Duke University Online Discourse Website: Ning Theme Needed

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT US:

I am an experienced web designer whose work has been taught in design classes around the globe. I just don't have the time to be doing design work any more and burned out on it a while ago--I started designing back in the pre-Internet era when print was king. I am familiar with the process of design and am happy to help with use cases and am available for interviews, etc. I am a trained information scientist so anyone with skills in Information Architecture, Data Visualization, 3-D design incl. simulation/gaming, UI experience engineering may find future opportunities with our group as our department grows.

HERE IS WHAT WE NEED:

We have no idea how this should look. What would be iconic for a website about civility and discourse? Would we need a logo? Tasteful font selection (reimbursable expense within reason) will go a long way. Smart, heavily browser-tested, interactive top navigation a necessity.

OUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS:

Participants, students, academic researchers, and the general public.

WE LIKE THESE DESIGNS:

http://creativecommons.org/, http://www.redhat.com/, http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manye..., http://www.webslingerz.com/, https://www.webslingerz.com/depts/art/

Web design is all about layout these days, layout, finding the right color pallette and font(s), the right images to tell the story of the client in the flash of the eye. There's always a tension between conformity and novelty in a well-designed website, particularly for something like a blog skin. There's a well-developed syntax of the web experience, how an eye expects a search box here, a navigation menu there, an image there, and so on.

WE ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE (or we don't want to see) THIS IN OUR DESIGN:

No shadowboxed 3D buttons please. Too many photoshoppy aftereffects, as with pretty much everything here: http://skins4ning.com/myportfolio