The FreeSangha logo competition!

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[Wonky Badger]

We've been resting our eyes on that SMF seesaw long enough now! We need something new! So we decided to have a logo competition!

Ogyen's Edit

FYI
FreeSangha has not yet finalized a decision or commitment to the color scheme of the forum, so the colors do not have to be restricted to this current color scheme.  We will decide which theme to migrate to when we figure out how to transfer to the new theme with minimal site downtime.  Still figuring out those logistics... we are still rather new to the template management.  We could use a little help, in fact...  end Ogyen edit.

now back to the show...

BACK TO THE COMPETITION:

Q: Who can participate?
A: Any member of FreeSangha may submit up to two submissions.

Q: What are the rules?
A: These are the rules:

• 1. Entries should be original work that you own the rights to. They may be based on public domain or commons images (free to use for any purpose), if links and licence of them are included in the submission.
• 2. Entries should be submitted no later than February 15:th (Samoa Time Zone, UTC-11).
• 3. By submitting their work, the contestants transfer all rights to use and modify the submitted work to FreeSangha.com.
• 4. The logo file should be at least 300px*300px but not exceeding 2 Mb in file size and it may be in any common image format. Vector formats are preferred to raster formats but it's really all the same... Also the image should not be so heavily compressed that artifacts start to show.
• 5. After the competition has closed, all members may vote for their favourite entry in a poll topic.
• 6. Possible local taxes to be paid by winner (or whatever they usually put in these kind of competition rules)

It might be good to keep in mind that the logo should look good both large and small (not too much details) and that it should also look good in black and white.

Q: What can I win?
A: The winner will receive...

1. This nice Nepalese pendant handmade of silver sheet metal,
resting on a waxed black cotton string cut and tied by Wonky
Badger himself! (craftsmanship of knots not guaranteed)


2. A nice sandalwood mala (donated by 0gyen Chodzom)!


3. Forumwide glory in the form of a special profile
status yet to be created by the FreeSangha staff.



Additionally we'll draw a random winner, among all contest
participants, that will receive Imee Ooi's CD "The Chant of Metta"!

Q: Sweet! So how do I go about entering this competition then?
A: You create your entry and send it to wonky(a)freesangha.com according to the rules above. There are a lot of tutorials and tips on the net (google "logo design tutorials"). If you don't have any suitable programs you could try the ones below (for both Mac and PC):

InkScape
GIMP

Good luck!

(Rules might be clarified if we realize that we've missed something vital...)

[maxh]

Cool. Ladies and gentlemen, fire up your Photoshop!

[poto]

Any specific colors you want us to use?

I'm not a very good with graphics, but I'll see if I can whip up a few for fun.

[poto]

I did one... I dunno bout the font, might change it later. Feedback?

[Ngawang Drolma]

Poto, I love that!  Especially the very subtle sparkle on the flower.
Nicely done!   

[humanitas]

I did a sketch myself before becoming an administrator. Now that I'm an admin I do not wish to enter the contest.  So I'm donating this as a free open license design to anyone who wants to take it and I guess multiple people can take it as you'll probably do something different if you like it as an idea.




Let me know if you want the original files in inkscape and gimp.

[humanitas]

I did one... I dunno bout the font, might change it later. Feedback?

I love the colors.  I like the lotus.  Not so crazy about the font... do I have salad in my tooth? 

[heybai]

I did one... I dunno bout the font, might change it later. Feedback?

Hey, Poto,

That's kind of nice.  I agree about the font, maybe that could be changed.  The colors are appropriate in my opinion, but the site would also have to have a look matching such a logo. 

I also like OC's beads, but can they be photoshopped in some way -- layered (I don't know how) -- to abstract theme into a design (perhaps combined with this lotus -- but perhaps that would clutter up the logo?). 

I like these ideas.  Look forward to more images as they are refined.  We (you artists) are getting somewhere.  Thanks for the efforts.

heybai

[humanitas]

Hey poto, I just had an idea that your picture gave me.  The outside leaves look almost like water reflections (and i LOVE   sparkles of any kind... ) and the little squiggle almost like either a reflection or the lotus roots in the mud... I had the thought of the roots in the mud being us people in the design above, and we plug ourselves into the sphere that connects us and grows purity and perfection of compassion from practice rooted in the nitty gritty of everyday.  The design was the idea of the triple gem and I see resonance in your logo too with three items, the sparkles (in the rough idea above i also included three people, three main textures lotus, sphere and roots/people, the petals touching the people like the spheres of body mind and speech and then the five above... I could go on and on...) but with people in it.  I liked the idea, seems like we were thinking similarly there lotus as main focus of the graphic...

What if you enhanced the image by adding a water effect or something.  Just thought the crystalline look of water with a lotus on it would look nice stylized...  Give it like an ultra contrast the form of lotus (perfection) the formlessness of water (ocean of dharma)... dunno...  Whaddya think?

 
Ogyen.

[humanitas]

Hey, Poto,

That's kind of nice.  I agree about the font, maybe that could be changed.  The colors are appropriate in my opinion, but the site would also have to have a look matching such a logo.  

I also like OC's beads, but can they be photoshopped in some way -- layered (I don't know how) -- to abstract theme into a design (perhaps combined with this lotus -- but perhaps that would clutter up the logo?).  

I like these ideas.  Look forward to more images as they are refined.  We (you artists) are getting somewhere.  Thanks for the efforts.

heybai

I really like the beads layered into the lotus idea too.  That's really nice.  Remember you guys (contestants) have two entries each you can submit, so take some time and brainstorm.  I love playing with graphics but as an admin I don't want to compete.  I'd rather give lots of feedback at this point... And I'm good at posting as you could probably tell.....  


Ogyen.

[poto]

Thanks for all the feedback. I changed the font. Not sure about the purple, but if others like the font changing the color is easy. I really like the comic fonts, but I know some others don't, so I might still change it. I dunno.



I thought about adding some mala beads in there, but thought it might be too much clutter. If the logo has to be scaled down to a banner or button it might end up looking like a mess. I don't really want to add a reflection for the same reason. Something like that might look good animated in flash though.

I did a blank with just the mala beads image. I might add some text or graphics later and make it a 2nd entry. That is assuming that image is free to use. Anyone else can take a stab at it, if they want to use it. I have a .psd of this too if anybody wants it.

[humanitas]

Oh, I don't know if that beads picture is free or open license...

but if you go to either http://www.sxc.hu/ or http://www.fotosearch.com/CSP235/k2357276/ or even any stock photo/image type of site I'm sure you will find mala beads.

[humanitas]

Thanks for all the feedback. I changed the font. Not sure about the purple, but if others like the font changing the color is easy. I really like the comic fonts, but I know some others don't, so I might still change it. I dunno.

I really like the asymmetry of your lotus... if you look at the sparkles, they look like a mala strung aroung the lotus.  You could give it a pendant coming of the front petal or something...  dunno.  just a thought.

[poto]

Oh, I don't know if that beads picture is free or open license...

Ahh, in that case it might be best to not use it...

I really like the asymmetry of your lotus... if you look at the sparkles, they look like a mala strung aroung the lotus.  You could give it a pendant coming of the front petal or something...  dunno.  just a thought.

Thanks, but I think I'm done for a little while with logos. Might change some more things later. I just have a lot of work to get done right now though. Still plenty of time left on the content, so I'm sure I'll do a bit more later.

Looking forward to seeing what some others create.

Also, you guys might want to mention this contest on some design or webmaster forums.

[Wonky Badger]

Also, you guys might want to mention this contest on some design or webmaster forums.

I had thought of promoting it on Twitter with the #contest hashtag, but then I realized that we'd might get a bunch of people registering for the sake of the contest and not being interested in the site or content. I guess the same might happen by promoting it at those kinds of sites. But then again, I guess the prizes might not be extremely appealing to non-buddhists.