Sorry Art, I'll sit back in my chair!

@Jordan, I don't really think it's up to us who Art picks. It's his website, so he's going to go with the designer that uses his preferred style. The emblematique guy definitely does good work, but it's nothing amazing in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with gradients, fonts, or sizes. It just depends on how it's used.

There are no rules or guidelines to follow when it comes to design. That's a phrase I wish more designers would consider. Ever since I can remember, most of the work shown on TF has been the same thing over and over. Now we're at the stage of over-sized featured images, buttons, and text. Just because you have shiny buttons does not mean your style is labeled as "Web 2.0"!!!

After looking at all the designs you posted in your previous post, I myself dislike all of them. There's nothing on them that can't be found on any other design...they just don't stand out in my opinion. The forum designs look like any other forum, just with different colors.

Also, just curious here, but when the heck did designers start calling themselves "U.I. Designers"? I was under the impression that a U.I. Designer was someone who developed skins for desktop or mobile applications.

Regarding the original topic of this thread, I'd personally like to see what http://www.fullyillustrated.com would do with the TF design project.