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[Meta] PHP 8.5 Release Page Design Contest #1472
Description
Help design the PHP 8.5 release page on php.net!
Submit your mockups or prototypes for a modern, fast, clean release page and win $1,000 🏆
🗓 Deadline: Oct 22
👉 Details: https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/10/01/design-contest/
🏆 Results: https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/11/05/design-contest-results/
Sponsored by @JetBrains | Powered by the @php community 💜
Activity
thisisharsh7 commentedon Oct 1, 2025
hi, this looks interesting. can you please clarify how to participate?
pronskiy commentedon Oct 1, 2025
@thisisharsh7 I added details https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/10/01/design-contest/
wladiveras commentedon Oct 1, 2025
Hello, my name is Wladi. I’ve been an enthusiastic programmer since I was 12 years old. Today, at 28, I still use PHP in my projects and have also worked on real large-scale projects with it. PHP was the first backend programming language I came into contact with back in 2012, and seeing its evolution has been a privilege for me. I would be honored to be part of this ongoing transformation.
thisisharsh7 commentedon Oct 1, 2025
hey @pronskiy would it make sense to create a separate Discord channel for this?
it could be really helpful when someone gets stuck or when developing based on community feedback
ChooKing commentedon Oct 2, 2025
This is only for redesign of the release page? The home page happens to be where the release news is listed. If this was for redesign of the home page, I would have actually relocated the release news to a different page. A major flaw in the overall design of the site is giving release news greater emphasis than what PHP is or why a web developer might want to use it. This feels like a total surrender to the belief that nobody new will want to use PHP and the site is primarily for those who are already using it.
pronskiy commentedon Oct 2, 2025
@ChooKing Correct, this contest is only for the release page, not the homepage. We know the homepage has bigger issues (like how PHP is presented to newcomers), but the release page is a small scope that works as an experiment: if it works well, the homepage could be next; if not, we’ll take the lessons learned and approach the homepage differently.
zag2me commentedon Oct 2, 2025
Do we have official PHP brand guidelines to get started?
Specifically it would be useful to have colour hex codes and any vectors artwork for the brand.
Also is there an official discord channel? The links on the website seem to be community ones.
EDIT: https://www.php.net/download-logos.php
derickr commentedon Oct 2, 2025
We have now created a specific Discord channel #design-contest for this on the unofficial community phpc.chat service.
KarinCheng commentedon Oct 2, 2025
Hi! I’m a designer and haven’t worked with PHP before. I’m looking at the release page for the redesign and have a few questions:
pronskiy commentedon Oct 3, 2025
@KarinCheng,
Definitely very important. This page is both promoting the release and educating.
Both. I'd say the former is main focus.
PHP receives updates every year, so this is a regular update that contains a bunch of improvements.
Well, it depends on the change. The goal of the page is to show exactly this: how the changes are beneficial to users.
Historically on top we put features that are "bigger" and that developers are more excited about. And then the more you scroll to the bottom the less impactful the changes are.
Does this clarify things for you?
giodi commentedon Oct 13, 2025
Hi, I have a question regarding the code examples: How important are the PHP < 8.5 code examples? Why are both PHP 8.5 and PHP < 8.5 examples shown?
pronskiy commentedon Oct 14, 2025
@giodi, The reason we’ve included both versions in the past is to make it easy to see how things have changed – what the syntax looked like before and what’s possible in the New PHP version. For some features the contrast is quite dramatic, for others it’s more subtle.
That said, I can also see a version of the release page that skips the older examples. Feel free to experiment with that approach. Just make sure to include a short note on why you think it works better.
pronskiy commentedon Oct 23, 2025
No more submissions are accepted. We will announce the shortlist soon.
asterd commentedon Oct 25, 2025
Any update on this? :)
pronskiy commentedon Oct 25, 2025
@asterd, apologies for delay, will announce the shortlist and kick off the voting in a bit.
SlyDave commentedon Oct 27, 2025
Oh god, why are you running a popularity content for this. a flawed one at that
Submission listed higher up will get more exposure and higher engagement, lower down will get less as voting fatigue kicks in
some submission are total re-brands not just layout/ux, they change the established colours, logo, typography, iconography, thus they're not fairly comparable
some link to figma requiring an account others do not, barring access to some, producing extra hurdles, which will impact engagement
the GitHub view of the thread is collapsed so some submission are totally hidden without taking extra steps
the system seems geared towards forcing a choice, there is no, none of the above, or no change required options
theodorejb commentedon Oct 27, 2025
It's relatively easy to whip up a nice looking design concept. It's another thing entirely to have a complete implementation which updates the entire site in a cohesive way with i18n, and doesn't result in multiple different designs for different pages which all have to be maintained.
People with a bigger social media following can promote their design and get more votes, but will these people be the ones implementing and maintaining the design long term?
sertxudev commentedon Oct 27, 2025
The question here is whether we are voting on the design for the release page only or for the complete redesign of the website. Some options are a completely new design that might not make sense within the current website.
pronskiy commentedon Oct 27, 2025
Thanks everyone for the thoughtful feedback and fair points raised.
Most of these concerns were already covered here: https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/10/01/design-contest/
To summarize: the contest is an experiment. The scope is intentionally just the PHP 8.5 release page, not a full site redesign. The idea was to test the process and learn from it.
Is the voting system perfect? Definitely not. Ideally we'd randomize the order or use a dedicated voting tool, but keeping it on GitHub makes it easy, public, and transparent, even if a bit clunky.
Also, community voting is only half of the result, the other half comes from the jury review. And just to be clear: we never promised that the winning design will be implemented as-is. The winner gets the prize, but the final release page will likely be inspired by the winning idea and incorporate good elements from other submissions.
This whole thing is meant to help us figure out what works and what doesn't for future community design efforts. Possible outcomes would be on the spectrum between "never again" to "let's do this every time".
We really appreciate everyone pointing out issues and sharing suggestions, that's exactly how we improve. I just ask to keep it constructive. In the end, we're all here trying to make PHP (and its website) a little better each time 💜
zoglo commentedon Oct 27, 2025
I agree with what has been mentioned but damage has been done, nobody can be held responsible for it now. This is a first time that such a vote has been done I guess and nobody (or everybody? doesn't matter now) could have predicted that it would turn out like this.
People posting a message on social media or other platforms and hundreds or thousands of followers from social media or communities, e.g., Twitter, YouTube, Laravel, Symfony, PestPHP, voting for their entry. Then the issue of having higher listed submissions getting more exposure and thus getting more engagement and interaction through votes.
However, the worst thing about the voting in this competition happened just a few hours later when people started using the downvote emote 👎. People may disagree with a design, but at the same time, with a downvote and the amount of downvotes on an entry, they already influence future ratings. Why would someone that just stumbled upon this design contest look at a design if it has already received many downvotes?
The answer is obvious... Welcome to ___ open source 🤡
__
I feel sorry for many of the participants feeling the full force of how open source can be and hope that most of them will understand that majority does not mean it in an offensive way.
To whomever that disagrees with what I said, please remind yourself that all of the designers have invested many hours into their designs, whether they read the instructions carefully or not (see #1563 (comment) and #1563 (comment)) and are now getting bombed by downvotes for many different reasons.
People think differently and may have wanted a rebranding of the PHP website to make it special, flashy, animated, modern, whatever. I don't see a reason to welcome entries like that with many downvotes. Do it like always if you are a core-dev / developer / maintainer of any software, framework or whatever you are maintaining. Keep it classy - "Thank you for your contribution".
As it was announced, this is part of the community vote. At the end it's for all devs, newcomers, and others to appreciate a release page that will bring PHP further, whether through making the new changes easier to understand, by making the whole page more modern (or less boring), by making an old language interesting for new and young developers and presenting it in a way that most, if not all of the groups mentioned, will appreciate it (including all the people that are not fluent in PHP and have voted in this contest).
I'm sure that @pronskiy, Jetbrains (as the sponsor), and the PHP Foundation will find a solution that is fair for everyone involved. And if not, then lessons learned. Will be better next time :)
tao commentedon Oct 28, 2025
I would also like to add and say that I agree with what @everlastedSE said in the voting thread, in that if I had known that full rebranding directions were welcome, I would have approached the contest differently.
In the brief said you're looking for something:
And in the scoring criteria you said:
I think that if it was more clear that you'd be open to a rebrand then I also would have approached the design content in a totally different way, and I feel like it's a missed opportunity not to present my best work... because creating a refreshed release page that matches the look and tone of php.net is totally different from a branding exercise.
To use a metaphor, a redesign is like asking someone to do some interior design in an old room of the east wing of the White House, while a rebranding is like creating some fancy renders of a huge golden ballroom. 😆
And I also agree with what was said on this thread, that whoever has the biggest social media following will probably win the public vote.
If you do run another competition to do a rebranding for PHP 9 in the future, it'll be fun to share some more ideas and submit another proposal again. However, from experience, I know that rebranding usually takes many many iterations and fine tuning with feedback to create something that everyone on the team is happy with.
And if you consider any famous rebrand like Reddit or GitHub, no matter how good it is or how much work you put into it, there are always going to be people who dislike the changes.
asterd commentedon Oct 28, 2025
If I may say so, I find this "disappointment" with this initiative somewhat bizarre. Talking about rebranding is rather utopian in the timeframe of the initiative. A well-done rebranding requires time, study, sharing, and many other undoubtedly time-consuming steps. But, especially when it comes to work done on a site with php.net traffic and a similar interface for a very long time, it becomes even more complex. Instead, I think the "experimenting" approach, using individual announcement pages, is an excellent way to begin to engage the community and gather perspectives, opinions, and direction, even by submitting disruptive work!
Voting is another issue. Clearly, those with a large social following will have a better chance of winning, but the weight of the community vote is balanced by the vote of the team that launched the "competition," and I believe this can balance everything out towards a solution that is appreciated by the community but also has objective value with respect to the objective.
So, regardless of how it goes, I find it very useful and appreciable as a general initiative, which I hope to see in other projects as well.
KarinCheng commentedon Oct 28, 2025
It would have made more sense to select entries based on how well they met the stated criteria, rather than introducing effort and creativity as judging factors. Since these aspects are inherently subjective, the process feels inconsistent, especially because they were never mentioned in the original contest description.
vstelmakh commentedon Oct 28, 2025
@asterd I believe, the "disappointment" isn't about the initiative itself - it’s about the fact that the contest requirements changed after submissions had already closed. This left some participants feeling a bit cheated since they had carefully followed the original rules.
When the rules were later adjusted to allow "full redesign" submissions, it made the competition feel less fair. My main concern is that this could discourage people from joining future contests or initiatives.
In the short term, it might seem like a win because there are more designs to choose from. But in the long run, it could hurt participation - especially from those who played by the rules this time. After all, no one enjoys taking part in something that feels unfair.
Nevertheless, the PHP website definitely deserves a modern touch, and I truly hope this initiative helps move things in that direction.
pronskiy commentedon Oct 28, 2025
@vstelmakh I think you're absolutely right that perception of fairness matters a lot here. While I don't agree that the rules were changed, as the brief never forbade bolder approaches, I do see how it could've been interpreted in different ways, and I agree it could've been stated more clearly.
To clarify, the shortlist wasn't based on how strictly designs followed the brief, but on how worked through they were, how much thought, effort, and detail went into the concept.
The next step, including how well each entry fits the on-brand aspect, will be evaluated during scoring.
Out of curiosity, what would you suggest we do now to make it feel fairer or clearer, given where we are in the process?
staabm commentedon Oct 28, 2025
@pronskiy in which timezone?edit: just found all timezon information on the dedicated page https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/10/01/design-contest/
vstelmakh commentedon Oct 28, 2025
@pronskiy, if you are asking for my perspective, I would probably avoid mixing two very different design directions (keeping the existing style vs full redesign) within one vote. It's tricky to compare those fairly, and that's where all of the confusion came from.
I'm not sure what your initial plan was, but since the process is already underway, it probably makes sense to stay consistent with that plan.
My sense is that many people (voters) didn't visit the original task details, since those require some effort to find from the "voting issue". I guess, one thing that might help - is adding a short note or reminder in the first comment on the "voting issue", to explain what exactly people are voting on, what the original brief or criteria were, and why both design directions are included. A quick hint there could help clarify things.
Though to be fair, not everyone reads even the first comment. We have seen that some people still respond directly in the voting thread, even with the caution note in place 🙂 So it might only help a little, but still, having some context is better than none.
mistraloz commentedon Oct 30, 2025
I think the idea is good to allow more people involved (it's a less technical topic, making it easier to feel legitimate). Perhaps next time you could go further with an easier way to visualize the alternatives.
pronskiy commentedon Nov 6, 2025
Thanks everyone for discussion. We aggregated the feedback to Lessons learned and published together with the results. You are very welcome to join the implementation process #1592. Closing this thread as part of post-contest housekeeping.