Website Redesign

I recently launched [login to view URL], an online platform for users interested in serious, competitive debate. Edeb8 is the most technically advanced site of its kind, supporting a wide variety of features not found elsewhere. Being a newer site, the community is still relatively small but very friendly. While our focus on the niche market of serious debaters is our key point of difference, other sites with a similar idea include [login to view URL], [login to view URL], and createdebate.com. As well as debates, the site has other features like messaging, chats, a forum, groups, profiles, teams, a coaching system, two blogs, searching and more. The ultimate goal of the site is to improve debating online. While some knowledge of formal debating is certainly not required, it would be an advantage. I'm looking at hiring an external developer to improve the design of the site, while I focus more on adding additional functionality (although nothing in the short term that would significantly impact on the design). The design must be simple and easy to navigate, but must also give the user access to all the important features of the site that they might be looking for. It should be responsive and easy to both navigate and read on mobile devices. And it must be visually appealing while also being very SEO friendly. As well as come up with the design, you would be required to implement it in the code. The site is built with HTML5, CSS, JQuery and PHP. You will also be required to liaise with the community to identify possible issues in the design and fix them if required. I'm looking for someone who's honest, professional and able to work comfortably on an established community-based site. I'm excited to hear your proposals!