DISQUS

I think you've hit the nail on the head... such a better way of looking at the world.

Wow... it's been a few years since I was involved in any controversial debate on the Internet. Forgot how much I missed it and it's interesting to read both sides :)

Apparently the general community thinks better of these sorts of websites than the graphic design community. Nearly all professional organisations actively discourage what we call speculative work and dictate very strict rules on the running of design competitions (the main criteria being that no copyright is transferred just by "winning" - copyright transfer is to be negotiated for a mutually agreeable fee after the winner is announced.

Graphic Design organisations such as the RGD (association of graphic designers in Canada) have gone as far as to reprimand a magazine publicly for requesting suggesting that applications without speculative work attached would not be looked upon favorably.

Corporate Social Responsibility can exist within the realms of free enterprise... I wasn't even trying to elude to "design cartels" where poor designers are kidnapped off the streets to sit in cubicles to design at gun point but I'm a believer that anyone who does a fair days work should receive a fair days pay. This notion shouldn't be confined to those that can afford the privilege whether they be in the office buildings of Mumbai or the computer labs of RMIT Melbourne (and I remember trying to work out how to make 10 dollars stretch for a week when I was starting out).

I have the resources these days to mentor students (both Australian and International) and as part of this mentoring process I have been involved in helping young students work at low cost with small start ups and other charities. I feel that this is a far more effective to help students develop their skills within a non exploitative environment. They are involved with a single client from start to finish - guided along to develop the piece and their skills and the publication of their work while never totally guaranteed (printing budgets can disappear within a blink of the eye) is far more likely than if you have 10 designers competing against each other. When it comes to this sort of work they are encouraged to place self promotional material on the piece which actually encourages others to use them in a way that they can negotiate a proper fee in future.

Bobby I'm not even going to try and argue of the design benefits of the London 2012 logo... I truly think it's awful, but without being part of design committee and understanding what they were trying to answer in terms of the brief I can't judge it's design merit.

Another interesting view point from a designer who has been very vocal about logo competitions.

http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_blog/index.p...

Glen you know I adore you... even if you do support the kidnapping and one handed midgets with illustrator skills ;)

I'm with Ruben... design is not about sticking a few colours on page and making sure the kerning is correct (which needs improvement in all of those logos).

A brand is not just a logo and the design process should never be diluted so far as to believe that is - at the moment they show very little understanding of future direction or even how you currently want to reproduce this logo.

Logowars are a scattergun approach - cheap and you're going to come up with "something" but rarely is that "something" going to be something that has the ability to become a memorable brand.

As for the morals of these sort of competitions... I'm sure there would be outrage if you got together 20 people who were barely able to make ends meet - asked them to do a full day of hard labour but only paid the one that you "liked" more and then paid them half of the current market rate for such labour.

Do yourself and a young designer a favour - approach a design course or graphic design association and talk to them about actually going through a proper design and brand process with an individual. You will get a much better result and you've actually helped someone further their career by giving them much needed commercial work.

oh btw.

You are 1 of the 2 people accepted from Malaysia :)

Hey!

CONGRATS ON UR OFFERS! You got into some AMAZING schools. I still haven't checked mine yet, hehe. I'm too scared.

Anyway, a few tips that i picked up around school (since everyone has been talking about unis non-stop this month)...NYU's biggest draw is its location. Many people only apply there for the city, and that's why it's so famous. It really only depends on what major to do there, but its mostly best for artsy, film stuff, I guess.

And, U Chicago is mainly good for economics, so if thats what you want to do, that'll be a great choice :) But it's quite a scary place, what with hearing gunshots, getting carjacked and having your home broken into.

but enough of that. OMGOMGOMGOMG GO CELEBRATE. Congrats again :)

When you said 'Shangri-La', I thought Bhutan... :)

T.T my comment got cut off

anyway, I was going to say since you go to Causeway Bay so much, you could just go to World Trade Center behind Sogo :P they have a Honeymoon Dessert place there heh, so you don't have to go all the way to Central

Haha. It's nice to see someone so excited about Hong Kong. After living here for like 14 years, bored already >

Happy New Year, pinkpau! To another year of awesome blogging from you, heh!

"Being a perfectionist is inefficient" - I agree with you whole-heartedly =) When I write essays, I take FOREVER, cause I have to read, and reread my sentences and paragraphs over and over again until they're perfect, then only will I move on. Then, after writing another paragraph, I'll reread from the start of the essay to whatever point I'm on, and keep doing this until I DIE. /ahem. Do you have that problem too?

Thanks for a little procrastination...I'm heading back to my uni apps now :(

Woah. That's an amazing list. U. of Michigan and Cornell are on my list as well =)

I just finished my SAT 2s 5 hours ago..>.

Hi..I've been reading for quite a while now but never really got the compulsion to comment until now...

..seriously, that swimsuit is AMAZING >,

yes i was there and enjoyed the evening. we did attempt a conversation but i know when to stop flogging a dead horse ;-)

do you know anyone with a thing for spiderman? ;-)?

it was after eating the icing off of a spiderman cake

if you like i can join in with nappy contents! i mean who in their right mind wouldnt want a conversation about that?

leaving do!!!! does off to colcchester mean OFF to colchester then?

mmmm not sure im into new years resolutions either.
they should be called new years set yourself up for failure and depressions.
personally i prefer to tweak and poke at life as i go along on a weekly basis.

happy new year caity. jayne x

please help! what is farl?

frustrated is an understatement! come on source remove the hat and dark shades and reveal your identity. i promise only you and i will know;)

mmm cryptic. source own up and put me out of my misery

i couldnt help myself and drew my own house but lack the knowledge to know how to send the results to you.
bit of a dodgy analysis though because apparently im not a flirt either and i pride myself on my flirting abilities ;-)

i am humbled at your patience. im a bread lover myself but too lazy to make my own.

this has nothing to do with the previous comments. just wanted to say that if you are off on the little jolly up to pauls tomorrow i hope you have a good time and manage to stay on your feet;) jayne

god we all sound so square now. look what youve started caity we now have no street cred between us