ART LOGO CONTEST
OPEN TO ANY ARTIST LIVING IN THE MISSION DISTRICT.
CLOSING DATE: Midnight JANUARY 10.
Prize: $500
We want to develop logos for the beats on Mission Loc@l. Look at the small boxes that now have thumbnail photos for each story on the home page. Instead of photos in these boxes, we would like logos with a consistent look that indicate each beat. They are:
1. Crime (Trouble)
2. Politics (Politiquería)
3. Art
4. Religion
5. Education (School Days)
6. Property
7. Money
8. Humor (Y Qué)
9. Notes from The Reporters & Writers (Madhacks)
10. Environment & Health (Urban Air)
11. Immigration (Borders)
We would also like logos to indicate
12. Video
13. Slideshow
14. Multimedia
15. Audio
16. Feature Read—a longish narrative piece that will take some time.
17. Profile—a profile of a local person.
18. Exposé—a project/investigative report
The winner will earn $500 and rights to the logos will go to Mission Loc@l. The artist will be credited in on the About page.
The 18 logos should easily identify the beat or story type and as a group, the logos should have some unifying theme.
The 11 beat logos should view well in the 100 x 60 px space where we now have thumbnail photos on the home page.
The 7 story type logos (video, slideshow, multimedia, audio, feature read, profile and exposé) should be small enough to put at the start of a headline that has a font-size of 20.
Please Submit entries in .ai or .eps format.
We have occasionally been using the open sourced art of Rini Templeton http://www.riniart.org/ and love her style, but we are open to other styles that look good as a group and that fit with the style of our already conceived site.
The judges will be the editors of Mission Loc@l who reserve the right to decide that there is no winner.
DEADLINE: Midnight January 10.
Send entries in jpg or gif formats along with your name, address, and short biography—one paragraph– to staff@missionlocal.org.
We will announce the winner by the end of January.
Thank you, Lydia Chávez, Managing Editor
Natasha: Thank you for you comment and the education. You might be right about finding someone who is simply willing to volunteer their time. The contest is on, maybe it will work, maybe it will not. But, I do hear what you are saying although I didn’t –and don’t think it is unethical. Artists can choose not to enter, which many may do. But it does open doors to others who may not be well known enough to get a call from one of us.
All the best, Lydia Chavez
Managing Editor
I agree with WhyMeLoord.
This is an unethical way of getting a trendy aesthetic.
You cannot expect a quality product without respecting the process, especially for a task as significant as your branding identity. Good design matters, and if you acknowledge that, value the people who produce it.
If you are an underfunded or non-profit venture without the means of hiring an agency or freelance designer, spend you time looking for an experienced volunteer with the skills you need and the dedication to your mission and philosophy with whom you can develop a pro-bono designer-client relationship.
Also they’re called icons, not logos.
You make some good points. However, we aren’t a business in the sense that we have loads of money. For us, a contest works because as you note, we will be able to see many designs. But, we hope it works for contestants as well because it opens it up to an artist of any age and an artist of any standing. I edited your comment for space reasons, but thank you for your thoughts, Lydia Chavez, Managing Editor.
EDITED COMMENT: Right now, there exists a trend in the business world whereby companies get it in their heads that it would be a good idea to run a contest for their design work. What they will do is announce that they need, say, a new logo. The intent is for designers to individually spend the time to develop designs and then submit them. The company then goes over the entries and selects a “winner.” Only the winner receives any compensation for the work.
On the surface, and without applying any deeper thought to it, this might seem like a great idea. Rather than trust one designer to come up with a solution, a company can solicit the creative talent of dozens, or even hundreds of talented creatives…..
As with most things, however, the reality of the situation is rarely so simple.
Advertising is a business, and working with a designer is a business relationship. Because of that, there are far more factors at work than just the final product….It isn’t only important to find someone talented and who can get your projects done on time. The best relationships between companies and designers occur when they understand each other, when the designer “gets” what the company wants and needs to be successful.
This kind of relationship is almost never possible in a contest.