We are still in beta and, as far as I know, stuck with the standard beta user interface of stack exchange sites. But clearly other stack exchanges have custom layouts and graphics for their logo, favicon, buttons, etc.:
In my quick search I've found very little definitive information on how these graphics are chosen and who designs them.
My main questions are:
- Can we the users help design the interface for PPGC for the eventual day when it graduates from beta? (If it ever does.)
- Would programming puzzles that involved the creation of these graphics/layouts be out of place on PPGC?
I'm sure some more experienced users can chime in for the first question.
As for the second, I know that, say, a popularity contest for designing upvote and downvote button graphics might be more of an art contest, whose validity is not always certain and has been discussed before.
However I believe that such a contest, properly formulated, would be quite interesting to many users, especially if it was known that the winner's graphics would really be used once the site goes out of beta. (Exactly what constitutes such a "properly formulated" question is another topic.)
It seems very fitting that obfuscated chunks of code would be used to generate most of the graphics on one of the foremost programming puzzle websites.
(If you think "art contests" are out of the questions, what about having "logo contests" on meta. We already had one for favicons: Our favicon is ugly and asymmetric. Let's fix it!, though I don't know if it did or even could get anywhere.)
