Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Logo Contest: Vote!

When I first created my Logo Contest (full details here if you missed it), I was nervous and excited. I knew this could end up badly, either with artists raging that I had created a difficult assignment with no guarantee of payment, or (at the other end of the spectrum) so many submissions that I had a tough choice cutting it down to a Top 8. Thankfully, it seems to have hit a middle ground. I'm sure there were many professional graphic artists who chose not to enter, as their time would be better spent on projects that actually got them paid - and I cannot blame then in the slightest bit!

In the end, five artists submitted work (one of them submitting two versions), leaving me with 6 possibilities. Now the decision is in your hands. One of these six choices will become the new logo for Don's Magic and Sundry, and its creator will be awarded $50 in store credit at my site.

As promised, these choices will be kept anonymous so as to not influence the voting. The logos should stand on their own merit, not on the backs of any name their creator may have made for him- or herself. Voting will be open from today (Tuesday, June 25) at noon until Sunday (June 30) at noon [all times EDT].

To cast your vote, please take the survey. The images are repeated in the survey, but needed to be shrunk to half their size due to file size limitations at Survey Monkey. So I present them here, comment free, for you to look at first.

Submission 1

Submission 2

Submission 3

Submission 4


Submission 5

Submission 6
Once you've gotten a good look, please:

CAST YOUR VOTE!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Don's Magic and Sundry Logo Contest!

In case you are unaware, two major changes happened recently for Don's Magic and Sundry:
  1. I changed service providers from ProStores to Crystal Commerce. The latter is specifically tailored towards online gaming stores, and includes a whole slew of advantages, like built-in databases of all cards from the game, market price checks, a Point of Sale system that lets me very easily buy & sell cards at events....all for less than I was paying at the old provider. Definitely a no-brainer. The only question is why it took me so long to move!
  2. I have, at long last, finally become an actual legal entity. It is now Don's Magic and Sundry LLC! Woo-hoo!
Anywho, with all these changes comes the desire for a fresh new logo. My old store logo:
Created by Josh of VirtualInflux
won't quite cut it, as the rather blatant use of WotC's intellectual property (IP) - the subtle Magic card back at the left, the use of the Magic logo, as well as the five-color pentagon - would most likely get me in hot water with their legal department. In fact Crystal Commerce flat-out told me they wouldn't let me use it!

So my current store logo:
Crafted by the amazingly talented Justin Treadway (@GriffnValentine)
while awesome, was not intended to be used as such. It was crafted by @GriffnValentine to be used on stickers to be given out with orders (and some of you may even be sporting such a thing on your deck box or trade binder!). If you'd like more info on these wonderful things, you can see this post.

So - that brings us to the point of this post (finally!). I am in need of a new store logo! But I am a poor small business owner who can't afford to pay a real honest-to-goodness graphic designer what s/he would need/want to be paid to call it a real gig. So, instead, I am running a contest to all and sundry (slight pun intended), amateur and pro alike, to see who can design the new logo to be used on my store!

Want to win $50 store credit to my site? Think you have the creative talent to design my new logo?

Here are the details. Please read all if you are interested in submitting a logo to this contest.
  1. Contest submissions will be accepted from today (Wednesday, June 12, 2013) until midnight (EDT) Sunday, June 23.
  2. Submissions should be sent to Don at DonsMagicAndSundry.com with the subject line "Logo Contest".
  3. If more than 8 submissions are received within the specified time frame, I will cut to a "Top 8" based on my own personal tastes.
  4. I will then post the Top 8 (or less if fewer submissions are received) on this blog (anonymously, so there is no favoritism based on creator vs. creation), and put them to a vote via all my various social media outlets (Twitter, tumblr, Google+, and email newsletter). Voting will be open for five days (12:00 noon [EDT] on Tuesday June 25  through 12:00 noon [EDT] Sunday June 30).
  5. The winner of the open vote will be used as the logo on my site. The creator of that logo will win $50 store credit at www.DonsMagicAndSundry.com.
  6. The logo will run as a banner at the top of pages on my store site (see my Home Page to see where the "sticker-logo" currently resides).
  7. Designs should be submitted in the .png format.
  8. Designs should be 200 pixels high by 800 pixels wide. 
  9. Designs must incorporate the name of the store (Don's Magic and Sundry).
  10. Best designs will impart that the bulk of the store's nature is selling cards from Magic: The Gathering, without using the Intellectual Property of WotC. That's a fine line to straddle, but I know you're up to the challenge!
  11. All submissions become the property of Don's Magic and Sundry LLC, and can be used in any promotional way on the site. While only the winner of the popular vote will get the coveted spot atop the site pages, the other logos may be used for other purposes.