The design industry resource Design Dump is currently having a drawing in which two site visitors will win autographed copies of my book Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands.
Enter the contest now through July 30, 2008 at the Design Dump website. Earlier this year Design Dump posted a review of Identity Crisis!.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Curry's "Puppetry: An Out of Body Experience"
Several years ago I had the pleasure of briefly meeting master of puppetry and kinetic theatrical design Michael Curry when we were introduced by a local theatre producer. Curry is probably best known as the creative genius behind the incredible puppets used in the Broadway musical production The Lion King.
This week the Oregon Historical Society Museum - in Portland, OR - premiered a retrospective of Michael Curry's work in the form of the exhibit Puppetry: An Out of Body Experience. Pieces displayed include representative works executed for such global entertainment brands as The Walt Disney Company, Cirque Du Soleil, Universal Studios and The Olympics, as well as international opera and stage companies. The headquarters of Michael Curry Design is about 30 minutes from downtown Portland.
The exhibit will run from now through October 19, 2008. The Oregon Historical Society's Museum and Research Library are located in the SW Park Blocks across from the Portland Art Museum at 1200 SW Park Avenue in downtown Portland.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Back in 1997, while doing work for the TriAd advertising agency my sister owned at the time, I was asked to re-design the identity of the Sunriver Preparatory School outside of Bend, OR. The previous identity (below left), made up of fairly abstract calligraphic letterforms, really didn't say much about the prep school itself.
The "grocery list" of possible items to be included in the new logo included the nearby geographic landmarks of the Three Sisters Mountains, the ski slopes of Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top mountain and the Deschutes River. I was also asked to work in a reference to the school's wolf mascot if possible.
Once the graphic representation of the five mountains was created, it seemed natural to incorporate the river imagery as an "S" letter shape flowing through the design and to add the wolf silhouette viewing the scenery from atop a hill.
Although not a huge fan of the now over-used font Papyrus, the type seemed to work very well, over a decade ago, with the illustration style I had made use of in the logo design. However, I did smooth out the rough letterforms a bit to make them text seem a little less "bumpy."
The Sunriver Preparatory School is highlighted in the book American Corporate Identity 2001 and the Japanese volume Logo World.
(Note: My book, Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands, contains case studies from 35 designers and firms located around the world. Learn more about the book on the Identity Crisis! blog.)
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
We had a great time participating in Portland's Sunday Parkways event. For six hours, this past Sunday, approximately 150 city blocks of streets in North Portland were closed to automobile traffic. With "street closed" signs in front of our home, drivers started parking cars in our neighborhood, with numerous bikes in racks, in the light pre-8:00 AM drizzle. Within a short period of time the sun broke through the clouds and literally thousands of people took to the streets - on bicycles, tricycles, roller blades, unicycles and a few more unusual contraptions. Many others were running, walking or pushing baby strollers. (Check out the great short film, by Clarence Eckerson, Jr., about the successful day.)
The Sunday Parkways event was based on the similar weekly Ciclovia event held in Bogota, Colombia where 70 miles of roads are closed. The Portland event was paid for by a variety of local and corporate sponsors, with the added bonus of an $87,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. The City of Portland Office of Transportation and Portland Parks & Recreation did an incredible job of coordinating the activity. Traffic control was conducted by the Portland Police (who must have enjoyed participants repeatedly yelling "thanks yous") and event volunteers posted at each intersection.
A couple weeks ago, my partner Ed - and friends Lisa and Bev - got me a new bicycle for my birthday. With my previous vertigo issues it had been nearly five years since I had been able to ride a bike. It was a real treat to be able to go to our friend Steve's St. Johns bike shop, Weir's Cyclery, to pick out my new form of neighborhood transportation. I was really looking forward to the Sunday Parkways.
We began the suggested six-mile route for the event at Arbor Lodge Park, just a block from our home. The festivities at the park - live music, food vendors, information booths, free valet bike parking and more - were mirrored at Kaiser Permanente near Overlook Park, Uthank Park with the fantastic Beaterville Band, and Peninsula Park where the amazing Rose Garden is in full bloom.
We saw several friends and neighbors riding along through the great neighborhoods of North Portland. It was also great to see people sitting on their porches watching the "live entertainment" passing by, little kids having curbside lemonade sales, the well-organized "Bake sales for Obama," busy garage sales, a bike-riding Santa, the thousands of smiling people, and all of the media covering the event.
At one intersection, while we were waiting for police to stop traffic allowing us to cross a major road, I heard someone say, "I love Co-Motion Cycles." I turned to see a couple next to me sitting on a beautiful Co-Motion tandem bike. On the frame of the bike was the Co-Motion logo I designed back in 1998, with my friend Jerril Nilson as Creative Director for the project.
I smiled and said, "I designed that logo."
As they rode away the guy on the front of the bike said, "And a very good job you did, too."
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
One of my greatest passions, and best forms of therapy, outside of work is my garden. Although the entire garden is most often watered by a timer- operated irrigation and drip system, occasionally there is a need to do extra watering using the garden hose. I always hate to be dragging the hose across the driveway, sidewalk or patio and have it attempt to decapitate plants in the garden.
I've looked at various hose guides at garden stores and I'm just too cheap to pay what is asked. I'd heard of people making the guides using lengths of pipe with ornamental lamp finials on top. Again, most lamp finials I like are too expensive for me to use in such a manner. A few weeks ago at Lowe's I found some aged bronze swirl drawer pulls on sale for $1.28 a piece - and I'd discovered my hose guide ornaments. So, with a 37-cent copper cap, a $1.42 piece of rebar, and about $1.00 worth of copper pipe, I had my hose guide materials for just over $4.00.
The materials needed for one hose guard (shown above) are:
• 1 piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe cut to 10 inches in length
• 1 copper cap for 1/2 inch pipe
• 1 piece of 3/8 inch rebar cut to 24 inches in length
• 1 ornamental brass or bronze drawer pull
• 1 metal screw (comes with drawer pull)
The tools needed include:
• a tape measure
• a handheld pipe cutter (available at the hardware store)
• a hacksaw (to cut the rebar and screw)
• an electric drill
• the necessary solder and soldering equipment
• steel wool, sandpaper or a tool made for roughing up the pipe surfaces to be joined
• a container of flux and the necessary brush for "painting" it on the copper tubing
• a pair of gloves with a non-skid palm surface for assistance in holding the pipe while it is being cut
The project process was actually fairly simple. The most effort was required in cutting the rebar and copper pipe to the proper lengths. It was also necessary to cut the screw that came with the drawer pull to about half of its length.
I used an electric drill to create a hole in the copper cap to screw on the drawer pull. Once the drawer pull was tightly screwed onto the cap, Ed soldered the screw in place within the cap to prevent movement (you could super glue the screw in place if desired). He then soldered the copper cap to the 10-inch length of copper pipe (again, you could super glue it on for ease).
I then stuck the piece of rebar into the ground, at the corner of the flower bed, until 10 inches of the rebar was left above the surface. The copper pipe fit over the rebar and my "designer" hose guide was in place. In a little less than an hour I had three custom hose guides completed and installed in my garden.
Note: You might also want to check out my copper garden trellis project.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
The television reports of the flooding in the Midwest have been amazing. I was stunned when I saw the coverage of the amount of water in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Four years ago I was the recipient of incredible hospitality from the local design and advertising community when I was a speaker at a creative conference in nearby Waterloo. My hosts went above and beyond the call of duty in entertaining visiting speakers in downtown Cedar Rapids.
Yesterday one of my online acquaintances from the design community in Cedar Rapids, Andrew Kidd of Kidd Graphic Design, posted a series of photos (one is shown above) on his Facebook profile showing the major damage to his design office. I immediately sent off an email asking Andrew if there was any way I could help. I got the following message in response:
Hi Jeff,Thanks for the email. It really means a lot that people I have never met are being so nice to me. I emailed Veer yesterday saying I had failed to back up a font I purchased, and they responded right away and got that font right to me. Little things like that mean so much right now.
Thankfully, I have a portable hard drive and have most of my files from my computer. Pretty much everything else is gone except 2 "Logo Lounge" books and your "Identity Crisis" book, my camera, portfolio, iPod and bag that I had taken home. They told us to get everything off the floor, because there might be a little water coming in. So everyone did that, and some how, they were off about 10 feet. The water was about 1.5 feet from going over the roof. Some of the wooden furniture like my drawing table, desk, small round table, and chairs might be salvageable if they are refinished.
There is an artists relief fund at Legion Arts, (also referred to CSPS locally because it is an old Czech building) that is taking donations for artists in the area. That would probably be the best way to help local artists. The area I am in is a new cultural district called New Bohemia from the rich Czech culture here in Cedar Rapids. Because of that, it is the unofficial arts district in the city, and there was a lot of artwork lost from the flood. Their website is: www.legionarts.org
Thank you again for caring about us over here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. :-)
Andrew Kidd
You've got to love a guy who saves his copy of Identity Crisis! in the middle of a natural disaster.
Anything others in the design community can do to assist industry peers impacted by the Midwest floods would be greatly appreciated by those who have lost so much. If bLog-oMotives readers know of other assistance resources, in Iowa or other states affected by the flooding, please post the information as a comment. I also started a thread on the HOW Design Forum where information may be posted in regards to assistance resources - or design students, designers or design firms that may be in need of some help.
In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina the design industry came to the aid of their own. It's time to do so once again.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Yesterday, in Santa Monica, California, the Postal Service™ issued a commemorative sheet of 42–cent stamps recognizing Charles and Ray Eames. Honoring the husband-and-wife design team, this commemorative sheet of 16 stamps was designed by Derry Noyes - Art Director and designer for the USPS - and represents the breadth of their extraordinary body of creative work, which includes architecture, furniture, film and exhibits.
A long-time fan of the Eames' work, I was able to pick up a couple sheets at my local post office this morning. The stamps are also available for purchase through The Postal Store online.
To learn more about the extraordinary Charles and Ray Eames, check out the site of the Eames Foundation. The Chairman of the Board of the Eames Foundation, and the Director of the Eames Office, is Eames Demetrios - grandson of Charles and Ray Eames. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the University & College Designers Association conference a few years ago. In fact, I almost had to fill in for him as the keynote speaker when he was late due to being stuck in traffic. With an audience expecting the multi-talented bearer of the Eames family legacy, I would have been a huge disappointment to the conference attendees.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Designers features Jeni Herberger
As part of the publication's continuing Professional Growth Webinar Series for those in the design profession, HOW Magazine will feature my HOW Conference pal Jeni Herberger in a webinar this Thursday, June 19, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. The one-hour webinar, "Planning Your Design Career," will assist you in discovering your career goals and charting the course of your professional dreams.
Cost of the webinar is $69 - but those using the promotional code desjn19 will save $20 and be able to register for only $49. You may register for the event on the webinar site. All sessions are archived, so you can register and view them any time. (If you registered for the live event, you'll also have online access to the webinar for 12 months afterward, so you can watch it again and again as a refresher course.)
Jeni (aka "The T-Shirt Lady" due to her webinar ad photo - above) is one of the most popular speakers at HOW's events, having spoken at the Mind Your Own Business Conference, HOW Design Conference and In-HOWse Designer Conference. With more than 15 years experience in the creative industry, Jeni is often featured as a speaker at national events and partners with design firms nationwide to improve hiring practices.
As I continue to sort through boxes of past project files, I've found some excavated artifacts other than my own doodles. I recently came across a file of faded thermal paper faxes of client concepts for their own logos.
One such effort was a 1995 project for a Bend, Oregon client, Deschutes Plumbing. I was provided with three rough sketches and color suggestions for the plumbing contractor's business (above). The client wanted snow- capped mountains, trees, and a river flowing down the mountainside with a drop of water coming out of a faucet - or possibly two faucets. I was also given the directive "Colors: blue (water), forest green (trees, lettering)."
I don't know about the rest of you, but my first impression was a very clear image of a woman's breasts in the doodles - and knew that would not represent the business well. Still, within the rough ideas there were bits and pieces that could make up a much more concise, clean and usable identity design.
I immediately eliminated the idea of small tree elements, as they would most likely add too much detail to the design. I was able to incorporate graphic elements to represent the nearby Three Sisters Mountains and the Deschutes River. The letterforms "D" and "P" where drawn to resemble pipes, complete with a drip of water coming from the tap imagery. The color requests of the client were implemented as well. All of the elements were incorporated in a circular shape for ease of use in ads, collateral materials and vehicle signage.
The resulting image is still in use by the business 13 years later. It was also featured in the Japanese book New Logo & Trademark Design; later released in paperback by PIE Books as Logo and Trademark Collection.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Yesterday, as on any given business day, I went to log in to the site of the U.S. design industry publication Create Magazine - and it was gone. In its place was the home page of Graphics.com with the following posting:
Create Magazine Joins Graphics.com NetworkI'd heard the rumblings of the merger, and of the layoffs of Create Magazine staff, in recent weeks - so the merger wasn't a complete surprise. What is a major disappointment is the death of one of the better online design magazine presences. Create Magazine did it right. With over 13,000 online members, the publication's website provided its readers with online portfolios, the posting of an article each day from its archives, a job board, online chat, image battles, a true sense of community, online versions of the current issue for paid members, and so much more.
(Posted on 2008-06-12 16:03:39)A few weeks ago, Create Magazine merged with Dynamic Graphics magazine. Beginning with the July/August 2008 issue, this new magazine will feature the best collection of news, tips and insights for creative professionals. (Paid subscribers will continue to receive the magazine, without interruption.)
The print version of Create Magazine was a great example of a true news publication for the creative industries. The geographic regional editions provided readers with a true perspective of local news and events - something lacking in most design industry magazines. I was privileged to have Jeff Fisher Logomotives news published in the magazine on numerous occasions. I was sometimes quoted in articles in the publication, and the editors were kind enough to plug my book, Identity Crisis!, earlier this year.
It will be interesting to see how the merger with Dynamic Graphics evolves. I've always been a fan of Dynamic Graphics - in fact, my marketing packet is featured in an article in the current issue. Unfortunately, the web presences of Dynamic Graphics and sister publication STEP Inside Design, are not match for the late, great Create Magazine site. I personally feel that design industry professionals deserve, and expect, better from representative industry journals. I do hope that the Graphics.com network takes that fact into consideration as they move forward. Some of the plans - and immediate implications of the merger - are addressed on the Graphics.com site.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Business District Association Conference
Tomorrow I'll be one of 14 speakers at the Business District Association Conference sponsored by the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations (APNBA). Conference participants will hear the "best practices" of their fellow business districts, plus speakers from the business community, as they share insights into building, growing, and maintaining a thriving organization. The APNBA is an alliance of the 30+ business district associations (BDAs) in Portland. BDA members are the merchants, property owners, and employees in the commercial districts surrounding the downtown area of the city.
The topic of my presentation is "Projecting a professional association image." I'll be discussing making use of graphic design, and the services of professional or student designers, in presenting a professional, consistent public image for organizations and their sponsored events. Having an effective identity will be one element I will cover in my presentation. In part, that will include the need to sometimes redesign an identity, while taking into consideration aspects such as the emotional attachment to an existing logo, the historical perspective of the current design, and maintaining the essence of the message being conveyed by an image.
The APNBA presentation is a great example of how a designer can use a speaking engagement to promote one's work while educating a potential client base. Business conferences, Chamber of Commerce meetings, local business organizations, and other business-related events present great opportunities for a "creative type" to preach what one practices. The added bonus of a potential client may be an immediate result - I already have one before tomorrow's APNBA conference even commences.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
provides a preview to what to expect
The official companion blog for the first annual Creative Freelancer Conference is now up and running. Colleen Wainwright, aka the communicatrix, is the fearless blogmistress, and will also be a speaker at the event. Readers will be able to peruse blog entries from Wainwright, HOW Magazine editor Bryn Mooth and other speakers, to be posted between now and the August 2008 design industry activity.
The Creative Freelancer Conference will be held August 27-29 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. The event, co-sponsored by HOW Magazine and Marketing Mentor, will provide independent designers, illustrators, copywriters, photographers and others with pricing strategies, marketing techniques and the best business practices for running a one-person business.
Speakers for the conference include Ilise Benun and Peleg Top of Marketing Mentor; cartoonist, artist and writer Lloyd Dangle; and PR and issues management specialist Joan Gladstone of Gladstone International. Author, speaker, trainer and entrepreneur Lee Silber and Dyana Valentine, founder and principal of Creative Consultancy, will also be making presentations. Closing speaker for the event will designer and author Jeff Fisher of Jeff Fisher LogoMotives with his session, "Reaping the Rewards of Creative Independence."
Check out the latest conference news, and some of what to expect from the speakers, at the Creative Freelancer Conference blog.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Last week Jackie Farwell, an independent writer for the Associated Press, interviewed me - and other business professionals - for a news story about the use of the traditional business card as a self-promotion tool in today's non-traditional networking world. With the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives business card being an odd shape and size, she was wondering if I got much negative reaction to its use.
This morning I'm starting to see various formats of the story on international news sites. So far I've seen references on the sites for The Canadian Press, The Columbia Daily Tribune in Columbia, MO, o8sis.com, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA, WRAL.com, and the Chicago-area publication The SouthtownStar. Don't be surprised if the story pops up in a publication, or on a site, in your neighborhood.
My business card has served me very well the past six years. I recently wrote about it in another bLog-oMotives entry.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
Recently, over at Designers Who Blog, my friend Cat Morley - the force behind DWB and other design industry Internet entities - made it be known that the Spanish maomao Publications was including a number of the blog's designer banners in the upcoming book Blogs: Mad About Design. According to Macarena San Martín, editor of the book, the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives/bLog-oMotives banner will be included.
I'll be in good company - with the likes of Armin Vit, David Airey, Eric Karjaluoto, Emily Chang, Seth Godin, Stefan G. Bucher and others.
I'll post additional information about Blogs: Mad About Design as the release date nears. The book becomes one of over 100 volumes in which my work is represented or Jeff Fisher LogoMotives is written about.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
On a day that saw the largest single day Dow Jones industrials drop in 2008 (so far), the highest one-month jump in unemployment in 22 years and a new record high in oil prices, we all need something to laugh about. Thankfully, that giggle and snicker has been provided by way of ads, running in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, announcing the new airline Derrie-Air.
The ads promote the new airline's policy of "The more you weigh, the more you pay." Readers are directed to the Derrie-Air website.
However, before people get their panties in a bunch they should read the fine print and perhaps do a little research. The fictitious airline simply won't be flying. It's a one-day advertising campaign about a fake airline by Philadelphia Media Holdings, the papers' owner, and Gyro Worldwide Advertising, Inc.
Jay Devine, spokesman for Philadelphia Media Holdings spokesman said the goal of the highly visible campaign is to "demonstrate the power of our brands in generating awareness and generating traffic for our advertisers, and put a smile on people's faces."
A visitor to the Derrie-Air site learns of the claim that it is the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline; justifying its fare policy by saying that it takes more fuel to move heavier objects. Derrie-Air posts rates from $1.40 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago to $2.25 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. The site includes the airline's pledge to plant trees to offset every pound of carbon released into the atmosphere by its planes.
The one thing I noticed immediately is that the corporate identity and branding of Derrie-Air beats the pants off of many of the real world corporate rebrandings seen recently.
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
The marketing and promotion methods of Jeff Fisher LogoMotives are featured in the June/July issue of Dynamic Graphics magazine. In the article, "Ingredients of a Successful Capabilities Presentation", designer Jeff Fisher's customizable media kit is displayed and his advice on capabilities presentations is shared. One of his company's familiar "Toot! Toot!" press releases illustrates the article and the blog promoting his recent book, Identity Crisis!, is noted.
Author and management guru Guy Kawasaki, Kevin Potts of Graphic Push and Ashworth Creative's Eve Ashworth provide additional presentation recommendations for the Dynamic Graphics piece. Daniel Schutzsmith, a professor at the School of Visual Arts and principal of DSGN + DVLP, wrote the article for the publication.
Dynamic Graphics presents design ideas for the real world for creative professionals, taking readers behind the designs in showing how to apply the techniques of industry leaders to projects.
Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity, is a member of the HOW Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, the HOW Design Conference Advisory Council and the UCDA Designer Magazine Editorial Advisory Board. His book, Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands, was recently released by HOW Books. His first volume, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success, appeared on bookstore shelves in late 2004.
(* If I don’t "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
All of the following competitions deadlines present great opportunities to showcase your design efforts, market your work on an international scale through the published books, and "toot!" your own horn to clients, peers and the media:
Market Smart Design
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline Extended: 12 June 2008
No entry fees charged
HOW Interactive Design Awards 2008
(HOW Magazine - USA)
Deadline: 15 June 2008
Entry fees charged
Communication Arts Advertising Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline Extended: 16 June 2008
Entry fees charged
Communication Arts Design Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline Extended: 16 June 2008
Entry fees charged
Gateways - an international exhibition of book covers
(Serralves Foundation - Portugal)
Deadline: 20 June 2008
No entry fees charged
The BEST Ads You've Never Seen
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline: 30 June 2008
No entry fees charged
LogoPond Awards
(LogoPond - USA)
Deadline Extended: 30 June 2008
Entry fees charged
American Graphic Design Awards
(Graphic Design USA - USA)
Deadline Extended: 30 June 2008
Entry fees charged
LogoLounge 5
(LogoLounge - USA)
Deadline: 30 June 2008
LogoLounge paid membership required
The Big Book of Self-Promotion
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Especially seeking submissions of unique promotional products (games, toys, wearables) and fun seasonal promotions (calendars, holiday items).
Deadline Extended: 1 July 2008
No entry fees charged
The Create Awards 2008
(Create Magazine - USA)
Extended Deadline (with late fees): 7 July 2008
Entry fees charged
No Rules! Logos
(RotoVision - UK)
Deadline: 7 July 2008
No entry fees charged
TypeGallery 2008
(Society of Typographic Aficionados - USA)
Deadline: 9 July 2008
Entry fees charged
2008 UCDA Design Competition
(UCDA - USA)
Deadline: 11 July 2008
Entry fees charged
2008 Summit Marketing Effectiveness Award
(Summit Awards - USA)
Deadline Extended: 14 July 2008
Entry fees charged
Creativity Annual Awards
(Creativity Annual Awards - USA)
Deadline: 15 July 2008
Entry fees charged
Really Good Packaging, Explained
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline Extended: 25 July 2008
No entry fees charged
Letterhead & Logo Design 11
(Rockport Publishers - USA)
Deadline: 8 August 2008
No entry fees charged
2008 Re:Design Competition
(Dynamic Graphics - USA)
Deadline: 15 August 2008
Entry fees charged
Like Colors: A Compendium of Prized T-shirt Designs
(Oxide Design Co. - USA)
Deadline: 15 August 2008
No entry fees charged
HOW International Design Awards 2008
(HOW Magazine - USA)
Deadline: 1 September 2008
Entry fees charged
For a Good Cause: Solidarity Design
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline: 15 September 2008
No entry fees charged
A Homeage to Typography
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline: 30 September 2008
No entry fees charged
Toilets - PictoSigns
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline: 30 September 2008
No entry fees charged
H2O
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline: 20 October 2008
No entry fees charged
Diagrams
(RotoVision - UK)
Deadline: 30 October 2008
No entry fees charged
Communication Arts Interactive Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 16 January 2009
Entry fees charged
Communication Arts Illustration Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 6 March 2009
Entry fees charged
Communication Arts Photography Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 6 March 2009
Entry fees charged
HOW International Design Awards 2009
(HOW Magazine - USA)
Deadline: 20 March 2009
Entry fees charged
(To make sure you are reading the latest bLog-oMotives design competition update click here.)
You may want to read my article about participating in design industry competitions: A Winning Strategy. It has appeared on the Creative Latitude and NO!SPEC web sites.
Design competition calendars are also available at Icograda and Workbook. Lürzer's ARCHIVE also has an impressive online list of competitions sponsored by international magazines and organizations. DesignTaxi and Dexinger post competitions of great value to industry professionals - however designers need to be aware that some of the listings are for "spec" work as a requirement for submission. Requests for new, or speculative, work as a condition of entering a "contest" are much different than legitimate design competition "calls for entries," in which previously created works are judged for possible awards, exhibition, or publication in an annual or other book.
My own work appears in nearly 100 graphic design books. Many of those inclusions are the result of design competitions, or requests for submissions, like those listed above.
For the perspective from the other side of design competitions, I wrote a bLog-oMotives entry about judging the 2007 Summit Creative Awards.
Good luck!
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
