Responsive: Design Process 2 - ToDryFor Competition

The Brief:


What's this all about?

We’re once again giving everyone the chance to submit their artwork for possible inclusion on a ToDryFor tea towel!

The 2012 design competition was won by Moira Millman, with her super-cute, pun-tastic Personaliteas illustration. Over the last year, the resulting tea towel has been sold through various shops and galleries across the UK, and around the world. In addition, we liked the design so much that we also produced it as a mug (via our sister-brand, Beast In Show).

What's in it for me?

We are offering one lucky winner the chance to become part of our existing line-up of fantastic artists, which includes Gemma Correll, Rob Ryan, Julia Pott and other highly acclaimed individuals.

The winning design will become part of our ToDryFor range and will be launched at Pulse 2013. Located at London's Earls Court exhibition centre, the show attracts around 6,000 high-end, design-conscious buyers from top department stores to beautiful independent boutiques - the perfect showcase for fresh new talent.

We will also promote the tea towel, and the winning-artist, to press; fingers crossed you might see your artwork appearing in glossy magazines and newspapers before the year is out.

Our ToDryFor range is currently stocked in shops and small chains across the UK, Europe, USA, Australia and Japan, so your artwork will be seen all over the world!



Whatever... would I get any money?

If you win, you will be paid a percentage commission per sale on an ongoing basis (15% on retail sales via our websites and 10% on trade sales, ex VAT). You will also receive 5 free samples of your tea towel design for your portfolio (or to give to your nan, whichever you prefer). You will be featured on our artists' biographies page, and your name will be embroidered on a label affixed to the back of the tea towel, and also included on an insert in the finished product's packaging.

Right then, count me in. What should I do now?

- Firstly, your artwork will need to fit our design specification (see below).
- You'll then need to email your design to , stating your name, location, and a link to your website/online portfolio (if you have one).

Them's the rules...

- The competition is open internationally, so absolutely anyone may submit artwork.
- You are only allowed to submit one design - make sure it's your best!
- The design needs to be exclusive to this competition (so please don't use it anywhere else before you know if you've won or not).
- Most importantly, the design must be your own intellectual property and you must have the exclusive copyright and right of use (so no scanning in stuff from magazines, thanks). This is important otherwise we are not legally allowed to print your design. If your design gets chosen, you grant us the exclusive right of use to print your design.
- By entering the competition you agree to our Terms and Conditions (see below).

What's the deadline? I've got other stuff to sort out you know.

The closing date is Sunday 24th February, 2013; we will need to receive all design submissions by midnight GMT. Any entries received after this date will not be included in the competition.

How and when is the winner going to be chosen?

The winner will be chosen by us (Sally and Dave, owners of ToDryFor) and will be announced the week commencing Monday 4th March, 2013 on our blog, our facebook page and via twitter. Our decision will be based on our own personal preferences (fingers crossed we agree) and also the design's commercial viability; as much as we'd like to produce a tea towel featuring a yeti swearing blue murder, it's probably not going to happen...

Good Luck!




We're happy for the design to be either portrait or landscape in format. The image can be as small or as large as you wish within the given print area, or it can bleed off the edge of the tea towel (e.g. Bake Me).

The dimensions are as follows:

Non-bleed spec
Max image size: 42cm x 70cm
Finished sewn size: 48cm x 76cm

All over (bled and stitched) spec
Ideal image size: 50cm x 77cm
Finished sewn size: 48cm x 76cm

- We will accept jpg, tif or pdf file formats, which should be 1024 px on the longest side.
- Submission artwork should be supplied at 72dpi.
- You will need to include the pantone coated colour reference for each colour used within the artwork* in your submission email.

* Please bear in mind that the winning design will be screen-printed, so the design and number of colours used should reflect this. Unlike paper screen-printing, colours cannot be layered to create a third colour, nor can colour gradients be used. However, it is possible to use tones of colours; in this instance both the pantone and the percentage tone of the colour should be specified. 

Winning Artwork

The winner will be contacted the week commencing Monday 25th February, 2013. Please bear in mind that if you are the winner, you will need to be able to supply the final artwork as follows:

- The winning artwork will need to be supplied at actual size (see non-bleed and bleed dimensions above).
- The final image format will need to be jpg, tif, pdf or psd; depending on the complexity of the design, we may need a separate image per colour layer for separation.
- The winning artwork will need to be supplied by no later than Monday 18th March, 2013.




1. General Terms and Conditions
1.1. The following Terms and Conditions shall apply for the participation in a competition hosted by ToDryFor.com to any person or company (hereinafter called "Designer"), who submit a graphic illustration or any other form of design (hereinafter called "Design"). These Terms and Conditions are valid at the time of participation.
1.2 The Designer accepts these Terms & Conditions by submitting the Design to ToDryFor.com.
1.3 ToDryFor.com shall retain title to and copyright of any content of the website, drawings and any other documents and information which are protected by intellectual property law and copyright law.

2. Participation in a Competition
2.1 The Designer submits a Design to ToDryFor.com, normally by electronic means. The Designer hereby agrees that ToDryFor.com may publish this Design on the website of ToDryFor.com and that ToDryFor.com may use this Design for advertising, promotional and publishing purposes, and the production of goods, namely printing the Design on tea towels.
2.2. ToDryFor.com reserves the right to modify the Design at any time, with agreement from the Designer. This right to modify relates in particular to changes in colour or the size of the Design or individual elements of the Design.
2.3 The Designer is obliged not to submit the Design to any third party, or use the Design in the production of any other goods.

3. Preconditions for Participation
3.1 Preconditions for any participation by the Designer in a competition hosted by ToDryFor.com are that the Designer is at least 18 years of age, that the Design is the Designer's own exclusive intellectual property and that the Designer has the exclusive copyright and the exclusive right of use of the Design without any limitations.
3.2 The Designer declares and guarantees that the Design does not infringe any trademarks, copyrights, or any other intellectual property rights by third parties by submitting the Design.
3.3 In case of an alleged copyright infringement, the Designer holds harmless and indemnifies ToDryFor.com for any claims, debts and obligations towards third parties and compensates ToDryFor.com for any damages and actual expenditures.

4. Right of Use
4.1 By submitting the Design, the Designer grants ToDryFor.com the perpetual, worldwide and unlimited right to publish the Design on the website of ToDryFor.com or in any other way (e.g. in promotional material). At the same time, the Designer grants ToDryFor.com the perpetual, worldwide and unlimited right to use the Design exclusively and without any limitations for the production of goods, namely printing the Design on tea towels.

https://www.todryfor.com/designcompetition.asp

Entry: 

At first I had multiple colours but then realised the comment in the brief about it being screen printed and therefore colour use should be considered. This factor would defiantly effect my chances of a successful submission so I changed it to the red colour and used a 50% tone of this for a bit more difference in detail. 

My final entry
Submission email

Typography: Workshop 2

Van De Graaf

Secret canon - divide a page into pleasing proportions. 

Symmetrical and asymmetrical layouts

Works with any page width:height ratio

Draw and x across the pages

Bottom right hand to the middle

Draw straight up and across to the intersecting point

Creates a bowtie

Use it to draw your boxes for proportion of your pages.

Proportions enable your hands to on the white space without covering text up.

Leading

Column width - based on legibility

Type area light and open

Should be 7 words per line for a text of any length

Rhythm of reading

The canon with dividing grid lines.

Tip: Drag the rules to a new point to start it from zero, place a guide at the bottom and in the measurement put /2 and it will divide it by 2 - can divide it by any number

 My grid layout

 Use of grid

I didn't like the camera image being in the middle so I put to the left margin edge instead.

 I felt there was to much white space at the bottom so I put the text into two columns instead of three.

Full proportions:

Design Practice 2: Workshop 3 - Formats

5 different formats:

5 things that you don't know about the formats :

1. How do they get the print onto the cardboard?
2. How to bind and create a hardback book?
3. How do they fold the box?
4. How thick does the card have to be to be sturdy?
5. How to print on to hardback book?

5 things that you don't know and need to find out about (processes you want to use) :

1. spot varnish
2. how to print onto cardboard without differing the colour
3. binding a publication
4. how to use different stocks in a publication
5. embossing

Favorite Example : 

clean, simple, minimal

3 Reasons why your favorite example is bad :

1. no striking colour to stand out on shelf
2. could be classed as bland
3. not inspiring to get photography

3 reasons why your favorite example is good :

1. its clean atheistically - not busy - focused on information
2. looks professional
3. communicates the greyscale of the product

We were then given this task to do for next week ....  

TASK  

+ A brief History of ...

+ A collection of ....

+ An intro to ....

+ Things you need to know about ...

+ An exhibition of ...

     How would you make subject into exhibition ?

     What printed products would you need ?  

Create 5 presentation boards (A3)

+  your good

+ your range of good

+ Formats you'd like to use

+ Processes you'd like to use 

Typography: Task 1 - Golden Ratio

I attempted drawing out a golden ratio first to get the hang of how it works. I started with a square to make it easier. This was 5cmx5cm:

I then tried a rectangle of 5cm by 3cm to see how it creates a different shape.

I then digitalised it to get a more accurate ratio. I struggled to know where to go from the 4th ratio so I have two different attempts my initial attempt and then my second attempt which is from some guidance which creates a spiral like Fibonacci.

I realised I hadn't done it correct so I retried and instead of doubling I did the same with a half so it so it is made of 3 halves.

Design Practice 2: Camera Formats

Formats:

I looked at a range of formats that are used within the purchase of a camera and how it is different from different types of cameras and different eras. 

This is a Diana f+ camera which has been reproduced again and sold in a new era and created a new range of themed editions. The exterior packaging box came with a window plastic mould that fitted round the camera holding it in position rather than addition packaging such as wrapped wires or cable ties and also protecting it from any harm in the process of being purchased. It features a number of languages which show it is an internationally sold product. It then contains a patterned outer section of thick card that hold the plastic section tightly within the box. Over laying this is a die stamps box lid which reveals the camera in position but close the contents within the box. This would be hard to immediate as I don't have access to this stock, it would be difficult to fold by hand without it being messy and I don't have the means to mould plastic over the camera.

Another format that came in the contents was an information booklet which was saddle stitched as it only had a few pages. It is on cheap stock with no particular special features because it isn't something to be kept particularly special just provide information on how to use the camera in multiple language. It features a long fold out at the back which had images of the original camera. This would be easy to imitate in the studio as its a standard book bind but printing of the long fold out would make it a bit more tricky to print yet still possible.

The other publication that came was a hardback book on stories and photos taken with the same type of camera. It has a fabric hard cover and it has been perfect bound. There is a lot of content within the book and the cover has been printed and stuck on top of the fabric. Practically this wouldn't be possible for me to produce in uni and would possibly have to be a format which is produced else where.

A fold out mini booklet publication. This would require a long sheet of paper in order to produce and therefore would be quite costly in uni to produce but it would be doable especially at a different scale. 

Canon Snappy is an old camera and this is an original version of the product which was created in a different era. This is visible in the little publication with information on the use of the product with the minimal use of colours and also the lack of other formats included within. It is simplistic and not flashy but practical in its purpose. Unlike the Diana it comes with case and no publications of the use of the camera for photography. This is due to the fact that the Diana has been reproduced in a different era and are encouraging the use of analog photography and the camera again whereas the Canon was in the prime of that type of camera.

The Nikon Coolpix is a modern digital camera. It came with lots of different publications with various information which were all black and white on cheap thin stock and purely for informing and educating the user. The box contained wires and a cd with software on also. The difference between the three different types of cameras is clear through the different formats used and needed for it as well as the era it was produced.