Graphic Design Contests

**Sean Smith** · 09:31 PM

I am trying to run a competition to design a unique logo and website for my new business gifts2print however twice now I have been autoimatically logged out before I had a chance to post the message.

$200 competition.
Specialising in personalised gifts for weddings, parties and events rather than a corporate promotional site with 1000's of products.
I like the logo of tshirtstudio.com but need a site with more 'show'.
I don't like emcadgifts.co.uk

Thanks,
Sean Smith

**Sean Smith** · 10:01 PM

Apologises to everyone about my (first) post. Twice now I have spent at least half an hour each time putting down some details about the competition and both times despite being logged in when it came to getting the message posted it told me I wasn't logged in. Anyway ...... I will try again.

Competition: $200 for a unique logo and website for a personalised gift business called gifts2print. It is only on this forum. Time frame is around 7 days while I assure you that if there is a suitable entry the $200 will be paid to the winner and I will ensure that I place a message on this forum. Payment will be made via PayPal.

Background: I run a small entertainment hire business called Hire4 (hire4.co.uk) in the UK specialising in Fun Casino nights (thecardiffcasinocompany.co.uk) and Chocolate Fountains (cascadingchocolate.co.uk). We also provide other games and interactive entertainment. The logos were designed by a website developer while I have done the websites using frontpage - dont laugh !!! I tried !!!

I am wanting to develop a business - gifts2print - which specialises in providing personalised gifts/items for weddings, parties and events (see our Hire4 logo). example: personalised jigsaw puzzle for a kids birthday paty, a personalised casino layout for a wedding etc.

We are going to slowly expand our product range however it is NOT a business which plans on providing 1000's of corporate promotional items like umbrellas, car key holders etc.

Likes/Dislikes: I like the logo of the tshirtstudio.com however I am after a website which showcases some of our products on the front page and generally has a more colourful look and inviting feel about it.

I don't like the look of emcadgifts.co.uk nor makeitpersonal.co.uk as I don't want lists or drop down lists of what products we have on the left hand side.

Colour Scheme: Prefer not blue or green. Perhaps one, two or three colours used together ....

Requirements:

Could you please include all the relevant webpages, formats and dpi ranges so that over time I can (learn) to make changes using Photoshop and Dreamweaver.
I would like to have one page which is going to be a 'checkout' page using (for now) one of the free paypal or nochex formats.
I like the yourdesign.co.uk - online design service functionality - is this do-able ?!
I am no expert so please add/recommend anything that you feel would enhance the site or that you have seen in your previous work.

The most important thing is that the business is aiming to specialise in personalised items/gifts for weddings, parties and events - so that I am able to package up the items with my main Hire4 services.

Thanks for your time and please contact me if you feel I have left out any important information. I will be looking to get our other three websites re-designed over the next 6 months so if all goes well I will do this on this forum.

Cheers
Sean Smith

**170 Designs** · 04-23-2006, 10:25 AM

When does the contest end?

Matt

**Sean Smith** · 04-23-2006, 10:50 AM

Hi !

I said in my original post ".. Time frame is around 7 days ..".

This means the competition closes in 7 days however if appropriate I think some flexibility would be reasonable both in terms of yourselves entering and me deciding the winner.

Is this okay?!

Thanks
Sean

**170 Designs** · 04-23-2006, 11:43 AM

Do you have any general t-shirt etc. pictures that we could use? like the ones on http://yourdesign.co.uk/?

Matt

**170 Designs** · 06:41 PM

Here's my entry so far:

[removed]

Matt

**Sean Smith** · 12:25 PM

No - I don't have any suitable t-shirt graphics or outlines of products which could be used. This part of my business is not up and running so I don't have any photos or image to assist this part of the development.

Please use whatever you have or if needed simply place a generic image so in turn I can sort out an approporiate image at a later date.

Cheers
Sean

**170 Designs** · 04-24-2006, 07:40 AM

Can I have feedback on my entry?

Matt

**Sean Smith** · 04-24-2006, 04:10 PM

170 Designs - I like the layout and once the functionality required for the other pages is done and some product graphics then it would look very good.

As for the business logo - I am not sure whether it has that unique quality about it. The logo for the tshirtstudio.com (in particular) and yourdesign site has that something 'extra' while I think the current logo looks a little bit too much like "part of the furniture" rather than be a bit bolder in design.

If you check out the following link - www.weymouthwebdesign.com/clients/hire4/

This was a mock up of a potential frontpage to my Hire4 business.

I possibly would like to see what the number 2 would look like with an exact same bubble that the number 4 sits in. Perhaps you could try some different font examples for gifts and print. I have the file with this bubble effect which I could send to you or otherwise you can take it off my hire4 site.

Cheers
Sean

**170 Designs** · 04-24-2006, 04:16 PM

Thanks for the feedback Sean. Please email me the bubble and I will show you another version of the layout. I need the .psd version of any of the logos with the bubble. Please email it to me at mak1125[at]gmail.com

Thanks,
Matt

**angele803** · 04-24-2006, 04:25 PM

Sean,
Would you consider splitting the contest into a logo part and a website part? I think I have a good idea for a logo, but am not so sure about a website layout.

**Sean Smith** · 04-24-2006, 04:52 PM

Hi angele803 - I don't wish to devalue the competition since I have a few example layouts already coming back at me.

However I would be prepared to pay an additional $30 for an appropriate logo as a sub-competition. Perhaps you may wish to have a go at the partyonaplate competition that I am also running.

Thanks
Sean

**zemadz** · 04-24-2006, 05:29 PM

Hi, here's my entry:

Please give me feedback also.

**170 Designs** · 06:39 PM

Version 2:

Thanks,
Matt

**Sean Smith** · 04-24-2006, 07:21 PM

Thanks for entries.

170 Designs is looking good however when it comes to the business it is going after the weddings, parties and events market.

Perhaps 3 of the boxes have a pink outline contain reference to certain product categories - say t-shirts, mugs, other (can;t think at the moment) , while the other three have a blue outline which contain weddings, parties and events.
I think a good look would be to have these alternating in position. ie: keep the boxes where they are but just have the colour and category altering between category and social occasion.

Zemadz - sorry but I am not too fond of the business logo. I like the products by type however the site doesn't look as 'easy to use' as what 170 Design's site looks.

thanks
Sean

**170 Designs** · 04-24-2006, 08:08 PM

Thanks for the feedback again!

Version 3:

Matt

**zemadz** · 04-25-2006, 10:02 AM

Here is my revised entry:

**Sean Smith** · 04-25-2006, 05:31 PM

170 Designs is currently my preferred one and as long as the functionality (similiar to the yourdesign site) can be incorporated and no one else enters something improved on the design - then it would be close to being the winner.

Thanks
Sean

**170 Designs** · 04-25-2006, 06:02 PM

Thanks Sean! Yes, the same functionality can occur...

Matt

**zemadz** · 04-26-2006, 10:07 AM

I'll be working on another entry! :P LOL