[Project Complete]Due Nov 1: NXE Folding Card - $200

[kkelly]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 61W475751V7622718)

Project Overview:
Totally fun and creative project! We're looking for a unique, custom illustration/graphic holiday greeting card that will be mailed to customers, partners, investors, and employees. View our 2005 card (http://www.nxedgeinc.com/emails/holidaycard2005.html).

Design Direction:
Looking for a clean, corporate design that's not specific to any winter holiday or region. Finished product should be creative and stand out from the holiday clutter. Creative illustration or design that incorporates our corporate identity.

Creative, one-of-a-kind, and imaginative is the key! Primary colors include Blue (Pantone C295), White, and Grays (Pantone Cool Grays). Feel free to select any font that compliments the design for this project!

Please see attached word.doc for card copy.

Format:
5x7 finish size, folded card in EPS vector format. Bleeds ok. 4 color procoss okay using attached color palette as guideline (tints/shades of colors ok). Paper and envelope style/type recommendations included as part of project.

Company Snapshot:
We are an industrial company operating high technology engineering businesses in the semiconductor (machining and metals) and advanced glass industries. Our corporate office is outside of Seattle, with facilities in Austin, TX, and Boise, ID. We are business to business, serving global customers and investors. I've attached a few photos of our products for reference. Learn more about us at www.nxedgeinc.com (http://www.nxedgeinc.com).

Timeline:
Design concepts submitted by Nov 1.

Payment: $200

Copy:

[Cover]: Happy Holidays

[Inside]: Warm wishes for a joyous holiday season, from our NxEdge family to yours.

[Back]: Feature logo and website (www.nxedgeinc.com)

Thanks for your help! :cool:

[martellostudio]

hello,

Here's one to get things going..


Thanks,
Vic

[imot]

One from me too :)

http://webs.advance.com.ar/imot/nxe/sample.jpg

[kkelly]

One from me too :)

http://webs.advance.com.ar/imot/nxe/sample.jpg

Thanks Agustin! I like the overall concept - here's a few comments:

Aside from the logo on the back, the card is fairly generic and lacks corporate identity. I'd like to incorporate more custom / brand elements on the cover. I totally get how the swirls tie into the shape of our logo, but it's so subtle that the recipient may not make the connection. One thought would be to create mini snowflakes out of the mobius shape of our logo... intermixed in the snow design on the front? Just thinking out loud here :blush:. Any ideas? I'd love to see them!

The font / color of happy holidays on the cover gives it a retro, almost cartoon feel. Our company is very industrial and deals in metals and engineering... simple adjustments to the font and graphic elements can make the entire design more crisp, clean and sleek. Perhaps a smaller, warmer font in the upper left corner to eliminate empty space?

Love the snowflake watermarks on the inside and back!
~Kristie

[kkelly]

hello,

Here's one to get things going..


Thanks,
Vic


Thanks for getting things started, Vic! A few initial comments on the design:

1) I immediately liked how you brought our corporate identity into the cover; however, as much as I wish we held the power of the nike swoosh, our logo icon is not immediately recognizable as a stand alone. The icon watermark in combination with our full logo on the front somewhere would achieve the desired affect...

2) The overall feel of the card is very cool, which works for our industry. I'd like to see a touch of warmth added to the overall concept by playing with alternative fonts that have a warmer, holiday feel.

3) The primary design seems to fall secondary to the boldness of the font on the cover. I'd like to see more depth and use of color brought in... perhaps giving the logo icon or snowflakes more prominence through color/effects?

Would love to see where you take this :D
~Kristie

[shnickerdoodle studios]

One from me..

Thanks,
Deanna

[imot]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. Here´s a revision.

http://webs.advance.com.ar/imot/nxe/sample2.png

[tini1]

HELLO:)
Here is my idea for your holiday card, I tried to give it a whimsical modern twist... the grey tone is representing metallic gray...Thanks:)

[martellostudio]

Changes from me....

Thanks,
Vic

[jpat2323]

[QUOTE=shnickerdoodle studios]One from me..

II

[jpat2323]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. Here´s a revision.

http://webs.advance.com.ar/imot/nxe/sample2.png

II

[kkelly]

HELLO:)
Here is my idea for your holiday card, I tried to give it a whimsical modern twist... the grey tone is representing metallic gray...Thanks:)

Hi Tini -

Thank you for your design! A few things I'd would like changed:

1) I really like the look of the xmas tree in the center of the globe, but it is a question mark due to "religious implication" reasons. So.. I was hoping you could do two versions.. on that keeps the tree and one that explores a different icon in the center... snowman, holiday bush, or what could be really cool is maybe a 3-d version of our logo with snow covering the edges..

2) Can you give the snowflakes more depth.. perhaps outline or some other way to bring them out a bit more..

3) The blue on blue is makes it hard to see our logo.. can you explore another way to make it stand out - or perhaps add a glow effect to it?

I love the inside is nice and clean - but could you add a couple watermark snowflakes in there as well to keep it a bit warmer?

Thanks again!
~Kristie

[kkelly]

Deanna - good creative submission - with some elements I really like. Can you make the changes below...

Top Layout: I like the shape of the snowflakes - they bring a precise, technical feel to the card and mirror our corporate feel very well. The icicles and snow are a little too playful for our industry and company - can you accentuate the tech-theme with the snowflakes and explore some other means of incorporating our logo into the design of the card is a cutting-edge type design?? You can refer to our last years card for an idea of what I am looking for at (http://www.nxedgeinc.com/emails/holidaycard2005.html).

Middle Layout: Snowflakes are great again and I like the font. Not a fan of the gradient bar though - can you nix that portion?

Bottom Layout: I like the blue background - it's bold and eye catching. Also, would like to keep the back clean - and omit the gradient bar here too and make the logo less prominent to create more of a subtle refined look.

Please re-submit!
Thanks again!
~Kristie

[kkelly]

Imot -
I like the overall design - but want to make the card look more tech-savy. We are a company that prides itself on absolute precision and top of the line technology - and the card should represent that feel.

My thoughts, I like the color, and font and overall tone - but I would really like to see something that incorporates our logo in a prominent fashion in the card in some tech-savy way. The bow like logo swirls are nice - but just don't mirror our company image. One thought would be embedding our logo inside a snowflake (think about when superman inprisoned the villans in the glass and sent them into space - if you can relate ;) ).

Look forward to the next version!!

Thanks again!
~Kristie

[kkelly]

Vic -

Thanks for the revisions!

Likes:
- The new snowflakes are very cool
- The color scheme is nice and crisp
- I really like the creativity you are putting into this!

Dislikes:
- The wild bush (looks cool - but not in line with our corporate identity). We need to come across very engineering-savy with a hint of warmth for the holidays.
- While festive - the multiple font colors again don't mirror our corporate identity. Can you drop the bush, and create single color crisp letters for the inside font.

Wants:
- Can you incorporate our logo in there (in its entirity) into the design in some engineering/tech-savy look. Something that portraits the image of cutting edge, extreme precision, and clean.

THANK YOU!
~ Kristie

Changes from me....

Thanks,
Vic

[shnickerdoodle studios]

Here is the revision...

Thanks,
Deanna

[kkelly]

Deanna -

I really like the holiday lights and how our logo was incorporated in there!!

A few small changes..
1) Can you drop the color bar altogether on the inside - think with the snowflakes and text (might need to be bolded slightly more) - it would look great.
2) Also, can you place our logo on the inside as well centered towards the bottom.
3) On the back, can you make the white bar appear on the bottom of the card - and the logo and website can both be inside of it.

Thanks!! And GREAT job!!
~ Kristie

Here is the revision...

Thanks,
Deanna

[shnickerdoodle studios]

Not a problem..

Here are the revisions..
Thanks,
Deanna

[tini1]

hello:) Thanks you for your feedback....here is a revision, with a snowman instead of the tree..I created this original illustration for your card....:)

[martellostudio]

More changes from me...

Thanks,
Vic

[martellostudio]

Option for cover...

thanks,
Vic

[tini1]

here is another concept...holiday jewels....:)

[Patel]

Just to inform you I will be posting tonight and tomorrow

[Patel]

A quick question: Must the final card be vector ? Are you able to accept psd files or only vector format?
Thanks,
Shima

[kkelly]

A quick question: Must the final card be vector ? Are you able to accept psd files or only vector format?
Thanks,
Shima

Hi Shima,
Yes, PSD works fine as well - as long as any images will print at 300 dpi.

Thanks,
Kristie

[kkelly]

Deanna -

I really like the lightbulb concept and design - can you make a few more modifications to it before we submit it for final selections?

1) The grey color at the lower portion of the bulb seems odd - any thoughts on making it blend a little better?

Thanks!!
Kristie

Not a problem..

Here are the revisions..
Thanks,
Deanna

[kkelly]

Vic -

Very classy design! Could I get you to submit a version with different snowflakes? One that has very architecturally drawn flakes - something with less curves and more precise (versus very creative and cloud type. I'd like to bring this into our final selection tomorrow.

Thanks!!
~ Kristie

More changes from me...

Thanks,
Vic

[kkelly]

Tini -

I really like the logo incorporated in the snowglobe! The snowman is a nice touch too.

The snowflaks are a bit too prominent in this version. I like the elegance that the traced blue flakes brought to the original design - - but they still need something to pull them out a bit more. In the current design, the white flakes seem to overpower the snowglobe image. Can you make the white flakes more subtle on the snowman version?

I'd like to take a version with the tree into the final selection process tomorrow as well. Can you adjust the logo placement on the tree version to mirror what you did on the snowman version?

From a pesonal standpoint, I think the jewel version is great. From a corporate perspective, however, it strays too far from our brand image. Nice concept though!

Thank you!
~ Kristie

hello:) Thanks you for your feedback....here is a revision, with a snowman instead of the tree..I created this original illustration for your card....:)

[martellostudio]

Hi,

Here are the changes you requested... are these more like the snowflakes you are looking for?

Thanks,
Vic

[kkelly]

Hi Vic,

This looks great! I really like the back of the card... I plan to bring this version to the selection tomorrow. Thanks again! ~Kristie

[Patel]

Okay here are some front designs from me. If we are still allowed to enter some more on Nov.1st at night please let me know and I can turn some more in.

V1

[Patel]

V2

[Patel]

V3

Okay here are some front designs from me. If we are still allowed to enter some more on Nov.1st at night please let me know and I can turn some more in.

[shnickerdoodle studios]

Here is the revision..

[tini1]

Hello:)Thank you for feedback, here is revision 1....

[tini1]

and a variation(I think the snowflakes 'pop' more in this...:))....

[tini1]

and the snowman, revised, added the text, 'happy holidays' to front, toned down the snowflakes, again, I think it would add to the design to use metallic ink, on greys...:)

[tini1]

hello kkelly......Just to clarify...did you want original pieces??? or stock images used?? I read in your original contest description that you wanted something custom, original...:)

[Patel]

Yes please clarify as I have used some stock imagery with alterations.

Thanks,
Shima

[kkelly]

Thank you all for your wonderful design submissions. It was a tough decision balancing original artwork submissions with creative interpretations of existing imagery. At this time, we have selected SHIMA as our designer for this year's holiday card.

[Patel]

Thanks you can message me the revisions or post them on here .

Shima

[tini1]

Thank you kkelly for a great contest:)

[Patel]

I have emailed you the link to the final files.

Thanks,
Shima

[kkelly]

Thank you Shima. The files have been received. ~Kristie