ImageConstrux - Prize: $75

[imageconstrux]

(Admin code added by Palmer - X58502641)

I suppose I should go ahead with this logo, too.

I'll give you what I can about this logo and let you run with it from there. After I created my first website (to be used for my landscaping company) I thought "Wouldn't it be funny to put a footer saying something like 'website by XXX'." And I thought, with all my interaction with other landscape outfits, somebody might even inquire about services. So I tried to think of a name, and ImageConstrux is what popped out.

If I had to define what ImageConstrux would be about, I guess I'd have to say the name was appropo. I enjoy giving people help with their ventures so that they present themselves well to their chosen market. That help usually entails marketing advice, PR issues, but it also may include Website advice, copy editing, or just business advice. Further, it will likely be the name of the parent company to any web ventures I partake in.

The design must be scalable – I will likely need to have large and small versions of it for print or other media. What the small size is I will leave to your discretion; but the large size should be 3”x5” (use that size as a guide; it doesn’t have to be 3”x5”) at 300 pixels per inch. My advice would be to create it in the large format, then shrink it down for submittal. The logo will be remitted in a Photoshop-friendly format.

The winning design will become my property when the contest is completed, and I will be free to use the logo, or any derivatives thereof, at my discretion, indefinitely. Your entry in this contest signifies your agreement to these terms.

This contest will last 14 days. The prize - $75 US.

Any questions? Post them here, or email me at imageconstrux@earthlink.net


Good luck!

[someonewhois]

Can I get a bit more information?

You know, what do you want to see on the logo? :P

What text? What colours? What do you want? :P

Regards,
Someonewhois

[imageconstrux]

Because I have no preconceptions about what a future site, if any, will look like, this one is wide open. I gave you as much info as I have to give.

Ask me some specific questions and I'll do my best to answer them.


Good luck!

[Palmer]

Originally posted by someonewhois@Dec 19 2002, 07:08 PM
Can I get a bit more information?

You know, what do you want to see on the logo? :P

What text? What colours? What do you want? :P

Regards,
Someonewhois
someonewhois, contests at DesignOutpost.com are only open to members of the design team. If you are interested in becoming a member, feel free to apply (http://www.designoutpost.com/apply.htm) and I will consider your application after looking at your portfolio.

Thanks :)
Palmer

[someonewhois]

Already did apply...

Can't I get more information before I'm considered registered? :rolleyes:

Regards,
Someonewhois

[imageconstrux]

If I knew exactly what I wanted for a design, I'd probably just do it myself. Who's the logo designer here, me or you?


When I meet with clients the first time, I have loads of questions I ask them to try to discern their needs and tastes, even if they have no idea what they want. It's my job as designer to design something based on the info I collected.

In this case, that's your job. Don't have enough info? Ask some questions. And as far as I'm concerned, you can ask them now, because the answers may help other designers, as well as yourself, to formulate ideas.

[someonewhois]

Ok :D

But can you give a site so we can see how it'll match? :)

Regards,
Someonewhois

[Palmer]

Originally posted by someonewhois@Dec 20 2002, 07:36 AM
Already did apply...

Can't I get more information before I'm considered registered? :rolleyes:

Regards,
Someonewhois
I guess you can get information, but you not only have to apply, you have to be accepted onto the team as well. I'm not trying to be a pain, I just want high quality entries in these contests so it doesn't waste the contest holders time. Most of them are businessmen who are very busy.

From the looks of your application, and what I know about you previously, it seems to me that you're a progamming wiz. Am I right? You don't have a portfolio for me to look at in your application so I really only have your word to go by. Do you have any logos or sites for me to look at?

Thanks,
Palmer

[Liz]

Hi -- Just to get things back on track,

I assume "construx" is a variation of construct? There's a couple of meanings behind that word ... Did you intend it to imply "We construct your business's image" (verb) or "We developed the construct of your business" (noun, implying the foundation, the model, the image)?

Just a little clarification that'll hopefully help everyone.

[someonewhois]

Self plug time! :D http://sowibb.sf.net yeah, a programming wiz at that :D

Site layout was not me, and some board wasn't, however most of the board I did make. (layout wise, coding all by me) :)

oh, and just to inform you, I do a lot with a partner instead. I do most of the programming, and templating, and some images, and he takes care of the harder images! :D

He made this: http://tsbn.cjb.net (I programmed any parts that needed programming :P )

:)

As you can see, the two of us work quite well together in this kind of stuff :D


This logo would probably be done by him, so as you can see, it's not a "waste of time" ;)


[ Edit: Yes, back on topic :P Do you have a site it'd go in? ]

[imageconstrux]

rabbitdog, that is an excellent question. The name is intended to imply our constructing a business' image.


someonewhois - I've had to spend time explaining how this site works (not my job), and re-explaining things I've already explained earlier. I don't want to eliminate you from this competition before you make any submissions (and before you're even accepted as a designer), but if you continue down this path, your designs will not be considered. Feel free to ask questions, but make them about issues I haven't already explained, and make your posts germane to the topic at hand.

[imageconstrux]

Okay - it seems everyone is struggling with this one, otherwise I'd have seen a design or two by now. So I'll try to help out a little....


One of the logo ideas I pictured was the word image, or the letter I somehow in the process of being 'constructed', by falling pixels. Or maybe coming apart pixel by pixel. Then the word construx I thought would be made of steel or something (maybe something reflective like polished steel, but I don't want screws, bolts or rivets)

I'd like this to be 2-D, but the more I think about it, the less important it is to me that it is easily reproducible in print. This will most often be viewed on the web.

Does that help?

[Liz]

Quick concept time:

http://home.earthlink.net/~lizfulghum/construx.gif

[Zoe]

put this together from your idea.

http://www.demexdesign.com/ic1.gif

[imageconstrux]

rabbitdog - I like the strength of the 'construx', but I'm hoping for a softer feel for the 'image'. I'm not sure if the boom hook will work.

Demex - I think this is a good start. I like the second better than the first. Can you make 'construx' larger relative to the 'I'? Then make the 'mage' slightly smaller than the 'I' (but much larger than it is now), and put then together on top of construx, so it's more like:

Image
Construx

Then, can you make the 'I' look more like an 'I'? In fact, let's try to make the whole word Image a grid of pixels, but the I is the only one still being built (or exploded, whatever). And, can you make the pixels in Image a salmon color?

I was trying to tinker in Photoshop...not having much luck. I wanted to make Image look like the I was still being constructed, but as you went to each letter, the definitions of pixels would slowly fade until you reached the 'g', where it would be a whole, smooth letter. Looks like it'd be hard to do, but it'd look cool, I think.

[Bishop]

Well, here's my first shot. I'll try to see what I can do as far as a pixelated "I" or "Image" text. Unless, of course your happy with this one. :D

[Mike]

I'm not plannng, on entering this or any contest ;), but I whipped this together. I didnt format the logo or text at all, just put my idea onto canvas :)

[imageconstrux]

Bishop - good effort. The 'construx' looks like a good start, the 'image' doesn't light me up. The hard hat is cute, but is too literal. I want something a little more nebulous.

naramation - thanks for joining in! I'm not sure it embodies what I'm after, but I appreciate the effort!

[imageconstrux]

Like most of you, I'm going to be pretty busy in the next few days, so I won't be able to give speedy feedback to any new designs posted here, at least for the next few days.

Please feel free to post more designs, and as soon as the Christmas buzz has passed, I'll pick up where I left off.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Jeff

[crimsondesigner]

Here's my take on it. Tell me what you think.

Erika

[Bishop]

Well here's another entry from me. I tried to go with what envisioned. I'm not sure what else to do to it. I was going to add some sort of graphic, but right now I'm stumped as to what to add. Anyhow, here it is. Feedback would be great.

[Zoe]

Ok I have a question.

Does this logo 'need' to be printed? With the idea of the falling pixels etc it would look sooooo cool as an animation.

[crimsondesigner]

I've been tinkering around in PSP and came up with this. I have a few other ideas to explore so I'll be posting more in the coming days. Some feedback would help me figure out how you want your logo to look.:mellow:

ie: any special colors or styles that you'd like to avoid.

Erika

[imageconstrux]

I've just a few minutes but wanted to make a few comments on the designs presented in the last several hours...

Erika - I really like the logo that has the orange cog in it. Can you add some girth to the font you used, and change to color of the cog? Maybe something metallic?

I like the color scheme in the logos you presented - I'm not sure I can give direction on the second one - it's kind of eye-catching, but doesn't totally grab me. I'm not sure what to tell you to change to make it grab me more. Sorry.

Demex - It will have to be printed, but that doesn't mean a little Flash can't be used. The static (printed) logo could either be the beginning or the end of an animation. That would be very cool.

Bishop - I think that design has some potential - I'd like the 'mage' to be a more 'natural' font (the 'mage' looks kind of like OCR right now, though I know it's not). And increase the size and steel texture/reflection of Construx, but don't increase the bevel size an equal amount. The bevel right now looks too big to me, so if it stays the same, with the font bigger, it may look just right.

Erika - colors to avoid? I dunno - maybe browns and deep greens. Not really sure. Go by feel. If the colrs feel good, they'll probably look good to me. The choices you made so far are eye-catching, so it looks like you have a good feel for this already.

I mentioned a salmon color earlier as something that might look nice with a steel looking Construx, but I also very much like the color scheme you've chosen so far.

It may not be a ton of help, but it's all I'm able to give at this point. I had (almost) no preconceptions about what I wanted this logo to look like, and am open-minded to anything that's striking.

Have a great Christmas. See you in a few days.

Jeff

[crimsondesigner]

I made the suggested changes. More to come..

Erika

[toniallen]

Here are a few ideas:

http://www.toniallen.com/imagecontrux1a.gif


http://www.toniallen.com/imagecontrux1b.gif

Take care,
Toni

~hehe...I just noticed the spelling mistake :huh:
That's what I get for working a 1am...I fix it later, if you like the overall concept.

[platinum]

How about this:

http://clients.platinumwebsitedesign.com/ic.gif

[imageconstrux]

Hi Erika - I like those changes - please see if you can center the aquamarine colored square over the center of the 'M'. It looks like that's where it's intended to be, but it's off just a little.

Toni -

I like the eye idea...I like the 2nd better than the first, but am not wild about seeing the word 'image' twice. Maybe stack Image and Construx, so they are the same width (and lose the 2nd 'image'). Of course, add the 's'.

Also, throw some color into the Iris - I'd like to see a few different colors.

And, if you have other eyes you could plug in there, I'd like to see others as well.

Platinum - That's a good start. It doesn't grab me, but I can't think of anything specific to suggest to make it so that it does. Could you involve the graphic with the text, like use the graphic for the 'o'?

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and I look forward to getting back into this.

Jeff

[crimsondesigner]

I'm glad you brought that to my attention. I didn't notice that it wasn't centered. I guess my mind was elsewhere when I was making changes to it.

Is there anything else yo'd like to see done with the concept? I have been working on a few other ideas for the logo. I'll be able to post the tomorrow. I look forward to posting them.

Erika B)

[imageconstrux]

Erika - to answer your question: nothing, really. I like the design - it looks clean easy to understand, has some pop to it, has the implication of construction with the cog. I don't know that there'd be anymore tinkering I'd have you do with that one. I may add some Flash animation to it later myself (just got the latest Dreamweaver and Flash software, and anxious to cut my teeth on them).

But if you have other ideas, or revisions on the other design you submitted, please post 'em - I'd love to have a look!

Jeff

[toniallen]

Hi Jeff,

I'll put together some revisions tonight using your suggestions.

Take care,
Toni

[crimsondesigner]

Hi Jeff,

Here are a few variations on the concept I posted earlier. I was having a little fun :D with it and thought I'd share the results with you.

Erika

[PIXELbreak]

Greetings. I don't know if it is too late to post this, but this is just an idea that I had been thinking of based on one of your earlier posts.

Everything is easily edited and can be changed to your specifications. I will add some color if you like where this concept is headed.

[imageconstrux]

PB, there's still time. I know there are a few designers who are working on redesigns, and with the holidays, I'd like to give everyone interested a chance to compete, so I may extend the deadline a few days.

The logo you designed is on target for what I'm after, and is easily reproduced in many media, but it doesn't 'pop' for me. Maybe because it's all black. And could you make the breaks finer/smaller? I think it'd be neat to see the same proportion of the word broken up, but the 'broken' pieces being more numerous and smaller. Make sense? Try that and add some color.

Erika - those are cool concepts. My favorite is still the original. :D

Jeff

[Dan]

How about this -

[toniallen]

http://www.toniallen.com/imagecontrux2b.gif

[imageconstrux]

Hi Toni,

Thanks for the mod on the logo. Can you put the eye in place of the 'a' in Image? I liked that in the 2nd logo you submitted. Sorry if I didn't explain that well enough before.

Hi Dan

Fatten up the font, so that the girth of each is comparable to the girth of the boxes. Thanks!



Jeff

[SideFX]

ok here is an idea

[toniallen]

Sure thing,

I have that up as soon as possible.

Take care,
Toni

[imageconstrux]

Platinum? Demex? Bishop? Anything to add?


Dan - I had a thought on yours as I was looking these over again. The boxes almost reminded me of a cityscape, buildings piercing the sky. You've gotta construct buildings too, right? :) Can you change the building color to something a little more slate or grey (just a little), with a color that really pops for the text? Nothing neon, but maybe a bright salmon, or an orange. Play with that thought a little to see what you come up with.



BTW, for everyone involved in these design contests, I realize some of you may not have been in the field very long, or may be new to the idea of selling your work (which is kind of what this is). Because selling my design ideas is what makes my landscape biz go, I thought I'd offer a bit of advice. It may even help you win me over in this contest....

When I meet with a client to show them our design, I always walk through the design with them, telling them why I chose the plants I did (what effect I wanted with color, aroma, texture, size, etc), why I chose the hardscape materials I did, and the like. I do this to make sure they 'get it.' Otherwise the message in the design may be lost without that little nudge. So my advice is this: Coach me along. Sell me. Tell me why you chose the colors you did, the font, etc. For you designers that are still on the good side of 30 (which I imagine is almost all of you), learning that skill will help you down the road.

Ok. Lesson over. :blink: What else ya got for me?

[Zoe]

Hi Jeff,

I have been pretty busy with work (no holidays for me :( ) so I haven't had much time to work on your logo.

I have put together a partial flash demo for your logo. Due to time involved in designing this in flash I did not complete the whole word of 'Image" as of course this is not a guaranteed job. If you want to pursue this option and use a logo like this we can discuss it further.

Image Construx Logo - Flash (http://www.demexdesign.com/image.html)

[imageconstrux]

Zoe - you're right, it's not a guaranteed job, so I think your post is extremely fair. I think I will want to incorporate animation in the web version of the logo, but also want it to stand alone in print. Because of that, I think sticking to just the static logo would be the most fair thing to do for everyone right now.

Thanks,

Jeff

[SideFX]

ok i choose to use an image with blocks representing an unfinished image saying that ur company buids corprate images

[imageconstrux]

SideFX, This is a good one. I like it even better then the other (similar) concept. Keep the graphic the same, try a font that's a little stiffer, more formal. Delete the text below the pic. And move the name above or below the little girl's eyes. Let's see what that looks like!


Jeff

[Palmer]

...and spell Corporate correctly :P


Palmer

[imageconstrux]

;)

[SideFX]

ok made a few changes as per requested

http://sytedesigns.com/imagetrio.jpg

[toniallen]

I will not be able to participate in the remander of this contest.

I just landed a few big projects...and need to concentrate on them.

Thanks and good luck all,
Toni

[imageconstrux]

Toni, I'm sorry to hear that, but congrats on the big projects. Thanks for taking part!

SideFX, I like the middle one the best - can you try the font with a dark outline or none at all? The white outline makes it a little hard to read.

[SideFX]

ok i tried to improve with a little more of a fancy look of the text i tried it with a darker out line but it was awful so i said plain then it looked not to appealing to the eye so i tried this

[PIXELbreak]

Hi Jeff,

I am almost done with the revisions now, but it is a little late, so I will finish and post them tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay, I had to finish work for a client (on top of all the holiday madness).
Robert Sperry

[Zoe]

Just a few ideas...

http://www.demexdesign.com/ic2.gif

[imageconstrux]

Robert - sounds good. I look forward to having a look.

Zoe - those are all sharp! I think the top left logo will lend itself best to being re-created in many media. Can you add serif to the 'I'? Just where it's a big letter for now, so nobody confuses it with a '1'.

Was it created in Photoshop? If so, can you apply a little more mosaic to that? I'd be interested to see how it looks a little more broken up.

SideFX, I like how that font looks against the picture. Nice work. Now, can you try that same layout with a few different font colors? Try some contrasting or complementing colors of the photo.

You're all going to make this decision a very difficult one!

Jeff

[SideFX]

Jeff np i will have some examples up later this afternoon around 4 pm btw when does this end???

[imageconstrux]

Dunno -

With the holidays falling in the middle of this I wanted to give everyone a chance to make some submissions and not feel rushed.

I'll look to wrap it up in a few days. For those who have made past submissions and still want to make revisions based on my feedback, please post them in the next 2-3 days.

Thanks,


Jeff

[SideFX]

hello jeff sorry it took longer to get these to you but i did some color play and tried a few more diff ides with it i hope you like lemme know


http://sytedesigns.com/imageconstruxall.jpg

[imageconstrux]

SideFX,

Those look nice! That one second from the bottom is really catching my eye. Just for reference (you don't have to do it now), is it possible to get the logo 'empty', without the girl's face? I'm thinking along the lines of being able to underlay different images into that, like a template.

Thanks,

Jeff

[SideFX]

yes Jeff i can also incase anyones wondering thats my neece hehehe so its a legal pic :D that i took

oh and btw i like that one also

[SideFX]

then again i dunno how to do it actually i thought i did but im sure it can be done if some one knows how this is done could ya let me know ;)

thanks

[imageconstrux]

I'm sure one could overlay a black background over the pic and use that as a template - use Photoshop with the mask feature. The only tricky part would be changing the new images to have a similar distortion to them.

Cute niece. :)

Whoever the cameraperson was did a nice job!

[Zoe]

Here is the logo broken up a little more - change colour to blue as well.

[Bishop]

imageconstrux,

I'm sad to say I won't be available to submit any more entries. Please see the following post.

http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/index....st=15&#entry626 (http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/index.php?s=&act=ST&f=4&t=59&st=15&#entry626)

Good luck with your contest! :)

[imageconstrux]

Bishop, thanks for participating! Sorry to see you go.

Zoe - That looks cool!

Jeff

[imageconstrux]

Hey Dan and Robert - are you working on anything for me that'll be ready in a day or two?

SideFX - is your server down? All your pics are little x's now. D'oh!


Jeff

[SideFX]

Jeff,

Yes my server was down sorry as they where doing upgrades.

Its back up again. :D

Jeremy

[imageconstrux]

Hey, no need to apologize - not your fault. I just freaked out for a second "Hey!! Where'd they go?"

Jeff

[crimsondesigner]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry I disappeared like that. I just picked up a few projects and will need to devote the majority of my time to them. The entries that I've posted will likely be my last. I hope you liked the work I've submitted so far.

I also thought that the logo I entered might look good with a little animation. Maybe, if the cog was spinning slowly, it could add a little interest to the logo. If I have time, I'll experiment with it.

I hope you find what you're looking for.
Thanks for considering me. Good Luck.


Erika

[imageconstrux]

Hi Erika - I just figured the submissions you made were carried through. I was thinking the logo could lend itself to some animation as well.

Everyone seems to be picking up projects - great for you!

Thanks for the submissions, and I'll let everyone know my decision by Sunday, 10pm CST (GMT-6).

Dan and Robert, I'll hold out 'till then for your submissions, if you have any to add (Robert, I know you said you had some almost ready).

Jeff

[PIXELbreak]

Hi,

Sorry for not posting this earlier, but I have been unusually busy with some projects.

Anyway, here is the image I came up with.

http://www.shift3.com/construx2.gif

It looks blurry due to me not paying attention when I saved it.. :)

But since it is in vector format, it can be saved at any size without losing quality.
It is based off of my earlier concept, and can be tweaked to your specifications if needed.

Thanks for waiting,
Robert Sperry

[imageconstrux]

Looks good.


Dan? Got any changes to the first submissions?


Jeff

[imageconstrux]

I think the time has come to bring this contest to a close. Thank you to all the designers that put their efforts into a conceptually difficult design. I've narrowed my choices down to these, but I need a little more time to pick a winner:

[imageconstrux]

Dan I had really hoped you would make the suggested mods on your submission - I like the idea and thought the graphic could be interpretted in several fun ways - pixels, audio EQ levels, and of course, buildings. Just as an FYI, this is roughly the direction I wanted to go:

[imageconstrux]

So again, thanks everyone for your submissions. For now, the entry portion of the contest has ended, and I just need to take a day or so to pick the winner. For those whose submissions are in the final 3, congrats!

Also, depending on who is finally chosen, I may need you to make a final mod to your winning design before the prize $$ is released.

[Dan]

Image Construxs,

My fault, please accept my late entries.

[imageconstrux]

*Whew*

This was a very difficult decision to make.

Originally I had the choices narrowed to 3: Demex, Crimson Designer, and SideFX.

SideFX, your last entries for that logo were really sharp, and provided for all kinds of possible future changes and upgrades without changing the look of the logo at all. The only thing that kept me from choosing your design was that I wondered how well the image would show up when presented very small, like on a business card, and how difficult it'd be to replace that image with another one if I wanted to show other ideas. It was beautiful, but I had to eliminate it based on those criteria.

I had Demex working on a few design mods for me, and when complete I had narrowed the choice down to 2: Her modified designed and CD/Erika's design. It took so long to decide because every day I'd look at the two designs for awhile, see the strengths of one, then the other....then decide that it was too hard to decide today. Maybe tomorrow.

My decision came down to splitting some hairs on scalability of the design. And when I applied that hair-splitting criteria, the winner was: Crimson Designer's entry.http://home.earthlink.net/~stonehengebpl/icwinner.gif

Congratulations to both Erika and Zoe, as they both created some great work and made the design choice very difficult. I'm very happy with the submissions, and look forward to proudly displaying this logo.

Erika, I have one more task for you before this is all over: Can you change the outline of the cog 'o' to black instead of grey? You don't need to post it here; just send the modified version as a file to my email. Wait - Palmer will likely want to make a link to the winning design; maybe you should post it here.

Congratulations Erika!!

Thanks to all,

Jeff

[Palmer]

Yes a hearty congrats to Erika, I'll pm you to get your paypal info. And like Jeff said, please post the entry here so I can feature it on the home page.

Thank you Jeff for running a great contest. Isn't it kind of nice having a tough decision to make?

Those of you keeping score... :P

Wins...
Girls-3
Boys-0

Thanks to all the designers that entered and made Jeff's decision difficult.

Palmer

[crimsondesigner]

Thanks
I'm glad you liked the logo that much. I made the mods you wanted and will be sending it to you soon.

This was a great contest. I feel lucky to have competed with such talented designers. I'm so glad I found this site.

Thanks again,
Erika

[Zoe]

great work Erika!