Jin and I had a discussion about Graphic Design and what we can do to help promote the site. We definitely took into account all of the feedback I've been reading and gathering from you all over the past few weeks. We think we've come up with a plan that will make the site more desirable to graphic designers, publicize our best questions and answers and not the run-of-the-mill stuff, and use those best Qs and As to get new eyes to the site, as well as rewarding people with prizes. This is still in the early stages, so I can only offer you an outline of what we're planning, but I hope this sounds awesome. I think it does.
Graphic Design.SE has been bumped up to get a design completed ASAP, which will be presented to the you all on Meta just like normal. This doesn't necessarily mean graduation, but it does mean that GD.SE will have a distinct look just like a graduated site. This will, ideally, make the site look infinitely more legit, similar to what was done with UX's early design launch.
The site will be designed by a respected graphic designer who has a significant following online. This graphic designer will also chronicle their process and/or final design on their blog, introducing their followers and fans to the site.
In conjunction with the design's launch and our graphic designer's blog post, a contest will be done to help encourage new people to get involved on GD.SE and drum up excitement here amongst the existing users. The contest will be similar to one that RPG.SE ran with the notable RPG site Obsidian Portal.
The specifics of the contest will be changed to reflect the needs of GD.SE, but the overall gist is that users new and old will together create a list of the best, most helpful answers and questions on GD.SE. As this list is populated, it will be placed in close proximity to the high-profile graphic designer's blog post about GD.SE (most likely in the blog's comments, but that isn't set in stone). This means that graphic designers who have never heard of GD.SE that visit this blog/site will be introduced to GD.SE via a list of our best content.
The GD.SE community will be kept up-to-date of this entire process, as you will all be called on to populate that list when it goes live. More details on that as they become finalized.
And now you know what Jin and I have planned. I'm excited to have a plan in place and I'll continue to be excited as I deliver more updates to all of you. Please leave a comment or ping me in chat (let's chat) if you want to brainstorm on this outline some.