Mahalo Design Contest: Create AOTD graphics
What we would like to have in time for AOTD2.0 are some graphics, and a logo. The logo should be in the W400xH150 range. This would be featured at the top of each AOTD thread.
Badges in the W200xH150 range, for the following situations.
- 1st Place
- 2nd Place
- 3rd Place
- Nominee
*Use of the term AOTD is optional*
The winning set will be rewarded the M$ prize,and their graphics will be named official Mahalo AOTD badges. However if you are reading this and prefer a different set, feel free to tip the designer and ask for permission to use their badges during upcoming contests.
Thanks, and stay tuned for AOTD 2.0
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$12 Answers
These Tiki's represent the best of Mahalo Answers and can only look upon those who are worthy.
The First Place Tiki is playfully proud. Bearing his teeth, he stares down other answers and shows them his tong.
The Second Place Tiki is fearless. Growling at the First Place Tiki he is privileged to be awarded a prize and maintains his place with confidence.
The Third Place Tiki is large and thankful. He solemnly says thank-you while paying respect to the first and second place Tiki's.
The Nomination Tiki is a combination of the placeholding Tiki's. He is happy, proud, and recognizably empowered.
Last, the Answer of the Day logo itself displays each of the Tiki's under the umbrella of the Answer of the Day title banner. The background is a photograph of the North Shore of Hawaii.
I really hope that you like my take on this. The Tiki's are a Hawaiian element not currently in use by the Mahalo brand. Generally, I think that they are well suited for an "award" and can be assembled in a way that tells a little bit of a story to add depth to the contest that hopefully extends beyond simple graphics.
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M$Banner:
First:
Second:
Third:
Nominee:
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M$
I like the badges; however, the lighting is all over the place to be used by Mahalo. I believe that if lighting adjustments were made, these would be great. Example: For the Mahalo text the lighting is coming from the top-left, where as the badges have the lighting coming from the bottom-right, the white board has the light coming from the top-right. It's really all over the place. I am not trying to be harsh by saying it, just believe that if it's all corrected, it would look great.
These are much better, with the changes in lighting. I really do love these now :P. As far as the N on the nominee though, it looks more important than the others. Maybe you should put the 1/2/3 on those, or remove the n from the nominee. :D Great changes.
I LOVE YOUR BADGES!!!! :D
Ah, I like your criticism. I will fix it right away.
I don't know ... maybe! :)
These were literally exactly what I expected when posting the question, You were a sure winner if Rob hadn't posted the Tikis. Thank you very much for participating, I sent you a small tip as a token of my appreciation for the quality artwork.
I was working on a similar style; however, after seeing these I give up. These are great!
Thanks! :)
Nice! I like the way you've combined the elements - the surfboard, logo, etc.
Haha, thanks. :D
I fixed it. I hope.
For the logo maybe you could add my whale in the background! :D
Here's my submission for the logo. If you like it, I'll create the badges!
(Information: I'll save the logo in your preference if you do choose this design. I have designed it in Adobe Illustrator and all of the design is my work.)
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M$
I didn't notice the tip at first - I just did it as a bit of fun. Then when I saw the tip, I was shocked!
I like the umbrella!
Here are the graphics for the badges! Took me a while to design - hope you like them!
Thanks gno!
Thanks phu! ;) - I think I have a lot of encouragement for the designs...so I might start working on the badges. Any suggestions please send me a message!
Glad to be back...should be seeing you around more often.
Hey my Brit-brat's back! Hope you're well @cjd!
I like both... but prefer the tree! (you could have leaves for the different place winners)
whoa, @cjd came back. Was it the M$35, or the idea of a graphic design question that brought you back? :D Either way, good to see ya.
Nice! I played around with the surf board a bit too but couldn't get it quite right. I like yours.
Personally I think you should use the umbrella one and use beach towels or surf boards with numbers for each place.
No problem
I REALLY like the idea of the surfboards with 1st Place etc....and I'm thinking less about the beach towels.
Thanks wesny!
AOTD - Logo
1st. Place - Badge
2nd. Place - Badge
3rd. Place - Badge
Nominee - Badge
These designs clearly follow the actual Mahalo corporate image. I try to stick with the current image trend this site has built over time, preserving that tropical, subtle yet lofty looking image.
Mahalo, as all great businesses always try to do, has built an invaluable asset out of its corporate identity. A page which has come into big lengths to get proper recognition in the web, that has established itself as one of the 200 most visited sites and is today a common reference for those who seek "human powered" info. That´s why people "thank" Mahalo.
Therefore, the white-yellow flower, the Hawaiian dancer, the Best Answer ribbon and the surfboard, are all elements with intrinsic value for this company; they must not throw it away. My proposal follow Mahalo´s corporate guidelines not diverting out of the box, but still able to add subtle elements to the growing necessities of the page.
* The images here are shown bigger so Mahaloians can view them better. If chosen, I will provide the Logo and the Badges at the intended W400 x H150 and W200 x H150 respective sizes.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I really liked your banner, I sent you a smaller tip, I hope you don't mind if I use it?
I quite like it. :D It's very nice
No Jeff, I don´t mind, go ahead, used it! Remember to reduce the Logo to the W400 x H150 size and the Badges to W200 x H150 size, they are somewhat over the 600 pix size. I posted them that way for viewing pouposes.
Thanks for the tip.
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M$
Here's the banner. Pretty basic.
Oh, and here are some "for fun" ones I just had fun playing around with. Maybe they'll inspire someone!
Yeah it was a compliment! ;)
I like the coconut idea, but it's not as creative as the other entries.
I think he meant that as a compliment...
And yes, they are good!
I remember drinking tasty coconut slushy drinks out of containers just like these. They were delicious... and so is your mockup!
I know, I know. Not the best entry here. But at least I tried!
Oh yeah, re-reading that makes more sense. :D
I'm loving the coconut idea! I think it's great - and your not a graphic designer!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I wish to see OWL in the place of Whale .
OWL considered to be the symbol of wisdom .
I love the whale, perhaps it would be known as the Win-Whale
Ahh... the mighty whale. It does fit in with the water / ocean parts of the Hawaiian theme. I like your gradient on the top of the whale. Very nice!
I made this specially for @bunnyphuphu! I know how many times she gets nominated! :D I threw in a pink one as well.
Thanks! I like all the ideas on here. I didn't reply earlier because I had a bunch of things running and my PC just froze!! I was so MAD!!
The badges could look like this... You can choose which one is best. I like the one with just a 1st on it. Of course the 1st is just the example I can add 2nd 3rd and so on.
I like the owl Idea too!
Wow! I love the whale!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Sand dollars are a great idea - that never even crossed my mind!
well the writing in the sand was supposed to look like stick writing and I was doing this at like 7 in the morning so I couldn't think of anything on the sand dollar.
This is a great idea; although, I wished you would have been more creative. Maybe something using the sand dollar? The sand dollar by itself appears to simple.
I like the writing in the sand and the sand dollars. One suggestion would be to make the L in Mahalo capital because right now it kind of looks like an i.
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M$
I don't really care for the cut off look it has. IT basically looks like a box. YOu should probably do an image with the girl in full figure. Also, be sure that you're using space wisely, as design still needs space. Seeing these have none, it looks extremely busy for the little 200x133px box you have them in. I do like the logo/AOTD combination though.
I like your badges, iqchong. I like how you've used the recolored turtle as a medal and how the Mahalo surfboard logo and "Answer of the Day" come together at the top. I think it might be a little busy, but that would be quick and easy to fix in a final revision. Very cool.
Microsoft Publisher
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M$
I really like the Nominee one. They look happy just to be there.
Dito on Randy's comment. The nominee one is really fun. I think the other ones would be stronger if they were a similar style without the green shapes. The characters are super cute, but they seem hidden on the other logos. Excellent job for not being a graphic designer :-)
These seem to out of date for Mahalo. They are basically first generation graphics. Mahalo is designed in a "web 2.0" style so I wouldn't think these would be fit for the site.
I just tried to do a logo and the badges.. my sister didnt really like the AOTD one but what the heck..hehe took me hella long to make this one. -__-;
Just trying :)
and BTW, you can DO anything you like with this, it's my work :D
you can invert it blablablah
if you would like to ADD something in this images,
PLEASE tell me, I'd be happy and also criticisms are encouraged..I feel a bit down comparing my work to others and i would be happy to improve it..eheh
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$Oh, is the winner of the contest going to get the award on his personal profile page? Now THAT would be cool...
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M$
I agree. I'd at least like to know the font name. Would make this type of contest so much easier!
Sorry, i thought i could edit my reply.
If you make them bold or italic, i'm sure they could look more like it.
First one is longdon decorative
second one is weehah
Hmm, sorry I don't have workprints or font type, maybe somebody who does will chime in and offer them up.
I haven't found the font, but i've found two that are similar, if i find anymore i'll post them here, but i'm getting a bit freaked out constantly looking at the word 'Mahalo' repeatedly :-D and i'm only on page 16..
Both fonts can be got on http://www.fontspace.com/ and you can type in Mahalo to see similarities.
Longdon Decorative Font
Weehah Font
Even better would be an animated gif with sound! Or a link to such an animation.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You've got my vote. The tiki's remind me of bunnies and booze!
(always a great mix)
Congrats Rob!
Yeah, I think these are a real winner. You have my vote, and I hope we see these designs used in AOTD 2.0.
Way to go, Rob!
Brilliant! Did you design the Tiki's?
@lesliec: That's very nice - thank-you. This is going to sound like a circular reference, but I'm not very good at showing people what I'm good at. I'm working on this.
@psynopsis:
What do you think?
This photo (above) was taken on Pipleline beach in Hawaii. It's a mecca of surfing and considered one of the best locations to surf in the world.
Here's another version (below) that is a panoramic photo of Turtle Bay beach. I created a gradient exposure adjustment on the bottom to mix a little dark with light. I think that it draws the eye down to the Tiki's a little and highlights the rough waters of that part of the ocean.
Very cool.
Thank you @robbrown for the portion!
Love the Tiki's and the story behind it!
At this time, I believe this entry to be the best.
I really like this set of badges and the logo.
GO WITH THE LAST ONE!! :D I love the color, blue and green! The tikis could also be different colors. I think wood is too boring. Perhaps, blue, green purple, red lively colors.
Brilliant! If there is an AotD today, I'll surely nominate this answer!
These are awesome Rob, is there anything you can't do?
I'm liking this one.
As promised, here is your nomination trophy.
You've been nominated!
Nice work! I love the Tiki's.
Thanks A LOT everyone!
I've sent Amplify a portion of the winnings. This contest really could have gone either way. I'm lucky to have won. Thanks a lot!
I like the badges, but unsure about the logo. Maybe a little more color would be better? Specially blue. Like an ocean background with palms and stuff. i never thought about using tikis! :D
WINNER! :-D
Brilliant.. Don't think there's much more to say.. ;-)
Beautiful and precious! Aloha! Duen