst the 3-column layout for further links / information reinforces the content that has been published all over the site.
Our thoughts? GoMediaZine has been a long-time favourite here at WooThemes HQ, so we may tend to be a little biased… But whilst the design is fantastic, we think they’ve got a true competitor in WhatFest and it will most definitely be an interesting Showdown this week.
So we’ve had our say… Now it’s time for you to take over the comments and support your favourite contestant this week by voting for them and leaving favourable comments in their support. Let the battle begin.
NOTICE: So this did end up being one nail-biting affair, with both modifications taking the lead at various stages in the last 3 days. WhatFest however edges this one by 51% of the votes, with only 9 votes being the difference between the two. So congrats to WhatFest and we hope to have you all around next week for another cracking Showdown!
37 Responses to “Showdown Series (Season One): Week 3”
20 July 2009 at 4:47 am #
Oh Noes! If it had been a comparison with GoMedia vs ThinkVitamin I’d have had a seriously hard decision on my hands, but in this case I think GoMedia takes it! Really love their design
20 July 2009 at 4:53 am #
I don’t necessarily agree… The (old) ThinkVitamin used the default Fresh News theme as is and just added their logo. So I don’t think that it’s anywhere close to being as good as WhatFest.
20 July 2009 at 4:57 am #
Ah yes, I’d forgotten that they’d redesigned! I don’t think that it was 100% stock though if I remember rightly. Either way I think GoMedia would’ve probably just about won that one for me too
20 July 2009 at 4:49 am #
Both look great, but GoMediaZine includes interesting use of images to achieve the overlapping effect, so I vote for this website.
20 July 2009 at 4:54 am #
That GoMedia design is very nice! I actually like the way the contest is styled at most. The navigation isn’t that innovative and looks a little bit unfinished to me.
20 July 2009 at 4:57 am #
yeh, tough to choose between both… both are good looking..
dont feel bad whatfest 
:p
hmm, ok will go with Gomedia
20 July 2009 at 5:01 am #
GoMedia takes my vote. The background illustration pretty much seals the deal
20 July 2009 at 5:08 am #
WhatFest for me, its neater in terms of completeness whereas GoMedia has a few loose ends which need a bit of tying up.
20 July 2009 at 6:07 am #
To extent I agree. The elaborate and awesome background imagery in GoMedia defintiely gives it a much better first impression and if GoMedia were to take this one, that background image will be the main contributing factor.
20 July 2009 at 8:57 am #
I totally agree. I could have easily voted for GoMedia but stopped short and decided to actually LOOK at the two and compare why each one was good (only took 5 mins but I’m not sure many peeps spend more than 30secs looking at each).
I have no doubt GoMedia will win but I still feel that WhatFest is the more complete of the two.
20 July 2009 at 10:02 am #
You’re right about the 30 seconds… And for that GoMedia has a clear advantage, because it makes a very good, initial impression.
20 July 2009 at 5:22 am #
Will the winners of these showdowns be pitted against each other knock-out-tournament style to find the ultimate woo theme modification?
I voted GoMedia.
20 July 2009 at 6:05 am #
Yep, there are 6 more Showdowns to go after this one. And then the Season Finale (Week 10) will feature the individual winners from each of the 9 week’s in a Ultimate Best vs Best Showdown.
20 July 2009 at 5:52 am #
thiss is a hard decision for me bc both design and optimization,also the use of design elements is just awesome. i love dark style and i fell in love with the gomedia since its release. honestly, never thought this was a wootheme before.
whatfest looks more complete and really neat, but my vote goes out for gomediazine. sorry dd
20 July 2009 at 5:56 am #
great themes… i try to combine with my twitter profile
20 July 2009 at 7:12 am #
Whatfest is by far the most solid and pure design. Very good work. The other one GoMediaZine looks messy and unbalanced. I was like – what? There is not contest… Whatfest all the way. Are the Woopeeps kidding me?
20 July 2009 at 10:00 am #
Hehe, you’d be surprised by the votes…
Very much a toss-up in terms of which design is being favoured at the moment.
Plus, I still love the GoMedia background. Really amazing imagery!
20 July 2009 at 8:08 am #
I like them both! One is dark and one is light. Depends on the mood here.
Gomediazine: I never thought this was a wootheme before either .
20 July 2009 at 8:50 am #
c’mon, it’s gotta be GoMedia. It just totally rocks. That said, whatfest is still a beautiful interpretation.
20 July 2009 at 8:53 am #
Definitely gomedia for me for the initial reaction – then further navigation and clarity of images, text, and articles.
I think the other is too close to the original, but the logo is excellent.
20 July 2009 at 9:36 am #
I really like both! Almost a toss-up, but I love the way the background folds over the main content and sidebar on the GoMedia site–sweet!
20 July 2009 at 10:05 am #
GoMedia all the way, though WHAT is awesome too.
20 July 2009 at 10:40 am #
They are both really well done… but my vote will have to be GoMedia… Whatfest is cool, but the overlapping effect puts them over the edge.
20 July 2009 at 11:00 am #
I’m going to have to go with WhatFest. WhatFest should fade the background because it’s too bright. It’s just my opinion and people might have different taste.
20 July 2009 at 11:28 am #
It’s hard to decide: this is akin to comparing apples to oranges. On the one hand, GoMedia rocks the design, and it has content that is immediately useful to me, a designer; even though it’s busy, the navigation is clear and concise. On the other hand, WhatFest shows an organization embracing a great implementation of open source software (Wordpress) with an awesome Woo design; the level of content shows just how forward-thinking the org is. I hope their festival was equally awesome this past weekend. Great job to both!
20 July 2009 at 11:55 am #
This one is hard….
But my vote goes to Go-Media…
20 July 2009 at 11:55 am #
Definitely GoMedia with their awesome header design. Very sleek and bold. Nicely done.
20 July 2009 at 12:36 pm #
Both designs look really great, but I think I prefer the GoMedia design. I like the bold contrasts.
20 July 2009 at 2:48 pm #
I actually prefer WhatFest. The logo is outstanding and I dig the attention to detail such as the birds on the left, the jet on the right, and the tents on the grass at the bottom. That being said GoMedia is excellent too.
20 July 2009 at 5:08 pm #
Wow… I didn’t even notice some of those smaller details (like the jet)…
20 July 2009 at 5:36 pm #
the GoMedia design is definitely a good example of Photoshop ninja execution, but it is kinda overkill to me.. WhatFest is clean and bright. Both are obviously excellent designers. nice work.. My only critique would be to lay off the textures a bit on the GoMedia design to really showcase the important elements of the site.
I guess i am a sucker for space and breathing room in my design.. ha
21 July 2009 at 12:36 pm #
totally agree with this – the gomedia one crosses the line of going too far.
I also dont like the fact that 50% of the lower half of the page contains nothing but black space.
21 July 2009 at 2:10 am #
didn’t even noticed the Gomedia website was based on a Wootheme
Always loved their design!
21 July 2009 at 12:06 pm #
Another mom for Gomedia
21 July 2009 at 2:55 pm #
Many thanks to all above and Woo for the kinds words, very nice to read positive feedback of the site/design.
This was the first WooThemes template i’d worked on and it was great to start with a solid theme that was easily customised and simple to understand and tweak to our needs.
The festival ran over the last weekend and was a great success, the weather was terrible on the Friday and Sunday but that didn’t dampen anyones spirits. Some brilliant up-and-coming bands performed alongside some seasoned acts as well and everyone who I spoke to had a great weekend.
Take a peek at some of the pics: http://www.whatfest.co.uk/2009/07/whatfest-2009-gallery
Thanks again and keep up the BRILLIANT work Woo!
23 July 2009 at 12:39 pm #
Wow… this is a tough one. Both designs are amazing but I went with my first impression… What “the” fest!!!!
23 July 2009 at 5:26 pm #
Wow. That is an upset if I ever saw one.