Smashing Newsletter Challenge… And Giveaway!
It’s time for something brand new and exciting on Smashing Magazine. Actually, we have quite a few things in the works, and today we are happy to reveal one of them. Over the years, we have published many lengthy articles, and now we want to write some shorter ones for a change. We want to launch the Smashing Email Newsletter and we prepared some nice prizes for our subscribers.
Every week our editorial team will work on short, entertaining and (of course) relevant articles for the upcoming issue. The newsletter will be sent out once a week, probably on Tuesdays, and will contain unique tips and tricks for designers and Web developers, written by us exclusively for our email subscribers.
The 10,001 Subscriber Challenge
And to make it a bit more interesting, we decided to create a challenge for us and our readers. Here’s the deal: the Smashing Newsletter will be published only if we get at least 10,001 subscribers. (The earliest we would send it out is next Tuesday.) So, it’s up to you to decide whether we should launch the newsletter. And you can help right away: just type in your (valid) email address, confirm the subscription (opt in) and you’re done!
Subscribe to our email newsletter now:
If the form doesn’t work in your RSS-feed reader, please view the article in your web browser. Sorry for any inconvenience!
Of course, you can cancel your subscription at any time. The Smashing Newsletter will always be free of charge. We respect your privacy: we will never give your data to third parties, and we will never spam you. You have our word.
Join In To Win One Of Our Prizes!
Of course, we knew it wouldn’t be as much fun without an incentive, which is why we are giving away some beautiful gadgets and books to some lucky subscribers. The winners will be announced in the first edition of the newsletter (if we meet the challenge). And here are the prizes:
Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch (Medium)
The Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch is a unique device to harness your creativity. It’s perfect if you want complete control with a pen or finger tap input. It has single- and double-finger functions, supports left- and right-handed use and has an integrated pen holder.
Microsoft SideWinder X8 Laser Gaming Mouse
The ultimate wireless gaming mouse, with advanced tracking, 12 buttons (7 of which are programmable), scroll wheel with tilt and full-speed USB reporting.
Harman Kardon SoundSticks II Speaker System
The Harman Kardon SoundSticks II combines performance and an attractive visual design, a combination that always makes our hearts beat a little faster. It’s nearly perfect, save for a few design flaws.
Microsoft Arc Mouse Black
The Arc Mouse has the comfort of a desktop mouse and the portability of a notebook mouse. It folds to 60% of its fully expanded size for when you’re on the go. Two color options are available to match your style.
Last But Not Least, The Books!
- Confessions of a Public Speaker, by Scott Berkum

- Decoding Design, by Maggie Macnab

- The Laws of Simplicity, by John Maeda

- Smashing WordPress, by Thord Daniel Hedengren

- Universal Principles of Design, by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jull Butler

Please participate only once, and spread the word about the challenge to your friends and colleagues. Thanks, and let’s get this rolling, folks!
(al)






lisa
February 24th, 2010 5:11 amgood, i will subscribe.
Smashing Editorial
February 24th, 2010 5:30 amGreat idea, lisa ;-)
JohnONolan
February 24th, 2010 5:11 amFantastic idea, I’ve signed up! :)
David
February 24th, 2010 5:14 amI’ll subscribe if you fix Thord’s name. :P I don’t think TDH would like being called Thor Haedengren.
Chris Sedlmayr
February 24th, 2010 5:14 amMore awesome give-aways from SM! bring it on, and a newsletter to boot?!
thomasmmm
February 24th, 2010 5:15 amretweeting this now. i want a smashing magazine book!
Dennis
February 24th, 2010 5:15 amsigned up *thumbsup* (:
Aljiro
February 24th, 2010 5:16 amLooking forward to seeing the newsletter. I believe this is a great addition for Smashing Magazine :)
El Zangra
February 24th, 2010 5:20 am#187 here!
…when I saw the post it was 132!
Maude
February 24th, 2010 5:27 am#261 !
I can’t wait for more great articles from you guys !
mad
February 24th, 2010 5:27 amSigned in, too. I hope, the content of the Newsletter will be (at least a bit) different to the RSS-feed and its topics?
Smashing Editorial
February 24th, 2010 5:30 amYes, absolutely. It will be completely different.
Greg
February 24th, 2010 5:40 amGreat!! I’m glad it’s not just a straight duplication of content. I like how the RSS and Twitter account have “some” content overlap but are different from each other
Dilip
February 24th, 2010 5:44 amHope different from other newsletters too and will not have list of **21 awesome**, **43amazing** kinda list.
Its my trust I am subscribing, Its my love I am demanding and Its my possessiveness that I am doubting. :)
Good luck
the kombinath
February 24th, 2010 6:15 amThe Smashing Team are professionals. This so will rock!
Mick
February 24th, 2010 5:36 amI’m so gonna make this work in my home town of Perth Western Australia – you guys are the bomb and I’ve been digging your freshness for years now and you deserve everything that comes your way – Cheers for all the inspiration over the years!!
Brant
February 24th, 2010 5:06 pmWoo, Perth!
Jacques van Heerden
February 24th, 2010 5:37 amSubscribed. Awesome to have something new finally launched.
J
Sarah Fowler
February 24th, 2010 5:37 amExcellent! I signed up (even if my iPhone autofill did give me fits).
mikesh
February 24th, 2010 5:37 amfinally! i cant wait too read your newsletter. thanks and keep up the inspiring work
mr92
February 24th, 2010 5:37 amWacom is awesome!
Elliot
February 24th, 2010 5:38 amgreat idea! look forward to the first edition :)
… and maybe reviewing it on emaildesignreview.com !
Bariski | TutZone.net
February 24th, 2010 5:39 amI probably won’t receive “good news” after this comment.. but hey, at least I will receive a great newsletter always. Well why do you think I want to win it? I have never won anything in my whole life! and it’s a pretty cool idea I guess.. I do hope I win though.
Sonali Agrawal
February 24th, 2010 5:41 amSubscribed and retweeted….
Aygul
February 24th, 2010 5:41 amWow, that’s really great! :)) Wonderful idea! :)
I’ve signed up and looking forward to the first Smashing Magazine newsletter ;)
Michael
February 24th, 2010 5:43 amI welcome the addition of the newsletter to my daily dose of SM =)
kilinkis
February 24th, 2010 5:45 amchecked!
Patrick Hazard
February 24th, 2010 5:46 amSigned up! Are you going to build a pretty one using more modern code and css principles for those of us who run up to date email clients?
Linda
February 24th, 2010 5:48 amYou always inspire me so much! Love the site, the book, everything. Looking forward to the email newsletter.
Donny Reza
February 24th, 2010 5:48 amYup! I signed in, too. I can’t wait any longer.
Romeo
February 24th, 2010 5:50 amNice to hear that news… just cool tricks to become with email :) Thanks You Smash.mag. :)
adoberman
February 24th, 2010 5:54 amFinally we may rejoice!
Smashing Share
February 24th, 2010 5:54 amSeems something different. Subscribed and waiting for the smashing newsletter :)
kim
February 24th, 2010 5:55 amSigned up ! very good idea
Julien (JaXX) Banchet
February 24th, 2010 5:56 amI’m in :-)
Nike
February 24th, 2010 5:56 amSubscribed!
I was wondering when you guys are going to start doing a newsletter! With so much excellent content – there is no way I’m going to miss the chance!
Sanket Nadhani
February 24th, 2010 5:57 am“Smashing Magazine doesn’t have a newsletter. And we won’t have one in the future.” => wondering why you have that on http://www.smashingmagazine.com/before-sending-an-email-please-note/ ?
Great initiative though. As always, your tips are mighty helpful. This can only get better.
Brian Jones
February 24th, 2010 5:59 amSubscribed and ecstatic about your new idea and look forward to interesting things ahead. Keep up the fantastic work SM!
Javier España
February 24th, 2010 6:02 amSubscribed! Great idea guys…
And
February 24th, 2010 6:03 amThis will be interesting to read. However, I hope SM doesn’t see this as another revenue stream and fill the newsletter with advertising?
adone
February 24th, 2010 6:04 amSubscribed. Thanks for this giveaway. Cheers
Andi
February 24th, 2010 6:12 amI´m on board. Greetings from Germany :-)
Claire
February 24th, 2010 6:13 amI subscribed! :) sounds great! look forward to the first issue!!
the kombinath
February 24th, 2010 6:18 amI joined the newsletter emediately at the front page because of the hardcore awesomeness. Then I wacthed up the whole article and saw the prices – WOHOOO!
sunil
February 24th, 2010 6:19 amsubscribed… waiting for the free gift :).. Hope that will come on Tuesdays.. hehe :)
Joel
February 24th, 2010 6:25 amSweet, this will save me checking the rss feed regularly. Straight to my email :)
Good work guys.
Magentoua
February 24th, 2010 6:29 amIm in! Hello from Ukraine!
Bleyder
February 24th, 2010 6:41 amSubscribed from Spain!
Laura
February 24th, 2010 6:45 amHope you meet the challenge. I’m sharing with my friends for sure.
Also, Mailchimp is awesome – good choice!
gaurav
February 24th, 2010 6:46 ami signed so everybody should sin up.
I dont think it will take long to fill 10,000+
I have been reading smashingmag.com for a long time and it rocks.
Keep it rocking as you always do..
haricot
February 24th, 2010 6:48 amI’m in !!
Haricot from France having a truly smashing day ;)
Emilis
February 24th, 2010 6:53 amI am in to it too… :D
Adrian
February 24th, 2010 6:54 amAll signed up! Cheers!
Neil
February 24th, 2010 6:55 amGreat stuff, can I ask why you chose Mailchimp?
Ronald | Naldz Graphics
February 24th, 2010 6:56 amdone :). wacom plz :D.haha
stolkramaker
February 24th, 2010 6:57 amsubscribed! Looking forward to this. 10K subscribers is a big challenge, but seeing as though it is already @ 2K I’ll be watching my inbox!
liebesich
February 24th, 2010 6:59 amLike it and signed up! Why didn’t you do it before? Anyway, cannot wait until is in my inbox :-)
Kersh
February 24th, 2010 6:59 amGreat idea! I appreciate yours attempts to make this magazine better! :)
Oh… and, of course, I’ve subscribed! :D
Nina
February 24th, 2010 7:00 amSubscribed :)
Pelfusion
February 24th, 2010 7:01 amlove the books :)
Cristiano Valim
February 24th, 2010 7:02 amSigned up ;D
Jeremy
February 24th, 2010 7:06 amvery good! i’ve got it!
another question: is it possible to receive email updates from de smashingmagazine website. so that when a new article is posted, i get it in my mail?
radubn
February 24th, 2010 7:11 amGreat idea. Also, it think you should specify that the subjects in the newsletter will be different than those received in the rss.
josh
February 24th, 2010 7:12 amI’ve Signed Up! Great Idea!
Ryzza
February 24th, 2010 7:13 amthanks a lot, thumbs up !
Stefan
February 24th, 2010 7:13 amCool, thumbs up!
Filippo
February 24th, 2010 7:14 amI am ready to sign up every day for such great gifts. Anyway, I hope the content of newsletter will be awesome (like usually)!
Andris
February 24th, 2010 7:26 amThis will be awesome for sure. Just subscribed. Thanx for your great work.
Eryq
February 24th, 2010 7:31 amSigned in.. Pretty nervous… ;-)
SnarphBlat
February 24th, 2010 7:32 amHow exciting! Thanks so much! I am looking forward to it.
Stephanie
February 24th, 2010 7:33 amGreat idea! I subscribed, of course!
Daniel
February 24th, 2010 7:34 amLove it!
Ali Sarmadi
February 24th, 2010 7:36 amWow! What a great idea. I too signed up. Eagerly waiting for the first newsletter. Good luck smashing magazine team. :)
Giles Van Gruisen
February 24th, 2010 7:36 amAs much as I love you, Smashing Magazine, I don’t particularly think newsletters are ever good ideas.
Domas
February 24th, 2010 7:39 amSmashing giveaway!
Hmm, no “Smashing” book? Shame..
V1
February 24th, 2010 7:40 amNo Smashing book to win ;)?
Ha, it seems i’m not the only one thinking it ;P
thai
February 24th, 2010 7:46 amhop!
Harmen van Pelt
February 24th, 2010 7:46 amI’ve subscribed! The Wacom or the Smashing WordPress book should be perfect, if I win!!
Kind regards from the Netherlands
GEESIGNZ
February 24th, 2010 7:51 amsubsubsubscribering
Slobodan
February 24th, 2010 7:53 amGreat idea guys! I’ve sined up!
bodhi
February 24th, 2010 7:53 amHello Staff!
I am interested to subscribe to your newsletter and I wonder you why this change if you use the RSS/feed?
Thanks and good luck.
Sven Lennartz
February 24th, 2010 8:40 ambodhi, the newsletter is a small but new publication with fresh content. it’s completely different from the news feed.
Steven
February 24th, 2010 7:55 amSubscribed, waiting impatient
Dan W.
February 24th, 2010 7:59 amHi Smashing. I suggest you do some testing on your email sender. Both the “plesae confirm” and the “subscription confirmed” were marked as spam by SpamAssassin. You really want to do everything you can to make sure that spam filters don’t think your messages are spam. There are a lot of useful web checklists, SPF guidelines, etc. that you can google that should help.
Vidit Kothari
February 24th, 2010 8:05 amHere, i give thee my mind,
I give thee my heart,
and I give thee my soul,
&
I give these to my love.
LOVE YOU SMAAAASHING MAGAZINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lam do
February 24th, 2010 8:08 amSubscribed!
ingrid
February 24th, 2010 8:09 am10.001???
too easy!
you’ll reach it in a wink, blokes
waiting for it impatiently
Bryan McAnulty | Velora Studios
February 24th, 2010 8:11 amSurprised that there wasn’t a newsletter until now. Subscribed :]
X-oR
February 24th, 2010 8:12 amthat’s great, and I am specially interested to know how you are going to deal with the newsletter issue, on a “marketing” point of view at least ;)
Adit Gupta
February 24th, 2010 8:21 amSubscribed!! Now can I have my soundsticks :D
redfood
February 24th, 2010 8:22 amwhat is mobile format?
Sven Lennartz
February 24th, 2010 8:38 amredfoot, The Mobile version is a smaller HTML version that is run through specific mobile browsing software. This is what the mighty Mailchimp told us.
Firas
February 25th, 2010 6:34 amHey Sven, I hope you get the chance to read this. Do you have to make a different design for the mobile version or is it the mighty Mailchimp’s job/code that makes it mobile-able? :D
I’m just wondering as I love to ‘know’ :)
+ Subscribed
Handrus Nogueira
February 24th, 2010 8:24 amSubscribed, will make sure all my friends see this post! Also, cool prizes!
James
February 24th, 2010 8:26 amCount me in!
Dag Einar Monsen
February 24th, 2010 8:27 amSweet! I love this site <3
thegirltyler
February 24th, 2010 8:30 amNewsletter = glorious! Thanks ya’ll – I’m a Smashing junkie. I’ll be crossing my fingers to be a winner – I could totally use that tablet ; )
Vin Thomas
February 24th, 2010 8:33 amExcited for this. I have my eye on that Wacom. ;)
Anthony B.
February 24th, 2010 8:38 amI love Wacom & all smashing people (¡Me apunto!).
Pp
February 24th, 2010 8:41 amSigned up!! Yeah!
Oscar S. | Lumbre Creative
February 24th, 2010 8:42 amSmashing, great job. As someone previously mentioned, I don’t have to check my RSS feed as much, since it will be going straight to my inbox. Keep up the good work.
*salud*
Eagle Pete
February 24th, 2010 8:45 amLets hope mail chimp use a template less than 610 pixels wide! I hate scrolling.
Tedi
February 24th, 2010 8:47 amGreat idea, can’t wait for this!
Mhaddy
February 24th, 2010 8:50 amDone & done.
hmm
February 24th, 2010 8:51 amBit few give-aways for 10k people, dont u think?
Naransim
February 24th, 2010 8:54 amjust signed in…excellent idea!!
Eugen R.
February 24th, 2010 8:55 amOK, done.
Eric
February 24th, 2010 8:57 amSmashing idea. <– I thought of that all by myself.
Tom Karels
February 24th, 2010 9:06 amIm gunning for the Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch.
I’m trying to get my mom, who was an illustartor in her early 20′s, into illustarting on the computer. She was just laid off from a crappy job at Carson Pirie Scott working in the home good department.
Her fear of computers is great, hopefully something like that will bridge the gap!
Also, can’t wait for the news letters! I still have to read the Smashing book, ive got a week off in June that’s got its name all over it
peace